The year's best director of rap vids heads to Mobile.

MOV 60mb - MOV 10mb - youtube

         

Wow, really impressive cinematography, purposeful editing, tons of coverage. One of the best Hip-hop videos of the year. Am I going to get called out for being a nerd if I say the grading reminds me of David Gordon Green's George Washington?

         

Yeah I'll second that best rap director claim. He's got a sense of composition that most mv directors would kill for and he always does strong color schemes. Also it doesn't hurt that he's got a great editor. BTW have you seen his new Pitbull clip? Also very nice.

         

If you check out all his work he's really hit or miss. Easily ahead of the rap director pack but at the same time, there's something rather flat about his stuff. When he does the rap cliche, his promos are unwatchable, but every now and then he'll bend the genre is such an awesomely inspired way i.e.

• Snake Cars scene (above)
• Western bell tower views (E-40)
• Ghost cars gliding down the street (also e-40)

I don't know if it's composition per se, I think his sense of scale is most impressive. There's really something to be said about allowing breathing room (and on all diagonals!) in a hip hop promo.

It's tough though, he's still at the start of his career. In fact, I feel like we wouldn't even be talking about him if it werent for the E-40 vid.

         

pleasure to watch. i find it easier to concentrate on what amazes/puzzles me about the whole genre. in this case it sort of distills the situationist absurdity at work here (reminiscent of the garish mock-up car floats provincial african kings are wont to put on parade). i'm often in awe at this minimalist musical approach, always has me thinking "blues".

         

Between the E40 and this one Bernard has really stepped it up.

I think the strength of this Rich Boy video is the vibe of chilly airiness that matches the music and contrasts with the visually messy projects world. The music feels different and the visuals work with it. It slows down when the DFB dude raps and things start to seem more typical.

The two vids each have a very distinct vibe that stands out from other stuff on BET. This is how a director moves up - taking a mid-level job and making it shine. It is hard to pull off with one day shoots and dumb label suggestions, and so on. Mr Gourley definitely hits a home run here.

Too bad there won't be much hip-hop at the Grammys this year.

         

30f gettin his hustle on-- respect!

It should be noted that this is a smidge less impactive on TV than on QT-box, but it's certainly worthy of a post on antville.

And Stay Fly was what brought Gourley to my attention. E-40 was Gourley taking it up a notch. I've been rather obsessively monitoring/anticipating his work, but I have such strong opinions about rap vids that I just can't help it when someone dares to try something new.

         

Really? Stay Fly?!? I thought that was pedestrian at best. The clip starts out in faux-Spice Girls one-take mode and then they give up part way through. And it is in a club. yawn

But hey, dude was doing what it took to get the job. If a hip-hop director gets a few shots into the finished edit that are "for him" and aren't bouncing ass or artist-demanded posse shots he is doing a good job. Creating something fresh in the stricly marketed world of hip-hop is always tough.

I just thought of something that I should post about. I'm gonna go do that and then put a link here so Kev can feel ma husssle.

Ha, that was fast.

         

The idea of a director even thinking one-take in realistic terms makes me sit up and notice - a rap director thinking one-take is even rarer.

I originally thought Gil Green was going to take it over, but his latest stuff hasn't been so hot, probably because he's at Partizan. They've been getting him more work late this year, and they're trying to get their rap game on, but they don't have home field advantage there. Green and Gura..

(Reminds me, I was trying to find some good links to a couple Gura vids a month ago.. and whatever happened to Jeff Richter?)

         

The next hot hip hop music video director to watch is MELINA.

         

cinematography is nice, rich pallet, high con and deaply saturated, any info on the DP? otherwise pretty typical. I wonder what that was shot on? Best guess Cinialta HD+ 35mm kit, with great glass and alot of post CC to get the film look, but even if was 1080p the vertical resolution would be like >300 px, if its if 3:1 cropped from 16:9. i guess it could have been 35mm 16x9 and overscanned to 2k, then cropped, but that would have been an incredibly expensive route. but Rap promos are where all the money in the entire world goes anyway so i wouldnt be surpised, i wonder what the bst route for shooting super wide, i am talking 1:4, 1:5 and maintaining HD Vertical Res? i want to exp. with multiple cameras, i am mostly limited to s16mm or DVHD:varicam, \cine-alta etc... but prefer s16 anyday any any applicatiiobn

         

this video is amazing, and here's a good conversation about it:

me (12:54:41 PM): just bought a cadillake kristina (12:55:00 PM): hahaa funny story me (12:55:08 PM): what

kristina (12:55:11 PM): have u heard that song? me (12:55:19 PM): i'm watching the video it's amazing kristina (12:55:27 PM): and the next line goes, throw some d's on that bitch kristina (12:55:32 PM): u know what im talking about? me (12:55:35 PM): yes kristina (12:55:50 PM): k so this kid got an f on his exam me (12:55:55 PM): haha me (12:55:56 PM): ok kristina (12:56:17 PM): and after class he goes up to his teacher and throws the test back at her and says throw some d's on that bitch kristina (12:56:19 PM): hahaaaaa me (12:56:25 PM): hahahahahahaha me (12:56:32 PM): what did she do? kristina (12:56:46 PM): i dont think anything kristina (12:56:51 PM): she just sat there appalled me (12:56:59 PM): tthat's hilarious kristina (12:57:03 PM): for sure

         

re: hilarious.

         

More of that, please. That was awesome.

         

kanye throws some d's...

         

Kanye's video = CSS "Lets Make Love" + Adam Yauch's wardrobe / Those VH1 lifestyles of the rich and famous animations. The fake fire in the background makes me wonder if Kanye occasionally watches indie rock videos in his spare time.