I can’t think of a more tired concept for a hip-hop music video than a couple of pop stars riding around in an expensive car with a handful of models. But somehow, director Spike Jonze does exactly that and winds up with a classic. He’s come a long way since getting high in high school.

For starters, ’Ye and Jigga strip down a Maybach to look more like a luxury Jeep Wrangler, and then they start playing with fire. Literally. Watch for yourself. And keep an eye out for a brief Tom Haverford cameo. I wonder if they shot it in the City of Pawnee?



Anyhoo, expect a review of “Watch the Throne” early next week. And for more Otis Redding-related videos, check out yesterday’s video of Ben Kilgore covering “These Arms of Mine” for “The VDub Sessions.”

Well, this is exciting. Kanye and Jay-Z played their new hit together at the VMAs, and, despite apparently not rehearsing, they totally rocked an arena full of cheering fans (save for a certain Biebster who did not appear impressed). I think I speak for the planet when I say that it needs a “Watch the Throne” tour.

With the outlook for a full (or even halved) NBA season growing bleaker and bleaker, I’ve realized how weirdly unhealthy my obsession with Kevin Durant is.

I constantly refresh his Twitter and Facebook pages on the regular, hoping to catch a few loose links to videos of semi-pro games he’s dominating, or news about the movie he’s shooting, or awesome photos of him repping Oklahoma. Heck, I even bought a pair of his shoes, just for playing pickup ball.

In all this, I’ve noticed how much this guy cares about music (exclusively hip-hop and R&B, from what I’ve seen), as he’s constantly talking and arguing about what he’s listening to. Just a few days ago, Durantula defended West Coast mixtaper Dom Kennedy via Twitter, after arguing with @waldorfsfinest (apparently a friend?) between Pusha T and Young Jeezy the night before. He’s also been pushing Big K.R.I.T., an upcoming Southern trunk rapper/producer, extensively the last couple of weeks.

So I thought it might be fun to tune into No. 35’s Skullcandy headphones and analyze what he’s saying about it. Here’s your first installment of “What’s good, KD?”

Let’s consider his recent brief assessment of Clipse member and Kanye collaborator Pusha T. From Durantula’s Facebook, around about 2 a.m. yesterday:

“Now playin on my Skullcandy's: ‘open your eyes’ - Pusha T. MEEEAAANN track!!!”



Clipse’s 2006 street-rap manifesto “Hell Hath No Fury” set a high bar for mean hip-hop, and Pusha’s work since then’s been similarly aggressive. He loves to set your expectations much lower with especially playful beats and samples (the “Bohemian Rhapsody” sample on “Open Your Eyes” is textbook), then skewer them by comparing himself to, say, the genocidal Hutu tribe, as he does on “Fury”’s “Wamp Wamp (What It Do).” It’s one of the reasons he’s been so great with Kanye, who’s been similarly aggressive and graphic lately.

I’d be inclined to agree with KDTrey5 here then, except Pusha doesn’t really hit you that hard lyrically, and certainly not in the same place. On “Open Your Eyes,” he’s more earnest about his drug-dealing past, and proud of his success (“bigger homes, with bigger guns and better cameras”) than he is aggrandizing. It’s less intimidating, especially when you compare the track with his recent “Fear of God” mixtape (from standout song “My God”: “I gotta voodoo doll / Every time I pin the verse / Not only do they say they feel it but they say it hurts”).

This seems to me more like post-game wind-down music than a really gritty, mean, pre-game warmup track. So KD, while I do love that you’re into Pusha T, dig into some of his other work for stuff that’s truly “MEEEAAANN,” and you’ll instill the “fear of God” within the heart of every three-man in the league this season.