RocNation

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Rihanna "Pour It Up" (Robyn Rihanna Fenty, dir.)

While you might be tempted to view this as Rihanna showing the young'ns how Twerking is done — all respect to Ms. Miley, of course — keep in mind that photos from this shoot first crept out in May, way before the word was enshrined in the Oxford English Dictionary.

In fact there's a huge backstory here, teased in this little Twitter back and forth between director Vincent Haycock and Rihanna:

How's the video itself? Well, it's got pasties, strippers, twerking and a whole lot of content that's probably the unsafe side of NSFW. To summarize the wise man Chazz Michael Michaels, "It's provocative." 

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Jay Z "Picasso Baby" (Mark Romanek, dir.)

"I decided that I want to have a work that connects me more with the public, that concentrates … on the interaction between me and the audience.

I want to have a simple table, installed in the center of the atrium, with two chairs on the sides. I will sit on one chair and a square of light from the ceiling will separate me from the public.

Anyone will be free to sit on the other side of the table, on the second chair, staying as long as he/she wants, being fully and uniquely part of the Performance.

I think this work [will] draw a line of continuity in my career."

- Marina Abramovic, artist [in a letter to her curator about her 2010 MoMA show The Artist Is Present]

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J-Cole "Power Trip" (Mike Piscitelli, dir.) [NSFW]

J. Cole Power Trip Featuring Miguel

Director Mike Piscitelli ensures you won't hear this new J. Cole single as just another love song, delivering a dark meditative tale set back in the rapper's Fayetteville, NC hometown. The basic set-up is a love triangle of sorts, involving Miguel and a beautiful woman, but J-Cole's solution is probably closer to what you'd expect in a Sopranos episode than in a video for a critically and commercially acclaimed hip-hop star.

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Melanie Fiona "Wrong Side..." (Larenz Tate, dir.)

Melanie Fiona "Wrong Side Of A Love Song" [Official Video]

There's some star power behind this new Melanie Fiona — it premiered on Jay-Z's Life+Times site, stars Omari Hardwick, and was directed by actor Larenz Tate  (Menace II Society and lots more) — but the video would stand alone even without those talking points.