Pusha T and Rick Ross explore their home territory, a seedy underworld of, well, it has something to do with kilos and Arm & Hammer. Director Samuel Rogers creates a visual world where the smoke is thick, the daylight is harsh and eventually somebody kicks down the door. Come for the Griselda Blanco lookalike, stay for Pusha's wide-eyed performance.
Some of the most impactful videos are the simplest — the emotional close-up on Sinead O'Connor for "Nothing Compares 2 U," or the body exploration of D'Angelo for "Untitled" — and this Rihanna clip has a similar set-up and intimacy.
Jon Bon has the band back together and they're gigging at small rooms, like the local burlesque club and the photogenic-ly grimy boxing gym. You know, typical Bon Jovi venues.
Celebrated director Sophie Muller has made videos for Alicia Keys, Gwen Stefani, Beyonce, Shakira, Sade, Annie Lennox, Ellie Goulding, Garbage, Dixie Chicks and many more. Now you can add Rihanna to that impressive (yet abbreviated) list..
The Fall Out Boy comeback is underway with a new song and a teaser video that features lots of fire. Despite the presence of 2Chainz in the video (not the song) and an opening vamp that sounds a bit like "Power," the song hits that Michael Jackson x hair metal x pop/punk sweetspot that typified the band back in the day.
Rick Ross takes the directing reins for "Pirates," heading out to the high seas with a trunkful of booty. So to speak. Snark aside, production crew DRE Films delivers an updated "Hypnotize" vibe as Ross rules Biscayne Bay from a cigarette boat and an underwater throne.
While his partner goes off to do a little acting in Seattle, Big Boi keeps it realer than real in his Atlanta hometown. Director A. Papalexopoulos delivers the whiplash drive-bys and rapid fire performances from Sir Lucious Left Foot, The King of the South and the cop from that New Years Eve movie, all with a glorious old school feel that'll make you think your Motorola 2way is blowing up .
2 Chainz, the break-out guest rapper of 2012, takes it solo in the new year with a blast of Miami style from fashion-world director Elisha Smith-Leverock. With his boat getting a tow from an armored car and more logo-blurs than Nas in Times Square, the former Tity Boi makes a big-time impression. Plus, there's a glorious Rick James-esque leopard print outfit. That lepotard should get its own Grammy.
Since the interlude riff is a clear homage to the distinctive appregio "Mr Brightside," it's fitting that "Miss Atomic Bomb" is a sequel to that classic video. Izabella Miko and Eric Roberts reprise their Brightside roles — she's the stunning ingenue and he's the disreputable skeeze who twirls her away from her true love, Killers singer Brandon Flowers. The story is mainly told through animated flashbacks — think a less trippy/dirty Heavy Metal — from a much older Flowers who's apparently the only person in a desert trailer not making meth. --> watch "Miss Atomic Bomb"
There's some luck in this video, with people being rescued from loneliness and worse, but it's mainly a showcase for International pop star Kerli orchestrating some EDM madness in Los Angeles. --> watch "The Lucky Ones"
