ROUNDUP: A Great Year for Music Videos
North Ave Jax and Conswank on set for the “Wrong Choices” video shoot.
Music videos used to be rare around here. Especially good ones. Since the dot com launched in 2018, top quality music videos for 802 hip hop songs have become almost routine. This cultural transformation has been driven by remarkably few people. We're only talking about a dozen or two operators making it all happen, whether as solo auteurs (word to Sammy Chan TV) or small teams (word to Holy Smokes). One of the beauties of having a small scene is the fact anyone with talent & a work ethic can make a big difference.
Gutta - Today Remix
It's only fair that we start with a Love, Kelly video. Not only has the multi-talented young changemaker inspired a lot of new videography talent, he's put a big damn stamp on the entire scene, too. At his level, every collaboration is an implicit co-sign, and Gutta has been making smart moves since his debut. Anyone looking to make a low-budget video should watch this one at least three times and take notes. Kelly was clearly working fast & dirty, but he mines so many great shots and cuts, combined with a fully stocked armory of b-roll, that it stays engaging the whole time. That magic trick is the core of the artform.
Charlie Mayne - Funk Like This
Charlie Mayne didn't drop much music in 2023, but he doesn't really have to. He & his team have always had a knack for making the most out of a single, and sure enough, "Funk Like This" took Best Music Video in the 2023 Vermont Hip Hop Awards. Throwing a party to shoot a music video will never be a bad idea, and doing it by a beach? Even better. It's a perfect fit for such an easygoing, straightforward track, and as ever, the camera loves Mr. Mayne. Dude is a natural and he's going to be even harder to avoid in 2024, too. Big things coming soon, bud.
Conswank - Mad Life
The collaborative streak between 99 Neighbors alum Conswank and up & coming video team Holy Smokes got a ton of nominations. Specifically, they got a ton of nominations for every single video they dropped in 2023, a wave of movie-quality product that turned a lot of heads far outside our Green Mountain State. “Mad Life,” in particular, was a fan favorite in 2023, and for good reason. Even from major labels with major budgets, videos seldom look this cinematic.
Konflik - Don't Let 'Em ft. Termanology
This was a standout cut on Konflik's latest album, lacing a soulful & catchy Nastee beat with two tightly written verses from veteran masters of ceremony. Just about a perfect single, all in all. The video is a gritty slice-of-life piece, maximizing post-processing tricks like distressed textures & color grading to make a couple simple shoots hang together nicely. This is a team with decades of experience and anyone looking to make a living off this rap shit should, again, take notes.
rivan - CA$H
This crackling Fear & Loathing treatment should have been on the ballot for Best Music Video. I'm grateful that rivan (all lower case these days) is a forgiving dude, because that was a jumbo-size fuckup on my behalf. The Holy Smokes team did incredible work here. From the framing to the pacing, this joint is clearly a labor of love because nobody involved had to go quite that hard to justify getting paid. They all did, though.
Nahte Renmus - Stovepipe ft. Kool Keith
Best Music Video was a damn crowded field. Which explains why the Nahte Renmus LP FUNK.95 would get nominated for Best Album but this wild video - with a dialed-in, Ultramagnetic-grade Kool Keith feature, no less - did not make the cut. This is a timeless and wonderfully strange video for an equally unique track, though.
Sad Boy Julius - Out the Mud ft. Xistential
I respect this crew a lot because a year & change back when, they politely let me know they were going to raise the bar in 2023. Then they did. Sad Boy Julius, Xistential and NorthEast Youngin’ have been building a wave all their own, and I think they’re going to be a sleeper success story in ‘24. For “Out the Mud,” they hit up the 802 godfathers, Matt Vinci and Miles Goad. That duo has been behind a lot of professional product and this joint is no exception.
North Ave Jax, jetsonmade - I Can't Stop
Finally, North Ave Jax has been dropping big singles again, and his recent run has been a hard turn into, well, straight-up pop. Ain’t no other way to spin that one. It's a lane that his breezy vocal style suits, and with industry super-producer jetsonmade behind the boards, "I Can't Stop" is a slamming Radio Hit Type Beat. I’m curious to see if his next project resembles this, or a return to form — either way, it’s cool that LVRN encourages their artists to experiment.