Check out new music videos from Rick Ross, Pharoahe Monch and Jill Scott, The Constellations with Cee Lo, Ladyhawke and Sam Sparro.
Contrary to popular opinion, Rihanna has not cornered the market on “yellow diamonds.” America’s favorite former corrections officer Rick Ross has unveiled his drug dealing fantasies in “Yella Diamonds,” another cut off of oft-delayed “God Forgives, I Don’t.” I thought I told that man to keep off his feet.
Featured is Bawse choking a “b*tch” and showing a Latino cohort how he does and does not want his business to get done.
Ross rhymes “n*gga” with “n*gga” a few too many times for my taste and that glittery beat, changing notes twice, gets to be tiresome. It’d be one thing if it weren’t both, but it is.
Check the bumpers for Maybach Music and “God Forgives” before AND after the vid. We get it, it’s coming. K.
If you want a rapper who can class this thing up, then look to Pharoahe Monch, who at least dressed up for his occasion in “Still Standing.” He also tapped Jill Scott, whose dizzyingly spectacular vocals are met with sampled strings and a fresh beat.
https://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.jshttps://admin.brightcove.com/js/APIModules_all.jsbrightcove.createExperiences();
He just say he was the “opposite of Jigga Man?” I’m listening. Monch has always been a mouthful, and this dramatic clip has a little something important to say.
Ladyhawke has her own thoughts on “real life” with “Black White & Blue.” The electro-pop number will have you out of your seat, gyrating for the cameras in the late 1970s, if you’re lucky.
The clip is a nod to Faye Dunaway-starring “The Eyes of Laura Mars,” and its styling is empeccable. It doesn’t surprise me it was directed by Tabitha Denholm, of the DJ duo Queens of Noize and helmer behind several of Florence + The Machine’s style-heavy music videos like “Letter From LA” and “Not Fade Away.”
Oh and that reminds me, do you guys remember that grueling, fetishistic, arty little Devendra Banhart video? The one with the blood and the fingers? Oh man.
The guy who did that one is back, and has done to videos for Cults, this most recent one for “You Know What I Mean.” Since the man seems to specialize in subversion, subculture and the art of the mini-movie, he has a treatment on a daredevil and his woman. He previously made the video for Cults’ “Go Outside.”
Ah, I love love.
And speaking of love, “Love Is a Murder” is The Constellations’ assertion, and they got Cee Lo Green to preach the message.
I was hoping to forget rap rock, but these guys are kinda bringing it back in their own clappy way. They must be punished. I have an idea on how.
Green shows up just for a bridge verse, in a haze. Actress Kate Micucci does, too, and she’ll make you feel just as nuts.
Sam Sparro’s sophomore set will apparently be a “Return to Paradise.” The album has been led off with “The Shallow End,” which looks like it was shot in Instagram.
“Crazy people need love too,” he says. Good point. I loved his funky “Black and Gold,” and this cut (released late last month) suits him. “Return to Paradise” is due some time this spring.