Track 7: I Don't Know Where You're Going With This Jay-Z, But Props To You

So I was planning on writing about something completely different today.

But after watching Jay-Z's new video that came out a couple of days ago for "On To The Next One" featuring Swizz Beatz, I just have to write about it.

WTF.

I have absolutely no clue what he's going for with the concept for this video. It's ridiculous. The internet seems to be ablaze saying that the video is full of demonic/satanic imagery and Illuminati references. But quite frankly, I can't see any of this.

Yeah, there are burning basketballs dropping from the ceiling. People in weird black and white makeup. Rorschach type images. Some ninja lady. A creepy Joker look-a-like. All very weird stuff. Yet, the creepiest part is that I actually like the video. The video just matches the mood for this song so well, and you can tell that Jay-Z and Sam Brown, the director, put a lot of time, energy, and thought into what this video was going to be. I still can't tell you much of anything about the imagery and underlying meaning, but that's beside the point.

This should be an example for other artists out there about how to make a music video. I don't need to see you running around just rapping. I know what rapping looks like. Take a second to think and put some thought into your video.

A music video shouldn't be deciding to start running around Wal-Mart and deciding to make a video right on the spot. Heck, they even had to put in photos of Gucci Mane, because he's in jail. Again.

Agree? Disagree? Why don't you leave a comment?

Track 3: The Degradation

So get this. I'm at home watching college football and enjoying all of the bowl games. Then what do I see on come on the tv? An utter piece of garbage commercial. Now before I get too much further, it's an advertisement for skinit.com. This website specializes in making custom adhesive skins for a number of electronic gadgets such as video game consoles, phones, and computers. Just to be clear, I don't have any sort of problem with the business of this website.

But the commercial they've chosen to make?

Completely awful. It's a white guy singing with a vocoder (aka "The Auto-tune Effect") about all the different things that one can put a skin on through the website. What's even worse is the fact that whoever made this video actually won an open contest. And they still chose this...

First of all, Jay-Z might've been talking about another conspicuous fellow, but he said it best. "This is death of auto-tune. Moment of silence." Yes, I do realize that the fad of using auto-tune was very popular in its day. It was a nice change of pace within the music world. But did you just pay attention to what I said? In its day. This crap is dead. The fact that two-bit website companies are trying to milk money out of it, backs up this fact even more. Need I mention "Party in the USA"? Therefore. Stop. Using. Auto-tune.

That's it. That's all I have to say. You auto-tune users disgust me. Get out of my face.