A little performance, a little lyrical video, a little artwork from Matt Mahurin (where the heck have you been, man?), a drill sergeant channeling his inner R. Lee Ermey: Put them together, and you have a new video from Muse for their forthcoming album Drones.
Eminem, Royce da 5'9", Big Sean, Danny Brown, Dej Loaf, Trick Trick // Detroit Vs. Everybody
Watch the video here: youtu.be/CaQ--nkusNQ
Record Label: Interscope/Shady Records
Production: Simian Design Group & Third Wheel Entertainment
Post Production: Simian Design Group
Director Representation: Morgan Lane & LARK Content
Director: Kyle Cogan
Producer: Megan St. John
Director of Photography: Tom Kinstle
Animation/VFX: Yusuf McCoy, Kyle Cogan, Marty Kane, and Jess Weber.
Noted music video critic and head of the Anti Defamation League Abraham Foxman is not happy with the lyric video for Nicki Minaj:
Nicki Minaj’s new video disturbingly evokes Third Reich propaganda and constitutes a new low for pop culture’s exploitation of Nazi symbolism. The irony should be lost on no one that this video debuted on the 76th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the “night of broken glass” pogrom that signaled the beginning of the Final Solution and the Holocaust.
It is troubling that no one among Minaj’s group of producers, publicists and managers raised a red flag about the use of such imagery before ushering the video into public release.
This video is insensitive to Holocaust survivors and a trivialization of the history of that era. The abuse of Nazi imagery is deeply disturbing and offensive to Jews and all those who can recall the sacrifices Americans and many others had to make as a result of Hitler’s Nazi juggernaut.
No comment, however, on lyrics like:
Yo, I never fucked Wayne, I never fucked Drake
On my life, man, fuck's sake
If I did I menage with 'em and let 'em eat my ass like a cupcake
The "Only" lyric video is styled like an old comic book or cartoon — the intro should remind you of Looney Tunes — and is generally a jumble of references to power: Fascism, totalitarianism, religion, militarism and other 'isms. Being offended by the Young Money logo styled as red armbands, but not being offended by Drake as a priest who boasts of getting great oral from thick women, or Nicki's invitation to eat her ass like a cupcake seems odd. But both the ADL and Nicki Minaj have reasons to stay in the media, so you don't need to be a total cynic to chalk this up as an example of the symbiotic online churn. The attention here works well on all levels: Nicki's lyric video gets millions of views and press attention, and the ADL gets to focus attention their noble cause.
PS: Nicki responded to the criticism on Twitter, with a sensible "I'm very sorry & take full responsibility if it has offended anyone. I'd never condone Nazism in my art" (although most crisis PR experts would have advised she left out the "I didn't come up with the idea" and "my best friend is Jewish" parts):
The artist who made the lyric video for “Only” was influenced by a cartoon on Cartoon Network called "Metalocalypse" & Sin City.
