“The Same” – Quadir Lateef & Hasan Salaam
This is not a video in the strictest sense of the word, it’s just a montage of still photos while the track plays. The track though is notable. The beat is nice, doesn’t try to do a whole lot -its pretty much loop-based- but it’s all that you need it to be. The lyrics and delivery are great. Quadir Lateef, who takes the first and last verse, does a good job with delivery. Something about it reminds me of B.I.G., so that has to be good. The song jumped ahead by light years though when Hasan Salaam came on. His verse is so densely packed with truth and jewels about "our" station in life that a rewind or skip back to the beginning of the track becomes more than a good idea, it becomes mandatory. Be sure to check this one out, you will really appreciate it.
”Just Another Day” - Logic
This is a very good record. Logic has a good flow and the lyrics are above average. The visuals really look great, too. It has a high quality look to it with some nice transitions in between some of the scenes. I would love to hear more from this artist. I really like the little nod to Queen Latifah because they used the basics of her hit record for the bones of their record, but I feel like they could have left the video clips of her out. Overall though, a fine effort.
”Black Hand Side” – Pharoahe Monch ft Phonte & Styles P
This song is one of my absolute favorites on an album (W.A.R.) that is full of incredible records, so that means it is a stellar quality song. Pharoahe has long been known as a very creative and imaginative guy, and you could tell that from some of his past videos. This one though stands out as a particularly smart and entertaining piece. Guest stars (on the song and video) Phonte and Styles P both bring their unique abilities to bear and help make this something special. I don’t know if I am possibly missing a more recent influence from film, I don’t see them like I used to anymore, but the first film to come to my mind when I see this is John Carpenter’s They Live. In that film the main character is able to see people and signs for what they really are and really intend by using special sunglasses. There is a similar play on that theme here and it is done with a special aplomb that makes the video a joy to watch despite some darker themes at work. I could say much more but I will end with this: watch this video at your earliest opportunity, your life will be that much better because of it.
”Rollin” – Young Sir
This video from Young Sir has some pretty nice visuals. Sharp images and some pretty smooth color to black & white transitions help to remind you that you are watching a music video. Some artists can over think the video and do too much but video producers and editors, ClipStar TV just kept it simple and put those little touches in there that almost made it a bit of a throwback to an era gone by in music. I’m sure I’m dating myself but watching this strongly reminded me of watching the MC Boss video from back in the day, when "err body" from the "urrea" was excited just to see a license plate from the DMV in a music video. Who cared if it only played on "The Box", we were coming up! LOL, those were the days. Anyway, Young Sir has real potential and we hope to see something new and improved from him in the future.
”Live from The Lost Cities Tour” – Tech N9ne
First I have to just acknowledge the fact that this was not a very good quality recording, so with that said I will just speak on the content of the concert footage. If anyone reading this does not know who Tech N9ne is you need to open a new tab and go to Youtube/Google and get you research on...trust me when I tell you the King Of Darkness (and Kansas City, MO) will keep you entertained throughout it. I just wanted to speak on what he does right in this clip that could probably help a lot of artists out there. You saw the highly produced intro, with lights and everything that lets the crowd know that it’s really about to go down. Next you saw how he came out with that high energy level and immediately start giving them some of their favorite verses. Oh and did you peep that his face was painted? That’s called showmanship (it also hearkens back to our African Heritage, which Tech is no stranger to, but that’s for another discussion). Then did you also notice how when he brought out his right hand, Krizz Kaliko, they had little synchronized steps and routines that just amp up the quality of the performance. I could go on and on about why Aaron Yates, is standing over some of your favorite Billboard-backed major label artists on the PollStar numbers and why Lil Wayne shouted him out from prison and put him on the Carter IV, but I think these are enough. If you are an artist or even if you are not but maybe have not been to a live show in a minute, do yourself a favor and suffer through 8 minutes of poor video to get the gist of what the Nina is laying down, you will be reminded of why music is such a powerful form of entertainment/communication.