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The viral mastermind behind the Harlem Shake wrote an album about heartbreak

Filthy Frank is the embodiment of everything a person should not be.

That’s not an evaluation or an opinion. It’s the first sentence of the “about” section of his YouTube channel.

That said, though, it’s pretty accurate. Frank’s videos feature him “cooking” himself in a tub full of ramen, eating a cake made out of hair, and jumping onto strangers’ sandwiches in a park.

And after a few years of being an internet anti-icon, he wants to leave the filth behind and become a musician under his real name, Joji. Some of his fans aren’t too happy about this.

VICE News hung out with him for a day to see if he’ll be able to make the transition from video troll to true artist.

This segment originally aired on November 3, 2017, on VICE News Tonight on HBO.