Tha Hottest 11 Music Videos of 2011, according to Tha Blog is Hot

Posted at January 4, 2012 by Julie J Comments Off

I did “Tha Hottest 9 songs of 2011″ on Monday (peep that shit), and now that it’s Wednesday, AKA not Trap Tuesday, I can continue with these lists. Fortunately, I didn’t have any formatting issues with this post that made me think about punching kittens (to clarify, no kittens were around, and I only thought about punching them…but the mere thought is pretty bad, yes).

11. Special Problems is the creative force behind David Dallas’ video for “Take a Picture.” Besides rapping with a kitten in his hoodie, 7 different directors/animators interpreted 7 parts of the song, with each getting a specific segment and each scene was shot in a different format. During the coarse of the video, none of the directors could see what the others were doing. And did I mention there’s a kitten in his hoodie?

10. Even if “All of the Lights” induces epileptic seizures, I still really enjoyed what Hype Williams did for Kanye’s dramatic “All of the Lights” video that featured a million other artists. I will continue to stress how I’m a sucker for the lights.

9. October’s Very Own crew members Lamar Taylor and Hyghly Alleyne directed Drake’s video “The Motto” that featured Lil Wayne & Tyga. I enjoyed the simplicity of it, with the images of Drake dancing around (specifically at 1:28) layered on to the video. I don’t know the technical term for that, but it’s trill.

8. Todd Angkasuwan directed everything for Evidence’s DJ Premier-produced track “You” found on Cats & Dogs, not coincidentally one of my favorite albums of the year. “You” was simple, and I felt like the video really complimented the song, and captured the essence of it.

7. 2-Cent TV’s Bmike (remember that super funny holiday spoof of all the rappers from this year?) directed Dee-1′s video for “The One That Got Away” that features Mannie Fresh. Bmike did an excellent job of capturing Dee-1 and Mannie Fresh’s chemistry on screen. It definitely had me laughing, and at the end of the day, there is a lot of truth to the video. You’re either gonna play, or get played.

6. Although I hated this song initially, Francis Lawrence directed a music video for Beyonce’s ~~Major Lazer~~ song “Run The World (Girls)” that is nothing short of a movie. The scope of everything in this video–animals, Beyonce looking fierce, Beyonce’s wigs, all the dancing–are what really impressed me. I won’t lie; I get hype as fuck listening to this in the car, by myself.

5. Do you ever hear a song, and then later see the music video, and it fits so absolutely perfectly? Mike Carson and Mike Wax directed the video for “A$$ (Remix)” with Big Sean and Nicki Minaj. I mean, it’s hard to imagine that anything could be more perfect that Nicki Minaj rapping about, and shaking, her ass, in the video, but everything is just perfect. The Mike’s did a fabulous job.

4. Tell me this isn’t one of the cleanest videos from the year. Go ahead and mute the song, which I love, and still try and tell me that it isn’t one of the filthiest things you have seen this year. Try. Stephen Gray directed “Brain Champagne,” a song off The Adventures in a Helluvastate by Thadwick Tristen Trevor III & Swan Coltrane, who were featured in the Vitamin Water uncapped live series on The Fader.

3. Hype Williams might have completely stolen the ideas for “6 Foot 7 Foot” from Inception, but he always does that. And will continue to do that. I loved the visual adaptation for Lil Wayne’s lead single from Tha Carter IV, and the ten confused looking Cory Gunz were the highlight.

2. Fredo Tovar and Scott Fleishman directed Kendrick Lamar’s video for “HiiiPower,” which is one of the most powerful music videos I think I’ve ever seen. How can you not get the chills from watching this? When I heard the J. Cole-produced track initially, I liked it, but after seeing the visuals, it made me understand the song in an entirely new light. Unfortunately, I think the significance of it went over most people’s heads, but not mine!

1. My favorite video is coincidentally one of my favorite songs of the year as well. I love what Colin Tilley did with “Look At Me Now.” Sick video, sick song. I wish I was there, hanging out with Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, and Busta Rhymes, even though I can’t dance like that. Or at all, really.