When Finesse Records released last year’s Naked Geometry and Jesse Baez track “Shuggah,” it turned out to be one of our favorites from Mexico City’s “F” crew, a romantic, controlled R&B beat for Baez’s wistful vocals. Today the song and video for Baez and Naked Geometry’s “Apaga La Luz” dropped, a creation by the same team that further establishes the Finesse family as the leaders on the Mexican R&B scene.
The video follow Baez and his girl in that ugly stage of a relationship when you both know that holding on is getting a little ridiculous, but you’re not quite done grabbing each other, trying one last time to shake sense into the other person. Spoiler: It doesn’t work in the video because it never works in real life, although the mamón happiness in the final shot is enough to make you want to work out that problematic passion rather than settle for security.
Baez and his babe look cute, but Mexico City is the real star of the clip. One of the couple’s penthouse scuffles (other scenes are shot in the Gattica-like hallway of Baez’s own apartment building) is perfectly framed by sweeping red, green, and white cityscape. That urban worship is a trademark of Yahir Carillo, the video artist who shot this piece and who has lent his concrete romance filter to the clips for Baez’s “Decile” and his CDMX subway story “Easy,” in which Baez is completely absent to make room for a puppy love narrative all over the megapolis’ andenes.