Dope Artists #02: Photography
Jay-Z: On To The Next One (Official Video)
Sick Movie Trailers: January 2010
Sick Animated Shorts
Return of the Music Video
Web Design
Print Design
Photomanipulation
Photography
Okay Jay-Z, I see you’re just gonna release the perfect addition to my Return of The Music Video article like two days after I publish it. Douchebag.
No seriously though, this shit is crack. Even though it missed the roundup, I had to post.
New hyperstylized, black and white, mini-masterpiece from Hova and Swizz Beatz. Uncomfortably trippy and yet ridiculously cool. Check it out.
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: This site is sick. I just bookmarked it. Good work
: New feature! Click below to write on my wall. Tell me about what you think of the site, or things you'd like to see.
I will have to respectfully disagree here about adding this Video to your list. As visually pleasing as this video is i think it fails horribly as a music video. The video is a random montage of well composed shots, which stand alone as pieces but together form no real continuity. To some extent they are edited to the music, cut a-ways and slow motion effects used where necessary. But as far as following the actual song, besides the constant reminder that this is Jay-z’s 3rd Blueprint album, there are no real elements that connect to the words. Random joker characters, the various skulls and the mirror image of the bird wings are all visually stimulating, but take away from the song itself. In all honesty i prefer the video as either a silent montage. Or if one were to put music on it i would think it better suited paired with a Flying Lotus or Exile beat, where the random shots can find some harmony in their discourse.
As far as music videos go, i would have to say of late, the one i’ve been most impressed with has been Eminem’s 3.A.M video, made by Syndrome Studios.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAuo8IOFNuE
I think is a prime of example of a true music video, grant it, the video is rather graphic. But the video is no more graphic than the lyrics it accompanies. The cinematography is amazing and the cuts and pace of the editing are synced to the beat perfectly. In my opinion, everything i think is wrong in Jay-Z’s On To The Next One was done masterfully in Eminem’s 3.A.M…. can some one say Renegade Repeat……
Lol. That, sir, may be the greatest blog comment of all time.
That said, I don’t think Jay/Swizz really have to establish a concrete overarching theme or message for this particular video. The song is simply about being up on new and cool shit, so showing a bunch of new and cool (albeit incoherent) visual compositions is enough to satisfactorily communicate the point. It fails as a storytelling device but stands well enough as a vehicle to flaunt a bunch of sexy images, which rap videos are known to do. If those images can be even remotely and aimlessly artistic I’d take that over the grievously overplayed booty-shaking hoes any day. I think it represents progress, despite falling short of perfection.
And I totally agree with the acclaim for the Em vid. The blood subtly creeping up the wall in the background is sick in every sense of the word. Here it is again for those who are curious but link wary: