The struggle between renters and landlords is a tale as old as time. One wants an affordable, clean, safe, and stable place to live. The other wants responsible, polite renters and a return on their investment. It seems like these two things shouldn’t be at odds, and yet, all too often, they are.
There will likely always be conflict between these parties, and, sometimes, it gets ugly. One time, though, when the conflict really escalated, it got musical.
Frustrated renters write a diss track of their landlord, film music video
Clevelanders Julia Kim and Cameron Celebuski were college students and roommates living in a house together with two other people. Things were pretty copacetic until their other two roommates decided to move out.
That’s when, they say, things with their landlord got dicey.
According to Kim and Celebuski, their landlord, Cindy, suddenly rented out one of their rooms—bringing in a total of three new people—even though she’d promised to give them time to decide on how they wanted to move forward. They say she wanted them out and began charging fees every day they overstayed. Additionally, the rent would be increasing for whichever one of them ended up staying in the lone open room.
The details are a bit messy. Kim and Celebuski ultimately tried to negotiate a resolution with Cindy and consulted an attorney. But, feeling deeply wronged with no imminent solution in sight, they felt they had to escalate their concerns somehow.
So, naturally, they wrote a diss track.
Then, they turned it into the most brilliantly unhinged music video.
‘Never Rent from Cindy’ is a certified, early-YouTube-style hit
While the song’s impressive lyrics detail the messy back and forth with their landlord, Kim and Celebuski really pulled out all the stops for the music video.
There are over half a dozen outfits featured throughout the video, including all-black suits with shades, technicolor jumpsuits, Kim in an all-white dress and blonde wig, clown suits, and more.
There are also instruments, with the duo playing both a synth keyboard and a flute.
There’s a hazy filter, screenshots of text messages layered in, and awkward cuts. The production really has it all, with some commenters likening it to an early 2000s YouTube fever dream.
Whatever the facts of the case, Kim and Celebuski clearly channeled their anger and frustration into something incredibly creative and inventive. Whether it helped resolve their legal dilemma is up in the air, but viewers and commenters have definitely appreciated all the AI-free effort:
“This is how you fight the oligarchy with art. Masterpiece.”
“First time I’ve been so early to an internet classic in the making.”
“Master class in trolling, legal work and music composition. Sorry you guys are going through this but I hope that things get better soon.”
“This is the best response to adversity the world has ever seen.”
“Guys, that was amazing, truly, bravo. The music, the story telling, the video graphics, everything was on point. You even had an Evangelion reference. Hope you guys get your security deposit back! Thanks for making laugh.”
It’s probably the best landlord vs. tenant content the internet has seen since Judge Judy:
Landlord-tenant conflict seems to be growing more and more tense
Renters and landlords have never had a lovey-dovey relationship, but there is a growing sense that these partnerships are becoming more strained.
A recent poll found that Americans largely agree that corporate landlords, in particular, need to be reined in and there should be a cap on rent increases. Renters increasingly feel like property owners are leeching from them to grow wealth versus providing the service of a stable place to live.
Being a landlord isn’t easy work, of course, especially as a solo entrepreneur. Rising costs of housing, maintenance, and insurance have strained everyone, and, unfortunately, these costs and difficulties often get passed down to renters.
Some of this conflict has always existed, but the one big difference is that renters like Kim and Celebuski now have a way to fight back via social media when other channels fail. YouTube gave them a place to host their video, and networks like Reddit helped spread the word. They just had to bring their own synthesizer and technicolor suits.
