Tuesday, May 27, 2008

i met a gypsy and she hipped me to some life game/to stimulate then activate the left and right brain

In general, hip-hop videos suck. Everyone knows what to expect: semi- (but more like semi-not-) dressed women looking bored out of their skulls writhing while the rapper throws money around. And yet, sometimes hip-hop artists think completely outside the box, making creative and amusing videos. I've got three artists in particular in mind.

One of my favourite artists, Outkast, always makes sure their videos are fun and original.











What I love about the "Rosa Parks" video is how well it showcases Andre 3000 and Big Boi's personalities and differences. The phone call at the beginning especially, with Big Boi wanting a typical, "pimpin'" hip-hop video and Andre 3000 pulling for a "space/futuristic" theme, until they eventually settle on doing both. And behold, a brilliant video that reminds me so much of my precious Parliament/Funkadelic. And the true stroke of genius? The harmonica solo.

Prototype

Now I had no idea that "Prototype" was a single or even had a video until I was researching this post. I have Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, so I'd heard the song, but watching this video made me realize that Andre 3000 is probably my soulmate.

See also: "Ms. Jackson", which, for some reason, features a house full of animals; "Hey Ya", which, yeah, you've heard a million times, but if it's been awhile for you, listen again, it sure feels nice, doesn't it?; "Roses", another one illustrating the difference between Andre 3000 and Big Boi; "Morris Brown", the colourful, Sesame Street-esque clip I was going to feature before I discovered "Prototype"

Kanye West:






I have been watching Kanye West's "Flashing Lights" video so much lately. It's just purely hypnotizing. I hate how short it is...it leaves you going, "What??"



I think I've mentioned a few times on this blog what a huge fan I am of the song and video for "Can't Tell Me Nothing". It seems sort of like a prequel to "Flashing Lights", with the desert and the car and the girl. It's still my favourite Kanye West song.

See also: "Stronger", featuring the gorgeous Cassie

Busta Rhymes:



I rarely listen to Busta Rhymes, but it seems like whenever I do, I'm impressed. I got into "Don't Touch Me" thanks to the Adam Sevani/ACDC video and its video is typical Busta Rhymes: funny, high energy and very watchable.




The best part of "Light Your Ass on Fire" is the "hmmm"s (the first is around 00:22), but the rest of the video is great too. It's just straight-up fun.
See also: "Touch It", an interesting video for an interesting song.

I'm not saying these are the only hip-hop artists with great videos. Lupe Fiasco, Ludacris, Eminem (what on earth happened to him?), Missy Elliott and a bunch of others have all released creative and funny clips. These are just a few of my favourites. Enjoy!

22 comments:

Secretista said...

Kanye West definitely makes one of the best videos!

jess said...

i love outkast and kayne west's video's they are my favorite rappers

ellie said...

Wow, those are some classics for hip-hop. Love the title to this entry, too.

Sister Libby said...

Mmmm. Outkast are by far my favorite. Andre 3000 is a bit of a genius. Congrats on the The Family Stone & Maybe Sly tickets...And Flight of the Conchords didn't preform the Bowie song...but I will be going into tedius detail on everything else that happened.

..... said...

kayne west's videos are quite hype but pharrel williams really do make some nice stuffs too !!

Diana Coronado said...

Kanye West song aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh is one of my hits now, the song is soo fashionista

Diana Coronado said...

Nice entry !!

Rebecca, A Clothes Horse said...

I love Outkast's videos and their music. The vampire song by Andre 3000, genius!

Cate said...

- i really love the telephone conversation at the beginning of the outkast video!! (and the outkast song most of all proved to me it is possible writing an e-mail and "dancing" (in my case, i can't dance) at the same time)

LBIC said...

Outkast's videos always amaze me. I still haven't watched their movie, but it's on my to watch list.

ღ Mey ♥¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨♥ღ said...

uau
you really like them :)

kisses sweety

Ella Gregory said...

I love Kanye West, and Outkast!
And the Alexa thing is on this Sunday so it should be online somewhere next week!

Anonymous said...

I like Outkast too! ;) So fun!

EvaAmarri said...

Love Kanye and Outkast.

Andrea Martínez Maugard said...

These are SURE my fav hip hop artists and I always enjoy their videos!

Anonymous said...
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discotheque confusion said...

haha, i got into busta rhyme's track from ACDC too.
you know, i just love the soundtrack for the whole video.
you wouldn't BELIEVE how much time i spent trying to sieve the net for an mp3 file afterwards!

this is such a great post, made me think.
and i kind of got thinking about outkast last night.
they were just so refreshing and broke the whole (there are others who do too, of course) "rapper" mould.
love the fact they're so different.

Danz said...

I love that song 'Prototype'!! I can listen to it over and over and not get tired of hearing it. Kanye's video for 'Can't tell me Nothin' is so amazing! One of my current favourite videos is Jay-Z's 'I Know'...if you haven't seen it, you should check it out ;)

Ana said...

Yes I did take all the pics myself.

I love Kanye's vidoes.

alexgirl said...

I loooove Outkast. They are so damn creative. I can't think of the name of the song, but there's a really cute Biggie video where it's all kids pretending to be adults. Very Bugsy Malone. I think the video may have been made after he died so they had to think of *some* way to make it cool.
Anyway, great post, as per.

WAT said...

You've said it. Outkast, Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliot and some of the others you mention are very very good. They have good beats, songs, and great videos for the most part.

BELMAR said...





«Somos una especie de cebra que divaga entre el cambio hacia lo desconocido y el retorno hacia lo mismo. La metamorfosis de nuestro ser trae el blanco-negro tatuado en la piel, la búsqueda y el desacierto de la mortalidad.» Belmar