Premiere: Watch an 18th Century Painting Rap in Cameron McCloud's New Music Video

Cameron McCloud burst onto the Dallas music scene in 2015 after a video of him sneaking backstage at the Bomb Factory and free-styling for Erykah Badu blew up. What followed was a torrent of success for McCloud and his band, hip-hop collective Cure for Paranoia.

The group has since played many gigs at the Bomb Factory (now called just The Factory) and received a few Dallas Observer Music Awards. McCloud earned the title of Dallas’ most ambitious artist with his solo work as well. His new music video for “Texas Tea” was filmed in the Dallas Museum of Art using guerrilla tactics. We caught up with him in the car on the way to perform with his newest collaborator, R&B powerhouse Angélica Rahe.

“We went in and shot this with The Hustle Hustle Collective," McCloud says of the video. "They’re the ones that shot my most recent video where I'm protesting against myself and burning myself at the stake. We went into it knowing we only had one day to shoot and release this. … We shot it yesterday knowing we had to have it out by this morning.

"I usually procrastinate hella, hella bad, but not this bad," McCloud continues, while laughing. “Finally, the day of, we were like, just go in, ask for forgiveness, not permission-type shit.”

McCloud says they didn't exactly have permission to film at the DMA.

“That shit did not work," he says. “They were like ‘Nah, what are y’all doing?' and kind of sent us out, but on the way out we were stopped by one of the managers there and he said ‘This is a good look for the art museum … as long as you aren't jumping on the pieces or messing with the other patrons, go ahead.’ We knocked it out in less than five minutes.”

The Dallas Museum of Art did not respond to our request for comment.

The video consists of a conversation of sorts between McCloud and the painting "Christ as Savior of the World (Salvator Mundi)"  by an unknown South American artist from the late 18th century. The painting has been anthropomorphized by the wonders of video editing magic to be able to speak back.

“As far as the concept goes, it was created by Tyler Sloane," McCloud says. "We wanted to tie back into the whole [McCloud's lyrics for the song "Art Show"] ‘Walk into the gallery, bitch, I am the art show,’ but also kind of giving the art a chance to speak as well … We wanted to say basically that being inspired by art is what helps me create music and stay creative, so it's not just me speaking [as the art], it's also the art speaking [to me] as well…”

McCloud says this idea comes from his eternal gratitude for being in such a dynamic and diverse arts city.

“I can name dozens of artists I'm constantly inspired by that live right around me, and a major influence in wanting to do it at the Dallas Museum of Art is that I really want to be integrated into the city and [tap] in to all that talent around me,” he says.

Watch "Texas Tea" below: