#AWE2014

Yung Jake was born on the Internet in 2011. His debut YouTube video Max Moyer combined a slide-show of photos poached from one young Max Moyer’s Facebook and Yung Jake’s custom cocky rap track, mythicizing the character and his seemingly opulent lifestyle. This began a series of clips documenting the evolution of the Jake ego itself. His next, more sophisticated piece Datamosh heavily explored the digital effect of datamoshing, its rap track parodying the trend of datamoshing in music videos and video art. In 2012, Jake broke though the YouTube format and the third wall of Internet user experience by creating a sophisticated, self-aware web video experience E.m-bed.de/d, its feature track commenting on Jake’s own Internet fame while a duplicate of a YouTube video page filled the screen with dynamic, meticulously-coded windows and elements referenced in the track, from growing YouTube hits to banner ad models coming to life and onto Jake’s lap. Displaying commendable technical proficiency, pointed meta-criticism and mad funny rhymes, Jake’s vibrant video work is accessible and zeitgeisty, laced with pop-culture references, inside art jokes and editing tricks, then dozed with swag. E.m-bed.de/d, Datamosh and his latest augmented reality app, Augmented Real, were featured in this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Yung Jake stay on the innernet and keeps coming out with new heat.

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