on sunday, I had friends over and played music videos all day long, as I do. I heard "wow I've never seen this!" more than once. at the end of the day, they told me that I put them on to a lot of new music/videos. which reminded me that i need to continue to do my part in encouraging you to watch music videos again.
so, here are 5 more music videos I love, in no particular order.
"Female Goat, Lakeyah ft. City Girls
The song is called "Female Goat" and there's a goat with Lakeyah's name on it. What more needs to be said?
This is one of my favorite Lakeyah songs. I love the energy. I love that the City Girls are on it, that they are always down to feature on another song by a woman rapper. I love the bar "My bitch dick bigger than yours/and it's from tool shed."
The aesthetic for this video is so fun, with the motorbikes matching their fits and hair. I was going to say "it's giving Fast and Furious" but i've never watched any of those movies. Are there bikes in there? either way, it's giving "Motorsport/ put that thang in sport," and i mean that as a sincere compliment.
Also, in addition to the literal goat, Yung Miami says "slide on that bitch, beat his sister with a rake," and literally swings with a rake. I love that commitment to detail. Shout out to this video's prop master!
"Wat U Sed," Isaiah Rashad ft. Doechii & Kal Banx
I say this every time but I wanna be where they are 😩
I long to be in the water often, and love a good pool party. I wanna recreate this pool party! Who has a pool to let me recreate this pool party?
Doechii looks phenomenal, of course. and they look like they're having so much fun together! That brings me joy. I hope they're real life friends. I think a lot of people who were Isaiah Rashad fans and not Doechii fans were put onto her through this song and video, which excites me. Since this first came out, she joined him on tour to perform this song, and has since signed to TDE! I know there are a lot of business deals and music moves I would never be privy to. So, the story i'm telling myself is that her joining TDE grew out of this collaboration, partially due to how much fun they had shooting this music video. Who's gonna tell me i'm wrong?
Also, again, you can always count on Doechii to make out with a beautiful woman in a music video. I love that for all of us.
"Beating Down Yo Block," Monaleo
This went viral when it dropped a year ago so i'm hoping you've seen it already, but it's never a bad idea to watch it again. If you are my friend, or follow me on instagram, you know that I was obsessed with this song. And I still will be if you play it today. But for the entirety of summer 2021, I played it several times a day and rapped every word with my whole heart.
Monaleo doesn't even have a project out yet. She has several amazing singles, and this is one of her earlier ones. That is why I was so BLOWN AWAYYYYYY when I first saw this video. I was like "wow, this quality and dynamism from someone I've never even heard of? I need to hear more!"
I have a theory that I can't back up with evidence (yet) but just from observation, it seems like smaller or independent videographers are doing a lot to help put independent rappers on. People who are not yet signed and (i'd assume) don't have access to huge budgets are releasing creative videos of excellent quality, and they're getting a lot of attention. This video going viral changed Monaleo's life, and she deserves! (And shoutout to Freddy Dang of dangfilms, who directed this)
It's so beautiful and pink and fun. She has the best wigs, fun looks and choreo, and great bars. I can watch this video again and again. (and do.)
"Lovestained," Hope Tala
This video captures something I always want to capture. I love montages. Truly adore them so much. I am always wanting to gather footage of my life so that I can splice it up and set it to music. I love the narrative that gets crafted, how different themes emerge from what could be "random" clips... i just think it's such pure, fun, simple art. Simple can be wonderful a lot of the time.
The song is called "lovestained" and the featured clips really evoke that. I don't know Hope Tala outside of her music, but with this song and video alone, I believe that she is loved and that she loves deeply!
Sometimes I like a video that makes me go "damn y'all had money to spend!" But sometimes, I want to see something that looks like you could make it with your friends. I really believe they made this together and that's why the video is so clearly lovestained, and that fills me up.
"Cheers (Drink to That)," Rihanna
Sharing about how much I loved Lovestained made me realize I should honor my roots. This music video, released in 2011, is the reason I love montage music videos. This music video literally made me pick up a camera. In 2012, I made montage videos of a class trip to NYC, as well as reflecting on the whole year. The only reason I was inspired to do that was because of this video.
I just love the slice of life. You see rihanna in so many different ways here. On the road, on the water, at home in barbados. I love all the different facets, the different looks, this time capsule of what her life and artistry was like in 2011. Also, avril lavigne skateboarding into the pool is an iconic moment.
I'm not even the biggest rihanna fan (i love her music, she's just not in heavy rotation) but rewatching this music video now in 2022 made me emotional. She has changed so much. She has grown so much. She is about to be a mother! Now I kinda wanna see the version of the video she'd make now. (but clearly she has a lot of other things going on... I respect that).
You can't forget your roots! this music video means a lot to me. I love that I saw this at 14 and thought "now let me go make something too." Maybe I should do that again.
I hope I helped you find a new music video! If you'd like more recs, check out part one.
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