Video Birthed the Rap Star

I

Not many people will debate the importance of the music video in the spreading of rap and Hip-Hop culture to people outside of the New York Metropolitan area. Rarely, however, do I see a blow by blow account of how these videos developed into the art form that they once were. The story is usually told from the viewpoint of someone sitting on their couch in Boise starting with MTV this or MTV that; it’s always an outsider’s perspective. We, on the other hand, will have a heavy leaning on the earlier, pre-Yo! MTV Raps/Rap City side for the simple reason that it’s an era that is slowly fading from the public’s memory and there is little to no scholarship dedicated to it.

We can’t talk about rap videos (or any media, really) without talking about our desire as youth to find something that resembles self. Now, that normally appears in the form of rap videos but that didn’t exist for us. Ok, The Sugarhill Gang had a video for “Rapper’s Delight” — an uninspiring, boring, energy-sapping video with Wonder Mike, Big Bank Hank, and the one they call Master G doing the two step in front of some paid, white audience — a sterile affair that if I saw it first, who knows… Not that I saw it all when it came out — video shows, to my recollection, weren’t a thing in 1979–1980.

Our first dose of videos came via a Channel 12 video show called Teletunes who’s opening was always King Crimson’s wacky (to us) “Elephant Talk.” We would hear that Tony Levin, Chapman Stick baseline and strap in for a couple of hours of Rock videos…with an occasional Black one peppered in for good measure.

We were turned on to Musical Youth, The Specials, Billy Ocean (before he broke it big in the US) and other Black British acts — but no Black Americans and no Hip Hop videos …not that there were any that I can think of off hand. Closest that we got to that was the Tom Tom Club’s “Genius of Love.” I remember being so disappointed that it was a cartoon. I wanted to see who the hell made this funky song. Years later, I would learn that the people behind the Tom Tom club were members of Talking Heads.

The first rap video that I can remember seeing was Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s “The Message.” A video that contained some of the worst lip synching known to man. Of course, that’s because, aside from Melle Mel, no one was rapping their lyrics nor was the voice we heard theirs…but that’s neither here nor there. Although we got a view of the rappers in awkwardly posed shots and on-the-scene footage of “gritty” 80s New York, it was mostly a bunch of B-roll and awful Abekas effects. The video left much to be desired. So much so that it wasn’t one of the videos we clamored to see. Rap didn’t translate well to videos…but breaking did.

I have to say for the uninitiated that what we considered Hip-Hop then was far different from what is considered Hip-Hop now. Now it almost always includes rap or something rap like. Back then, if we could pop and break to it, it was Hip-Hop. But many artist failed to tap into that. I saw Shannon’s video “Let The Music Play” (an anthem at the time) for the first time before I started this paragraph. Had she included some b-boys and b-girls, people would still mention that video in the annals of their favorite, pre-rap, Hip-Hop videos. Cherelle got the memo for her King Kong inspired “Didn’t Mean to Turn You On” which featured a breakdancing Kong. Still not quite it. Instead that distinction goes to a group already three decades into their career — Gladys Knight and the Pips’ for their chart breaking “Save The Over Time” video.

Although rap was popular, if you lived outside of the New York metropolitan area…or were young, your experience with rap being a culture was pretty slim. We heard rap songs and lumped them together with all the other songs we liked — there was no term applied to it or anything like that. But when rocking (bka breakdancing) blew up in 1983 — it all tied together. The architects behind that were primarily Michael Holman and Fab Five Freddy. We’ll get back to Fab Five. Right now Holman is who we’ll deal with.

Michael Holman, who’s name you may not hear often, had vision. He could see how what was going on Uptown in the Bronx would connect with the Downtown, Manhattan scene — his main goal: to expose the city, the country, and ultimately the world to Hip-Hop. He began taking people uptown to take it all in. One of the people Holman took on his uptown safari was Malcolm McClaren who put out the Joe Butt directed “Buffalo Gals” video in support of his Duck Rock album.

“Buffalo Gals” opened with a writer getting up (spraying ‘graffiti’), and featured the World Famous Supreme Team who were already popular for their Awesome Two Show on WHBI. The video has some resonance but that dosey dough business with the women dressed in what I guess was high end hobo wear (which was actually the Vivienne Westwood ‘Buffalo Girls’ fashion line) was so super corny. I’m sure the art and fashion world appreciated it but that was a serious turnoff. It could be my opinion, but even though the Rock Steady Crew were in the video, I wouldn’t say it was a successful vehicle for disseminating Hip-Hop. One can imagine that Holman didn’t quite see the video as a success either. He evidently had other ideas for his cultural exposure mission. The trojan horse — breakdancing.

There were several crews around at the time but Holman wanted a super group. As mentioned, there was the Rock Steady Crew that McClaren tapped for his video. But there was also the Magnificent Force, Uptown Express, the Fantastic Duo, the Flash Dancers, Larry Watson and Jason Twigg, the Heartbreakers, and the Dynamic Breakers. (to name a few). One story goes that Holman set out to get Rock Steady who were battling the Floor Masters. But to everyone’s surprise, the Floor Masters won the battle. Holman liked what he saw, wanted a more high-energy group and set about adding on to the Masters. As soon as he put the crew together — he took the new group, now christened as the New York City Breakers, on the road. And this is when breaking exploded. The New York City Breakers were on Merv Griffin, The Today Show, Soul Train, they even performed at Reagan’s Inauguration ball…but that would be later.

It was this exposure that I’m sure led to Director/Choreographer Kenny Ortega (a legend in his own right) booking the New York City Breakers for the Gladys Knight video. At the time, Gladys Knight was in her late 30s and her group had not had a hit in almost a decade. “Save The Overtime” was funky, a summer jam, and once the visuals were added, it was a sure fire hit. This was the first video that I recall dying to see as much as possible — and that’s due to Holman’s NYC Breakers and Ortega’s setting up the video so as to highlight the b-boy’s moves.

It was liked the floodgates opened. Ortega again tossed some b-boys in Denise Williams’ “Let’s Hear it for the Boys” though not as effectively. But by then we had other choices — breaking was everywhere. The only rap video that I can think of that was of any significance in ’83 — early ’84 was The World Famous Supreme Team Show’s “Hey DJ.” There was a little b-boy action in there but the song itself carried it — the breaking…not so much. Holman would go on and parlay that success into the one episode (but still legendary) Graffiti Rock.

Let me take one more aside to dispel a myth. If you google Run DMC’s “Rock Box” you’ll see all of these accolades about how it broke on to MTV and how it influenced “people” everywhere. The “people” weren’t us. I don’t think anyone really cared for that video. It didn’t ring true to who we thought Run DMC were — you know, the people who made “Sucker MCs” — the real b-boy anthem of late ’83 — early ‘84. “Rock Box” is important because white people could relate — the end.

In those early years of Rap videos — non-rap songs stood out time and time again. One of our favorite videos of ’84 was one of the songs we knew strictly from the video — Break Machine’s “Street Dance.” It was a huge hit overseas despite the fact that we never heard it on Power 99. Instead, we knew the song from the music video only which was jam packed with phenomenal popping and decent breaking that took place on generic New York Streets. But “Street Dance” was not a rap song.

The first rap video that I can honestly say that I loved — that I truly wanted to watch endlessly was Whodini’s “The Freaks Come Out at Night.” This video had everything: it had rocking, it had rapping, it had fashion (I know you peeped that sheepskin), and best of all it took place at the first Rap Festival ever — The Swatch Watch Fresh Fest. Still, rap videos remained a novelty for the next few years. I can literally count on one hand how many videos I remember between 84–86. But I will take note of another Whodini video, “One Love.”

By today’s standards, it’s a simple affair: we open up on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade overlooking the Manhattan Skyline, we see Ecstacy, the Rapper Jalil, and Master D in their fine, 1986 wears, then something different happens. Up until that point, rap videos were a simple performance, dance related type genre, but the next scene in “One Love” has Master Dee flexing his acting muscles as he and his presumed girlfriend have a fight. Frustrated, Dee rolls out, hops in his drop top Mercedes and pulls off. I would be lying if I say I recognized the significance of it then but now I think it may be the first time narrative was introduced in a rap video.

The team behind the video, Atlantis Productions, consisted of Pamela Gibson, producer, and Rolando Hudson, director. They endeared themselves to Russell Simmons with their hustle to direct Dana Dane’s “Nightmares” by offering up half the $3,000 budget. Impressed with the result, Russ threw them more work with bigger budgets (The budget for “Love” was $35,000) and Atlantis would create some of the first iconic Rap and R&B videos…for Rush artist. Simmons was one of the first true marketing geniuses of Hip-Hop and he understood the importance of the visual. Because of this, we don’t have Jalil and Ecstasy lecturing Master D in a dank apartment somewhere — no, they are in a spacious loft (likely rented)— but what a good touch it is. We ‘feel’ like Whodini are successful.

Up until this point, we rarely knew what the artist we were listening to looked like and only a select few had videos. Sure, there as was an occasional Right On! or Word Up! magazine cover with a one page spread here in there, but a person’s appearance played no role in how you interpreted the music. We HEARD artist long before we ever SAW them. But that all seemed to change in 1987.

II

I checked the Internet, and bugged my older brother, and was unable to buttress my revisionist memory. But this is how I remember it. BET played an occasional rap video — when I say occasional I mean rarely. And to my recollection, I can’t think of any rappers plopping down on the couch with Donnie Simpson. But here was 20yr old LL Cool J, sitting, chillin’ — there to introduce his video. That’s my memory. Excitement. It was an event.

What I am clear about though is everyone in my 15 year old world was shook. The video, “I’m Bad,” was done by the previously mentioned Atlantis Productions — and they pulled out all the stops. The narrative was this: LL’s girlfriend is in full activist mode, hanging up and handing out ‘Drugs Kill’ flyers, when a non-descript car pulls up, a man in a suit, tie, and sunglasses jumps out and abducts her. Her screams send LL sprinting to aid her. But he’s too late. It’s perfect hero schlock. LL is so bad that he takes on what appears to be the Mob — and wins. And that’s just the narrative.

LL Cool J was so full of energy, sliding and gliding across the floor as he rapped, hand gestures to match his words. He jumps from palette to palette, running, crisscrossing his legs — kinetic. But we collectively fell out when L said his name was Jaws, his hat was like a shark’s fin. He squatted down and put his hand next to his red kangol imitating a shark fin…and that was just L’s movements.

LL and his crew were so damn cool. For the performance scenes, LL and E Love had on color coordinated red and black jogging suits — LL was rocking a Fila suit — before we even knew what Fila was…and what shoes was he wearing? LL didn’t have on the typical rope chain either. What kind of gold was that? E-Love has on what I think is a Sergio Tacchini jawn and Nike that I had never seen. There were two (2) DJs: Cut Creator and Bobcat, who breaks into a hardcore wop between cuts— scratching like their lives depend on it — also in red and black. It was amazing. Watching the video was the first time we heard the song. I have no memory of ‘I’m Bad’ without the visual.

Most of the hoopla today is written about the other Atlantis video for LL, “I Need Love” due to it’s oft-cited “first” — the first Rap, Love ballad. But that video did nothing for the imagination of young B-boys the way “I’m Bad” did. We wanted to be as cool as LL. A few months later, the B-girls would get their anthem too.

Much in the same way people only talk about “I Need Love” — the voices always sing holy praises for Salt N Pepa’s “Push It” — the B-Side. (The B side wins again). “Push It” went nuclear bomb big — so it’s understandable, but the video that put them on the map with most B-girls (and B-boys) was the video for the A-Side, “Tramp.”

We had already heard Salt N Pepa’s “I’ll Take Your Man” and “My Mic Sounds Nice” and those were hardcore Hip-Hop tracks. (A term we applied to songs with hard beats and rhymes — not the murder and mayhem that went along with the phrase in later years). I know a video exists for “I’ll Take Your Man” but we never saw it. So when we finally saw “Tramp” in the spring of ’87 we were in awe. The video matched how we thought they would look and then some.

Their style was impeccable: Celtics and Rockets hoodies respectively — but what was so ill to us was the two pair of socks (green and yellow & red and yellow) to match their sweatshirts. Then those haircuts were so fly. Asymmetrical hair styles may have been popular in New York but we had never seen anything like that. All I know is that shortly thereafter Salt N Pepa style hairdos were popping up left and right.

The dancing — yo, not since rocking was ruling our minds had we been so inspired by the dancing in a video: there was a modified wop, a section where they broke into a pre-Biz Mark dance routine, every move was fluid, the colors and styling of the dancers were bright and inviting, and I need to rack my brain, but it may have been the first dancing video of its kind.

The whole concept was revolutionary. The narrative has Salt N Pepa entering some form of nightclub/restaurant establishment — their black dresses on, and we see right away that they’re out to have a good time — with each other — they’re not looking for a man. The moment they enter the joint, however, men are hawking them; first being handed a card (“Luv Bug”) by an actor playing Salt N Pepa’s producer, Hurby Luv Bug Azur. Unimpressed, they toss the card back. Then they’re harrassed while sitting down and talking. The whole thing reminded me of “the dog” scene in the recently released, “She’s Gotta Have it” (86) where men throw out their corniest pick-up lines. We get some good cameos for our tramps too — Play of not yet known Kid N Play fame, Fab Five Freddy — yes, that Fab Five Freddy, and Dana Dane — to name the ones I can remember.

A silent revolution was taking place and a steady increase in volume made 1987 a benchmark in the rap video genre.

III

I watched the making of Yo! MTV raps documentary — I’ve read the oral history of MTV and if you go anywhere online you’ll see the accolades and praise of Ted Demme for shepherding in one of the most popular rap video shows. But as Minister Farrakhan has pointed out — there’s a difference between producing and creating. If Demme would have had the idea a year earlier, I would have to agree with MTV’s programming chief at the time, Lee Masters, there simply was not enough videos to sustain a show.

The explosion of rap videos in 1987 — in quantity and quality — made it possible. These videos, like Master of Ceremonies — ft Grand Puba’s “Sexy” where we see Dapper Dan and Shirt Kings in the same video, gave the viewer a peek into what life in the New York Hip-Hop scene was like — and if you lived outside of that area — it was a life that was unattainable — the average person had no idea that Gucci and Louis Vuitton weren’t making, thick, bomber coats with hat and shoes to match. This all added to the mystique.

Perhaps it’s because I was getting to an age where fashion mattered, or maybe Hip Hop was maturing into a more fashion-focused genre — whatever the case may be — when I think of videos from 87–88, I think of the fashion: Troop in UTFO’s “You Cold Wanna Be With Me,” the rope chains and green and blue Fila jawns in Rakim’s “I Ain’t No Joke,” the Nike (they were becoming a stronghold) in Kool Mo Dee’s “How You Like Me Now,” the ill custom leather jackets and hats…not to mention those Jordan 3s in BDP’s, “My Philosophy,” MC Lyte’s personalized leather jacket in “Paper Thin,” who can forget the Hightop fade of Big Daddy Kane in “Ain’t No Half Stepping,”and the list goes on.

But it wasn’t just the fashion that mesmerized me — my social awareness began with one video — Stetsasonic’s anti-apartheid song “A.F.R.I.C.A.” The video begins with an excerpt from Jesse Jackson’s July 1984 Address before the National Convention where Jackson points out the hypocrisy of US foreign policy.

Our foreign policy must be characterized by mutual respect, not by gunboat diplomacy, big stick diplomacy and threats. Our Nation at its best feeds the hungry. Our Nation at its worst, at its worst, will mine the harbors of Nicaragua; at its worst will try to overthrow their government, at its worst will cut aid to American education and increase the aid to El Salvador; at its worst, our Nation will have partnership with South Africa. That is a moral disgrace. It is a moral disgrace. It is a moral disgrace. (Applause) Jesse Jacskon

Let me tell you, the hook alone was an education, “A.F.R.I.C.A, Angola, Soweto, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, and Botswana, so let us speak about the motherland.” I can’t say that I ever thought about Africa at all, never mind knowing the names of countries. But here was this hook from the group that gave us, “On Fire,” naming countries that bordered and were affected by South Africa’s Apartheid policies. And that was just the hook.

The lyrics give us names: Dos Santos, Savimbi, Masire, Samora Machel, Kenneth Kaunda, SWAPO, Mugabe, MK, ANC, Nelson, & Winnie. They tell us who we should support, who the government of South Africa is supporting. It’s just a mind blowing song — especially to a sixteen year old. I had to look those names up — learn who these people were and figure out why it mattered to me. Because the last verse told us, “those are our brothers and sisters across the sea,” and laid down the challenge, “they need help but so do we; them with their government, us and mentality.”

Few videos would have that same type of impact — perhaps the original Brand Nubian “Wake Up” (‘91) video before MTV banned the white devil imagery would be a close second— Stetsasonic’s video awakened me in a way that had me ready to receive “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”…but that’s neither here nor there. The point is — it’s this video that will forever have me attest to the power of imagery and the affects that it has on the mind of the viewer.

As mentioned above, “Tramp” may have been the first video with a heavy sampling of dancing, but that number increased over the next year with great videos from Queen Latifah (“Dance For Me”), Kid N Play (“Gittin’ Funky”), Special Ed (“I Got it Made”) — everyone seemed to have dancers. MC Lyte had Leg One and Leg Two (“they do the jumping, the dancing the pumping always into something”), Big Daddy Kane featured famously Scoop and Scrap, De La Soul had China and Jett, and of course the originator of the two dancer front, Heavy D had Trouble T-Roy and G-Whiz. Yes, we felt the desire to take up being dancers and me and Sayyed Munajj became consummate imitators eventually taking on the names Zig & Zag (which is a story unto itself).

I’m not old enough to tell you how dances like the rock, the smurf, or the gigolo swept across the country but dances like the roger rabbit, running man, and whatever the hell that dance was where you looked like you were elbowing someone on your left, your right, pulling yourself out of a box and putting yourself back in…whatever that dance was called, yeah — they all spread through music videos.

IV

Spring of ’87 was when we began duplicating what we once did with cassettes — we kept our videotapes ready for any Hip-Hip video, sometimes having the same video three or four times on the same tape (you may not always get the entire video) — we would study these videos more closely than we did any school subject and compared and contrasted tapes. Chonda Watkins always had the hard to ‘find’ videos. There may have been a movie or a Syracuse v Georgetown game on the tape but we were quickly back to videos.

I mentioned all of this as a backdrop for anyone who is unfamiliar with the environment that produced Ted Demme’s desire for a rap video show. When the first episode of Yo! MTV Raps aired, a one hour special hosted by Run DMC with guest appearances by Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince on August 6, 1988, most of the videos that they played (and the ones that they predicted to be ‘future’ hits) were all months old. It was no big deal for us. It must have been a big deal for suburban white kids exposed to this music for the first time.

Once Yo! MTV Raps became a regular fixture and hit it’s stride, what we enjoyed the most was the Fab Five Freddy interviews. Yes, that Fab Five Freddy that we mentioned above when we talked about bringing the uptown scene to the downtown art world (now Freddy was exposing the world to Hip-Hops scenes all over America — from Houston to LA). Not that the interviews were the greatest interviews in the world either, it had more to do with finally seeing and hearing our favorite rappers for the first time, walking, talking, answering questions beyond the simple and typical: will rap last (yes, that was a real question even in 1987–8), speak on the violence, and all the other anthropological questions that white interviewers usually asked.

The videos, though — the videos on Yo! MTV Raps were like the top 40 radio station of music videos. All they played were the hits and we usually saw those videos in regular rotation on BET. Rarely was it anything new. Because of this, we who were already into rap videos, us tape connoisseurs, Yo! was aiiiight — but it wasn’t all ground breaking and I-remember-where-I-was-ish when we were first saw it. So I would be lying if I told you I remember anything about that first year of Yo! MTV Raps. (Except maybe the Fall 1989 Jungle Brothers episode). That Fall of 1989 BET’s Rap City debuted with the awful host, Da Mayor (the comedian Chris Thomas), and an angle of showing the less popular videos by up and coming artist. My favorite example being the homemade video looking, never played on MTV ever, Super Lover Cee and Casanova Rud, “Girls I Gotta ‘Em Locked.”

And if the video you wanted to see couldn’t be found on either channel, sometime in ’89 or ’90 the trailer park of video shows — The Box — debuted. For a fee — via a 900 number — you could call in and “request” your video. This is where I first saw X-clan’s “Heed the Words of the Brother.” (Of course, after something became popular, both channels jumped on board and this was no exception) We hated to record from this channel, however, with the scrolling songs and request numbers at the bottom cluttering up the the mise en scene.

V

Another little known fact, 1990–1991, my Freshman year in college, house music and rockers (dance hall/reggae) dominated. Parties advertised themselves as “absolutely no rap.” Those genres had taken hold in New York and it is this writer’s opinion that took away from some of the production. My first semester, Fall 1990, LL’s “Around The Way Girl,” Tribe’s “Bonita Applebum Remix,” and the fore mentioned “Wake Up” are the only videos that I remember. Despite the lack of ground-breaking videos, at 4pm (I guess that’s when Rap City came on — lol), everyone piled on the maroon couch in Morehouse’s Frederick Douglass Commons or pulled up nearby chairs and for the next two hours gave running commentary on the state of Hip-Hop. I can’t say we ever watched Yo! MTV raps.

Although I’ve stated that there were no ground-breaking videos that doesn’t mean that there were no GOOD videos. We all went apeshit over Leaders of The New Schools, “Case of the PTA” and Main Sources’ “Just Hangin’ Out” (unknowingly our intro to Hype Williams), “Check the Rhime” marked the return of A Tribe Called Quest sans bohemia, etc. They were memorable to those of us who were into the culture — nothing new, per se, but they were powerful. (If you get a group of 35+ ers together and play “The Choice is Yours” by Black Sheep, damned if they don’t all squat on ‘engine, engine, number nine…’ the direct result of a powerful video).

VI

For years, the rap industries zenith was the gold album (500,000). There were a few exceptions, of course: Run DMC’s ‘Raising Hell’ triple platinum (3 mil), Beastie Boys’ ‘License to Ill’ eventually, diamond (10 mil), LL Cool J’s ‘B.A.D.’ triple platinum (3 mil), and MC Hammer’s ‘Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em’ the first certified diamond rap album (10 mil) — the rule was, “30 days later, the LP went gold.”

All that would change with what some thought was the second coming of Russell…but he was so much more.

If you were a lover of East Coast rap during the summer of 1994, then it was a dark time for you. G-funk dominated all video platforms and every radio station with Warren G’s “Regulate” leading the charge. Despite huge sales with “Regulate…The G Funk Era” (3 mil) Warren G’s videos were regular fare much in the way that Snoop Dogg’s “Doggy Style” (4 mil)or Dr. Dre’s “Chronic” (5.7 mil) videos were — a slice of life video buttressed by a performance segment. They did little for the imagination and I’m sure were shot for cheap.

The East Coast came storming back with the unlikeliest of stars — Craig Mack. Let’s be honest, if you heard the Eazy Mo Bee produced song before you saw the video, you may have liked the track but otherwise it was pretty shrug worthy. I know we shrugged. But there was something about that video. Maybe it was the Unisphere, or the flashing lights, or the incredibly wide-angle lens, or the double imposing of Mack or some strange combination of all those components together that made for an iconic video. I’m going to go on a limb and give credit to Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs.

Like, Russell Simmons before him, Diddy had vision and his aim was to make iconic images. Sure, there were prolific directors during that time — Josh Taft and David Shadi come to mind — but Combs needed someone in synch with him very much in the same way Atlantis’ Rolando Hudson was in synch with Simmons for those early, groundbreaking Rush Management videos. He found that man in Hype Williams.

Despite having a huge output of videos, there is very little written about Williams. Suffice it to say that up until the point where he and Combs began to collaborate, Williams had been directing for little over four years yet a look at those videos reveal very little of what was to come. It’s when Williams and Combs combine for “Flavor in Ya Ear” where we see the first fruits of who Hype would be (perhaps he just needed a proper budget) — the remix video, shot in Black & White with the white background, was the beginning.

“By making an image to be observed, framed and exhibited in such a way that it outlasts both the subject and the producer, we find ourselves with the ability to construct objects of worship. It could then be said that photography doesn’t merely record iconicity but also generates it.” Evie Salmon, Cultural Critic describes Iconic imagery

The opening of “Flavor in Ya Ear — the remix” does just that, with Diddy tapping glasses together Luther-Style, substituting Bad Boy for Warriors. This would become a Bad Boy trademark in later years, referencing extremely popular images or songs and making them new — current. (Play someone under 30, Diana Ross’ ‘I’m Coming Out’ and they will immediately launch into ‘Mo Money, Mo Problems.) Although “Flava in Ya Ear — the remix” is a Craig Mack song , the video is known mostly for the first verse by another Bad Boy artist (who we will discuss in one moment), by the appearance of one of Hip-Hop’s original icons, LL Cool J, and of course the ‘Hey, Hey, Hey!” rising star of Busta Rhymes. (Rampage and Mack are afterthoughts).

Back to that other Bad Boy artist…not many people would have used a 300+ pound, former drug dealer, best known for a song about sexing R&B stars as the tent pole artist for their label…but not many people are Sean Combs. He had a total and utter belief in the talents of Biggie Smalls. A song like “Juicy” (the A side) could have easily disappeared under the weight of the DJ Premier produced B side, “Unbelievable,” and left to Biggie, it would have. But Combs saw the greater picture. Let’s revisit the video and start to wrap this up.

“Juicy” the video fits the song perfectly: rapper success story — out of the hood, dice rolling, prison bars, etc etc — there’s even the rented place…but this is no loft. No. Biggie is in a Setsuo Ito Mansion that sits on the highest point of the Hamptons. He’s signing deals as his maid keeps the champagne flowing and is accompanied by all of Bed-Stuy; swimming, partying, celebrating the fame of their champion. Biggie. It was Biggie’s first single and it catapulted him into double platinum (2 mil) status. After “Juicy,” rap videos would never be the same.

Videos became bigger, sprawling. “California Love,” Tupac and Hype Williams recreation of Mad Max, is an excellent example. And the Opulent Video Arms Race began. There were would be more helicopters (“Hypnotize”) more yachts (“Big Pimpin”) more effects (“What’s it Gonna Be”), and the record label foot the bill; obviously getting a return on investment.

VII

“I drive a ‘Roc, I drive a Benz…”

Aside from the massive gold chains, the lifestyle that viewers saw in rap videos, if not attainable (mostly because of proximity) it was surely affordable. If one wanted to exude wealth in a video before 1994, they just showed the rapper getting in or climbing out of a limo. But once the Opulent Video Arms Race began, the sky was the limit…and the lyrics reflected that.

Hype Williams was a part of a triumvirate of directors (Paul Hunter and David Meyers complete the trio) that collectively pushed the bar (and budgets) higher and higher. Paul Hunter joined on the Bad Boy money train with “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down,” “Hypnotize” and “All About The Benjamins.” While Dave Meyers brought production value to West Coast (and Gulf Coast) videos ranging from E-40, to the No Limit and Cash Money camps. By the time 2000 rolls around, rap music and videos are overflowing with opulent excess — rare cars, huge homes, and diamonds abound.

I would argue that the acceptance and assimilation of rap music in the late ‘90s to at least ’05 far exceeded any time in the late 80s. Rap music dominated the charts with double, triple platinum sales as the norm. Suffice it to say that Yo! MTV raps was off the air in 1995. Rap had gone mainstream.

Then — something happened. The record sales stopped trickling in. Rappers cease to dominate the year end Hot 100 list on Billboard and by 2014 no rappers (no, Iggy does not count) were on the list at all. Of course that translated to the Grammy rap nomination/award not being televised in 2015 for the first time in 25 years.

What happened?

The Internet — that’s what. While all industries have been affected, none have been hit as hard as the genre of rap. Of course, some would say that there’s no way to substantiate that claim and I’m sure people would throw up all types of disrupted industries like bookstores…and no disrespect to bookstores but they didn’t do anything for the Black community (unless you’re talking Soul Source or Hue-man)…rap changed lives.

Aside from sports, Rap music is now looked at as one of the few ways to upward mobility. In inner cities (and suburbs) across America, becoming a successful rapper or producer is the only way many see their condition changing. Laden in almost all rap lyrics are the chants of rising to stardom made popular by Biggie back with “Juicy.” People want their Setsuo Ito mansions.

But that world doesn’t exist anymore. Like the crack game, very few people will “make it” in rap — certainly not to the degree in which they envision themselves making it. At best, they may etch out a upper middle class, $200, 000 a year living…for the year or two that their hot. Record labels have pulled back and it doesn’t make financial sense to pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into a music video that likely will not increase sales.

As a result, we rarely see the rap video that whisks you away to a Chris Robinson helmed, Escadaria Selaron and Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro — where the rapper, Snoop in this instance, frolics about with beautiful Brazillian women.

Most videos now have a far more simple concept: pile as many men as possible in the shot, have those men hold equal amount of rubber-banded money rolls, and/or long clip semi-automatic weapons which one must wave or point at the camera as often as possible while the rapper threatens the viewer and blows smoke in their face. These videos pile up on YouTube and are mainly viewed by local fans.

With the help of the major music companies (who funded the whole affair), videos made rappers stars. For a little over a decade, rap videos exposed the world to cities that people would never explore. Videos were how we came to know Baton Rouge’s Lil Boosie, St. Louis’ Nelly, or Cleveland’s Bone Thugs n Harmony. But they also created a Winner Take All industry where many attempt to ply their trade and very few make it. Thus, we have fewer singers, fewer musicians, and worst, fewer people seeing education as a way to uplift themselves and their community. Video birthed the rap star and the internet brought them down to earth. As sales continue to wane, only time will tell what becomes of rap and the millions seeking stardom, fame, and an escape in an increasingly competitive field. Will the rules of economics apply? (Low investment — great return) Or will the genre simply implode?