A new Yellow Claw mix is not like all the other DJ mixes that are posted online everyday. For the group’s fans they’re an annual event, announced by an audacious, high-concept trailer directed by the group’s own Jim Taihuttu. The mixtape trailers have featured the actual 2 Unlimited inside a pinball machine, as well as a romantic scene on a deserted Piazza San Marco in Venice.
The tradition started with Mixtape No. 6 in 2013, back when Yellow Claw was still mostly a local act, known for several hit records in Dutch. With Jim playing an easy listening version of ‘Thunder’ on a grand piano and Bizzey pouring champaign, the surprise reveal is popular Dutch singer Frans Bauer, an unlikely collaborator, singing the song’s hook in a recording studio. Real trap shit!
For Mixtape No. 7, Jim recreated a ’90s music video starring Holland’s biggest act of the decade, 2 Unlimited. The duo’s Ray and Anita perform a hardstyle cover of Yellow Claw’s international smash ‘Shotgun’ from inside a giant pinball machine, before the trailer moves to a setting more representative of 2014.
The ’90s theme continued in the faux action men ad that was 2015’s Mixtape No. 8 trailer. Wearing Blood For Mercy merchandise, the Yellow Claw dolls got company from—who else?—a bunch of Barbies, with everybody turning into their IRL selves for a party at the end.
Before heading onto the next mixtape, Yellow Claw filmed a trailer for their 2015 US #AirJägerTour, designing and building their own private jet.
Mixtape No. 10 didn’t just get a trailer in 2016, it got its own eau de parfum. Like a classy black & white commercial, the trailer was shot in romantic Venice and features Dutch actress Bo Maerten (Wolf). Set to Orff’s ‘O Fortuna’, she has a romantic encounter on the city’s famous Piazza San Marco with Yellow Claw’s Nizzle.
