After divulging his favorite music videos of all time, Chris Robinson is giving the rookies a chance to shine too. The in-demand director behind Usher’s “Trading Places” and Nas’ “One Mic” selected five six videos from the last couple years that caught his trained eye. Find out who stole the show below.
Kanye West feat. Chris Martin – “Homecoming”
Out of all of Kanye’s videos, “Homecoming.” For me, it’s all about how it makes you feel. I think what he did with “Good Life”… That joint was innovative and special, but “Homecoming,” it’s a feeling. I’ve never seen a city captured like that and felt Chicago captured like that, or Kanye captured like that. It feel like it encapsulated what he’s really about and where he came from. It made me want to go to Chicago.
Ciara feat. Missy Elliott – “Work”
I love what Melina did with Ciara. I love ’Lina too. She’s got this thing with girls that’s just ill. And Ciara with all the huge machinery, it’s beautiful.
The Cool Kids – “Black Mags”
There’s this Cool Kids video, and it’s black and white and they’re riding around town on these bikes. The director [GL-Joe] is a kid out of Chicago, but that video is hot, it’s mesmerizing. The track goes along with the vibe of the song, and you can tell it’s shot on the Red camera or DV, but it didn’t matter. The idea and the feeling surpassed whatever they used to make it. And that’s what a video is supposed to be.
Keri Hilson feat. Kanye West & Ne-Yo – “Knock You Down”
I like the Keri Hilson and Kanye video. That’s mine. I was a fan of hers, but I liked the way it ended up making her look and feel. I’m going to big up myself for a second, man.
Jay-Z – “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)”
The Harvey Keitel cameo, very, very fly. Just real grown man. I love the fact that it was very filmmaking, shot on 16 mm. I loved that.
Justice – “Stress”
I know it’s five, but a bonus. The kids that are running around Paris just fucking shit up. That’s probably my favorite new fresh shit. That’s a crazy video, son. Put that at No. 1. You can bump something off at the bottom. But that video, I was drawn to the TV. I wanted to see the feature film of this. That was visceral, edgy, heavy, big. I loved that. I love the composition and location and the way it felt. I don’t know who that director is, but I thought that was brilliant.
–Steven J. Horowitz