Recommendations of the editorial team
The music video almost died, pessimists like Krakeelen. After the slow dying of the music channels, it only seemed a matter of time before artists would do without the expensive visual productions. But the video cannot be killed, has reinvented itself and is more important than ever today. Whether as a political comment, dramatic short film or colorful state of the art: music is more changeable on the visual side than ever before. We have chosen nine music videos for you that have their legitimate place in the eternal halls of fame.
The Pharcyde – Drop (1995)
“How do they do that?” – In the mid -nineties, the spectators were sitting in front of the television in the mid -nineties, while The Pharcyde’s Californians fell to “drop” through their music video and got rid of their clothes. None other than cross-head director Spike Jonze (“Being John Malkovich”, “Her”) filmed this rap video milestone, for which The Pharcyde learned the text backwards with linguists in order to make the heads of the incredulous spectators explode.
Eminem – Stan (2000)
The pregnant Dido lies in bed, strokes the ball -round belly. A short time later, Stanley, the child’s father, shouted at her, struck the bathroom door and moved into the basement to write his idol letters. The basement walls are decorated with countless posters from Marshall Mathers, while the thunderstorm in the background already tells of the upcoming tragedy.
The Detroiter Legend Eminem has created a whole series of iconic pop culture moments in the past 20 years, but none is as urgent as the story about the fanatical Stan. Whether you get goose bumps when the car and it and the pregnant Dido in the trunk falls down the bridge or at the very last moment when Eminem even hits the knowledge like a lightning strike in the darkest storm – don’t leave a “Stan” cold.
Samy Deluxe – Wake me up (2001)
In contrast to the US rap, German rap does not exactly have an impressively long history as a socially critical vehicle for suspended and minorities. An exception is the dystopian black and white video for “Wake me up” of the Hamburg Samy Deluxe. In an out -of -body experience, he reports, among other things, of drug use for the lack of perspective or racial profiling by the police, long before the awareness of this has also reached the middle of society and is therefore still frustratingly up to date, at least today. The visual journey through the deepest abysses in the Federal Republic is the opposite of a feel-good movie and is therefore so important.
Outkast – Hey Ya! (2003)
How much fun a music video can be, to which you want to shake like a polaroid picture, proves “Hey Ya!” of the two innovators André 3000 and Big Boi Aka Outkast. In the truest sense of the word, an André-One-Man show, he simply plays all members of the fictional band “The Love Below” himself in the classic TV setting and tears off the hut in front of a group of screeching women in the best Beatles manner. No wonder that the euphoric roller coaster ride was obtained from a video of various price and was even voted “Video of the Year” at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2004.
Sido – My Block (2004)
When the Berliners took over the local rap scene at the beginning of the new millennium, parents and censors played as crazy. Although the remix to Sido’s “Mein Block” was one of the hits of the hour, on TV it was impossible to hear all the lines of the song uncensored that seemed to have sprung the nightmares of the middle class. Despite these adversity, the mask man finally laid the foundation for his comet -like ascent with the report from the Märkische Viertel in Berlin. Not least because of the blatant opposites, the gray blocks and the colorful parties that capture the microcosm in the video and develop a disturbing attraction.
Cro – Easy (2011)
If suddenly everyone wants to have an outfit, how the woman from the “Easy” video or optionally would like to get to know a woman who dresses like her, then you can roughly guess what effects the Cro-video had after its publication on youth culture in Germany. Cut off T-shirts, short jeans and still like to open a hat: long before influencer was a topic, the panda from Stuttgart once influenced an entire target group with summer vibes and push its own fashion brand inconspicuously. After that, many tried to do the concept of the protagonist, but the momentum of Cro remains unmatched.
Tyler, The Creator – Yonkers (2011)
Hobby-Stungenfried Tyler, The Creator 2011, demonstrated how to disturb with simple means with his video for “Yonkers”. A cockroach, black contact lenses, a loop and a stool are enough to stage this hell trip. Kanye West, who declared it one of the best of 2011, also had enthusiasm for the video. Seven years later, over 100,000,000 times were looked at on YouTube alone, as Tyler vomited and ends up on the rope. The Tilt-and-Shift lenses, which repeatedly shift the sharpness in the picture, give the whole another another unpleasant level. With this music video, the then almost 20-year-old sat down a creepy monument, in which he also directed himself.
Kendrick Lamar – Alright (2015)
Music videos of the most important rapper in the world are more than just pure accompanying work. They are a social comment, are documentary manifesto, are a voice for black America and also celebrating humanity and for a cooperation. Although every video of Kendrick Lamar is a overflowing collection of cross -references and metaphors, “Alright” still stands out. It takes two minutes for the actual song to start and until then police officers have worn a car full of black, the church has found its symbolic place and showed the violence its gruesome face. Nevertheless, the basic tenor is not a completely more negative one.
Technically impressively, Kendrick flies through the neighborhood like Superman, hangs upside down between his friends on the west coast and raps at a dizzying height at a traffic light. And even when he is caught by the ball of a police officer, it is not over for King Kenny. The last thing you can see in the video filmed in black and white: a smile.
Drake – hotline bling (2016)
There is no person who has better understood the meme age than the Canadian rapper Drake. Whether Kiki-Challenge (“in my feelings”) or emotional bridge of the button (“God’s Plan”): Aubrey Graham understands how something becomes viral. The best example is the video for “Hotline Bling”, whose parodies are now likely to go into the hundreds. Even Donald Trump danced to the flashing telephone connection at SNL. Cubist studios, bright colors and drakes notoriously bad dancing gave the video almost one and a half billion (!) Views and born memes, which are used even more than three years later even with the fast-moving Instagram and Snapchat generation. Making a new meme? Nope. Reusing Old Drake Memes? Yup!