Music videos are a weird art form.
They're often just a promotional add-on to a medium that works just fine on its own. In fact i think
most of the time music works better without visuals.Videos seem
To limit song somehow.For me
Atleast.They close down the possible ways i can experience the music.
Most of the time
Ayyyyy
Thirty millions later, know the feds watchin' Auntie on my telegram,
like, "Be cautious!" I be hangin' out at Tam's,
I be on Stockton I don't do it for the 'Gram, I do it for
Compton
Kendrick Lamar's new video for his song element is a powerful
example of a music video actually expanding
my experience of the song rather than collapsing it
And it's got me thinking about what exactly makes for
compelling work in this in between medium
Watching this, I think the answers has something to do with
Collaboration.
Kendrick is known for a lot of things.
He occupies a really rarified place in popular culture
Celebrating for quality and integrity. Pretty much across the board, with a couple notable exception
This is why I say that Hip Hop has done more damage
to young African Americans than Racism
in recent Years.
But we'll get back to that in a little while
One of the things that's less talked about is Kendrick's ability to work seamlessly
with Other artists
Of course
Collaboration is sort of a prerequisite for Hip Hop.
Good rap music depends on the fusion of lyrics and production
Kendrick's role as a marked artist in hip hop
Is a lot like
That of a film director who acts in his own work
He can control the lyrical content and it's delivery
himself but it's also up to him to choose
Other artists
According to their strengths and help them realise their own creativity
In the service of his vision. Working with him
throughout the process for me it was like very
it was like
being needed like
like a piece off dough you it felt like somebody was like
bending and stretching and like pulling different things out
It's this kind of skill For directorial collaboration that
makes Kendrick's music videos so strong.
To understand the Element video, you have to understand first
The collaborators. In this case there are two : One living and one dead.
The first is Jonas Lindstroem
a commercial fashion photographer from Berlin Lindstroem
directed the video alongside
the little homies which is the pseudonym for Kendrick and
Dave Free the President of Top Dawg Entertainment
Element is highly reminiscent of Lindstroms previous
work namely his short film
Truth or dare which features twenty one performances
or "Vignettes" , and elevated version of the
content found on Mobile phones
Interested in the boundary between photography
And film. Lindstroem is great at creating These slow moving
"Tableaux" that serve as a reference point for
a larger environment. In Element, Kendrick has him apply
To his own, namely to the violence that's been
an inescapable fact of that environment for his whole life
Violence has always been a preoccupation of Kendrick's work
He's examined it from every angle. Looking at the violence
That ...he's endured
Sometimes at hands of those closest to him "I been stomped out in front of my Mama
"My daddy commissary made it to commas"
"Bitch, all my grandmas"
"dead, So ain't nobody prayin' for me, I'm on your head, ayy"
The violence he's caused and the he used to
Oppress his race. And the violence his friends
And family visit on themselves Each of these facets
of violence is distilled into a photographic
moment.Some of them..connect.
But they're scrambled, drawing you into this turning cycle
Of violence that is the result of all these
distinct images
Kendrick can't be sure that he himself
hasn't contributed to this cycle. He's
Deeply conflicted about his violent past and about his position as
Rap's "Savior"
Following the rapturous reception of his last album
"To pimp a butterfly" . In many ways "Damn" is
a review to that perceived divine status. And "Element"
Is a prime example of that review showing that he's not
Above Hip Hop's competitive 'shit talk"
Niggas thought they wasn't gonna see me, huh? Niggas thought that K-Dot
real life. Was the same life they see on TV, huh?
Niggas wanna flex on me and be in L.A. for free, huh?
Next time they hit the 10 freeway, we need receipt, huh?
The one thing Kendrick Lamar is sure about
Is that the music itself is not the
Problem.
Bla
Kendrick plays this sample elsewhere on the album. Clearly it's something he's russled with
But for Kendrick, Music is way to cope with
and understand his world. Not the cause of it's ill.
And this is where his second collaborator comes in.
Three of the shots in Element are direct references to
the work of Gordon Parks.One of America's all time
Great Photo-Journalist and Film-makers
Parks was the first prominent commercial Photographer to capture the
the Black Experience for a nation wide audience
His focus on the inner cities for Life Magazine
Was hugely important during that period
And the power of his Photography is that it forces people to "SEE"
What would otherwise remain
Invisble to them. Parks was heralded for his ability to
Get close to his subjects, to earn their trust
So that he could illuminate the intimate truths of their lives.
Here we go. I don't give a f#ck, I don't give a f#ck
I don't give a, I don't give a, I don't give a f#ck
By citing parts , Kendrick aligns their
Artistic goals. He, like Parks , commits to depicting the realities
Of his community with clear eyes.
Even if that means depicting himself as the product
Of violent culture or a violent country,
or sometimes as someone who perpetuates those things.
I'm not a big fan of Music videos but the way Kendrick
Brings the vision of Lindstrom and Parks to sink
With his own is masterful.
The result of this collaboration is Music video that operates as
Alot more like a poem that
Connects the song and the album content
With more touchdowns , not less.
Element is a video that let's you look into Kendrick's world
And in the end for a brief terrifying moment ,
Forces you to see through it's eyes.
If I gotta go hard on a bitch, I'ma make it look sexy
I pull up, hop out, air out, made it look sexy
They won't take me out my element Nah, take me out my element
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I will see you guys next time.