Director Carlos Lopez Estrada and Executive Producer Kimberly S Stuckwisch have officially announced the launch of their new production company, Little Ugly. Based in LA and represented for music videos by Reprobates, the director roster includes:
A crate-digging expedition where Black Eyed Peas go back to their roots with visual and audio recreations of everyone from De La Soul to N.W.A. to Public Enemy.
And as Erykah Badu pointed out, it is a similar concept to her "Honey" video, but the album homage is tried and true with examples from Liz Phair to Cornershop and, most recently and memorably, Roy Kafri —and, hey, sampling is as old as hip-hop itself.
This footage might look like old-school VHS, but nope: It's an iPhone 6. Don't let that fool you into thinking that anyone can make the awesomeness that ensues on-screen: Director Carlos Lopez Estrada depicts a long-distance relationship as if it was an insane side-scrolling video game where the two lovers beat crazy odds to get back together.
A cut-and-paste eye and mouth technique makes this the strangest beauty video ever, but it also serves a practical purpose in concealing identities when the cops show to arrest director Carlos Lopez Estrada and bust this guerilla video shoot.
Permits? We need permits?
Luckily, things get back on track for further twists and turns.
Animation and whimsy abound in this clever homage to both one-take and NSFW videos. The easy explanation of "Black Sail" is "Polygonal people get down during a date night that ends in sweet sweet babymaking love," but it's a lot more wild and fun than that.