The State of Hip Hop Music Videos

B

boombapdame

Member
Do you feel that when it comes to contemporary Hip Hop videos it is as if you have seen one, you've seen them all? I remember when Hype, Ratner, Woodruff, Little X, etc. brought in the big budget videos which defined an aesthetic for each artist but also became parodic and/or satirical synonymous with what the masses thought a video should be. I don't even bother to watch what passes for music videos and I'm not a stuck in a certain era head nor am I a defender nor detractor of the so-called "culture."
 
Music videos are still the best way to use non-musical artistic outlets to showcase music.

You don't need a big budget to make something that is worth watching.

 
I was thinking about this the other day... not the fact that if you
seen one, you seen them all (which i agree with btw) but ain't it
funny how technology continues to get better and cheaper day
by day yet videos today are worst than those in the past? lol

and it's not just the fact that they are worst but DRASTICALLY worst.

You can prb. recreate a past Hype Williams video with 1-3 percent of the
budget today yet noone is even capable of doing it.

It's not just with videos, the same goes with music and almost every other
field.... the tools become better and affordable with time, but the end product
today is worst than past generations.

I always found that relationship kinda interesting.
 
Always thought DLS vs SP got the combination right with their videos, not very complicated but interest and compliments the music well.





The thing is though in order to get the combination to work you have to have a message in your music which to me is severely lacking in most music today. Not holding on to old things and trying to be hipster, I just look for the message in a song and if there isn't one I tend to not be as interested in it any longer than a single listen.
 
Where is the creativity? Where is the innovation? You have to search for quality these days as opposed to it being fed to you. The question is what are we doing about it. Where do we focus our attention? Who do we regard as having the best music videos today? The major "artists". If major "artists" are doing it then the independent "artists" are going to do the same thing. Similar to what Zonic said, more money is being spent with greater technology to produce lesser quality videos. The problem is in the minds of the "artists". No one can say that they are an artist or an innovator and release music and videos that look and sound like what everybody else is doing. Consumers opted for lesser art.
 
Zonic said:
but ain't it
funny how technology continues to get better and cheaper day
by day yet videos today are worst than those in the past? lol

You can prb. recreate a past Hype Williams video with 1-3 percent of the
budget today yet noone is even capable of doing it.
.
Click to expand...


Exactly...
Its easier...
I can get n hd cam that fits n my pocket...
But if my creativity can too then........
we end with today
 
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I don't see much of a difference in better or worse for the videos. They all look pretty much the same throughout the ages. But that's my opinion. Only a few artists past and present really had videos that stuck out from the rest. People like Busta Rhymes, Eminem, Kanye West, Odd Future, Kendrick Lamar, etc... Other than that a lot of big artists videos have always been forgetable affairs. Only difference between now and then is that you can avoid the videos while in the past you were pretty much forced to watch the videos because they were on constant rotation on MTV, BET, VH1 etc...
 
boombapdame said:
Do you feel that when it comes to contemporary Hip Hop videos it is as if you have seen one, you've seen them all? I remember when Hype, Ratner, Woodruff, Little X, etc. brought in the big budget videos which defined an aesthetic for each artist but also became parodic and/or satirical synonymous with what the masses thought a video should be. I don't even bother to watch what passes for music videos and I'm not a stuck in a certain era head nor am I a defender nor detractor of the so-called "culture."
Click to expand...

As much as I think rapper skills have declined. video and music production is where I see the improvements. Forget about the themes being recycled. What I love is the fact that a creative independent person can now create their own videos where they have their own creative control



 
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I always found that relationship kinda interesting.

It's the debate that goes "Do cheaper tools allow unprofessional/novices to create?"
Or is it about sharing, where you could always have made something low/no-budget, but you couldn't share it- like you can now.

Or are viewers/us to blame since we have so much content thrown at us, we barely absorb it and it doesn't matter.

I used to rush home to watch videos or whenever I was bored, I turned to the 'video channel' and watch whatever was on.
It didn't even matter what genre, I was just watching videos. Seeing anything they were playing.

Now it's all blogs and there are (at least) 10 NEW videos a day. I doubt I'm watching all 10 and that means I aint checking the ones from yesterday or the day before ever again, unless it had such an impact on first viewing that I'm sharing it (going viral) because I liked it or hated it. But whatever impact it had to be extreme.

We watch more, but see less.


Why go overboard with the videos if they have so little meaning among viewers?
 
Matter of fact, look at the video section of this site.
Post a link to a video and it's pushed off the main page in 12 hours.

That kind of hyper activity shows the effect. If there was one video being uploaded every 3 days, there might be more staying power.
More views and it might be worth doing.
 
You guys choose the wrong music and then complain. Your feelings do not count because you cause your own suffering by making poor choices. You feel bad because you punish yourself by listening to bad music.

It is the same thing as someone getting a stomachache after eating junk food and then getting mad at the junk food manufacturers. Why get mad at people for putting out junk? You continue to consume it over and over and over again. You never take responsibility for your own actions.

You do the same thing and expect different results. You are being foolish on a perpetual basis. Choose smartly for a change.

Just choose the right music from the beginning and you will not have these "the state of hip-hop" rants every two weeks.

 
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I think music videos are all about creativity. I mean check this UK track by Dot Rotten. Apparently a kid of only 14 years of age (or something like that) made this music video. I think its cool

 
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Zonic said:
I was thinking about this the other day... not the fact that if you
seen one, you seen them all (which i agree with btw) but ain't it
funny how technology continues to get better and cheaper day
by day yet videos today are worst than those in the past? lol

and it's not just the fact that they are worst but DRASTICALLY worst.

You can prb. recreate a past Hype Williams video with 1-3 percent of the
budget today yet noone is even capable of doing it.

It's not just with videos, the same goes with music and almost every other
field.... the tools become better and affordable with time, but the end product
today is worst than past generations.

I always found that relationship kinda interesting.
Click to expand...

Its cuz limitations forces us to be more creative
 
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