Slideshow

We Made You

Eminem has made a comeback with his new video "We Made You".  It is a typical lighthearted Eminem video, where he makes fun of several celebrities and pop culture icons.  The video was jam of the week during the week of April 6.  He looks thinner and younger in the video which really means he has two inches of makeup caked on to his face. 

In the video, Eminem makes fun of Bret Michaels, Amy Winehouse, Elvis Presley, Star Trek, Rainman, Jessica Simpson, Transformers, Psycho, Sarah Palin, and many others.  The song talks about how everyone wants him because he is a rock star.  This is why he makes fun of Bret Michaels, Elvis, and Amy Winehouse throughout the video.  The video as a whole is entertaining, funny, and random.  

Mims

Mims' new video for Move (if you wanna) if very visually stimulating.  He is rapping on a green screen and editors have superimposed him on video of breakdancers.  The dancers are not dancing normally however, they have been cut to move forward and backward doing the same moves.  I really like the video because the editing makes it very interesting to watch and the song is great as well.  I like how the song's beat is fairly simple but picks up in parts and Mims reacts to the beat by rapping with more conviction and force in his voice.  The rap is very clever in areas with his opening lines especially, "I don't understand why I have so many haters, knowing I'm their father like my name is Darth Vader."  

Rockin That Thang Remix

When The Dream came out with his song "Rockin That Thang" I became obsessed with it.  The beat along with The Dream's vocals make for a catchy, sexy song and a great video.  I was even happier to discover that two weeks later he released a remix with Fabolous, Juelz Santana, Rick Ross, and Ludacris that is even better!  THe video is black and white with bright featured colors per rapper.

Each rapper performs in front of their own magazine cover beginning with Fabolous.  His segment features hot pink, which is in his magazine title and t shirt design.  His rap is funny when he says "can I call you nana cause you got that rockin chair".  

The second segment is Juelz Santana who is in orange.  He wears an orange jacket and has a beautiful girl on an orange motorcycle for his video vixen. He and his dimple look adorable throughout but especially when he does his 2 little dances while saying "cause I'm gon' be rockin' ya".  I also love his last line where he says "I'll treat you like the first lady I'll put my Barack in ya".  If I were Barack Obama I would probably be offended, but since I'm not, I just think its funny.  I also think its interesting that MTV silences the "Barack in ya" but the closed captioning includes the lyric.  I guess deaf people are allowed to read things MTV considers inappropriate to hear.

Third up is Rick Ross who uses red as his color.  His video vixen should have been styled better.  Her outfit is not flattering at all.  She is a pretty girl, a bit thick but would look great in a dress or jeans and a cuter top, but leggings and a tight tank top with a belt in the middle is just not cute.  Ross's magazine of course says he is "aka The Boss".  I think Rick Ross must be pretty conceited to have a diamond encrusted replica of his face at the end of his chain.  I think its crazy how every new rap song mentions Barack Obama but I understand why.  However, Rick Ross gives Obama a random shout out after he says, "Im fresh as a black president, one, air force ones in my air force one (OBAMA)".  I just think its getting to be a little excessive including our new president in every song and Ross didn't really need to say it.

Ludacris has my favorite magazine cover.  His color is red and the font that says "aka Luda", "his favorite films", and "girls girls girls" looks like handwriting.  He has the prettiest girls, who are well dressed in his segment.  I like when he says "Im ready to take my Milky Way to your Hershey's kiss", because only Ludacris could say that and make it sound good.  One part that I think is funny is that he holds a giant cone to his mouth and screams "LUDA" directly at the girl standing in front of him.  That would be pretty loud!  

The Dream looks good in the video, I love his jacket but not his leather hat.  I like that it says "REMIX: Dream's All Star Line Up Featuring..."  The video is directed by Parris and I thought it was done very well! 

Blame It

Jamie Foxx got the Jam of the week out of the rut it had been in with his video for "Blame it".  The song is really fun and catchy but the video is really random.  It begins with Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker, Ron Howard, and Jamie Foxx getting out of a car to go to the club together and meet up with Samuel L. Jackson.  I find this to be very random because I would never picture this group of men going out to a club together.  I think Ron Howard had the same feeling because he makes a face that reads "yea I don't know why Im here but whatever!" as he gets out of the car.  I also think its weird that T-pain is not introduced or mentioned in the credits of the song but he clearly has a verse.  

The video is directed by Hype Williams and it is very stylized.  The whole video is shot in red light with hints of blue and purple light and there are camera flashes in almost every shot.  The video is a composite of very quick cuts that match the beat.  The quick cuts are throughout the video but they always happen when Jamie Foxx sings "a-a-a-a-a-alcohol" showing shots of alcohol, women, dancing, etc.   

Overall I like the song and video, even though it is random.  Its a very fun catchy club song you can dance to.  

Jam of the Week

I used to get excited each week to find out what would be the new  "Jam of the Week" on MTVJams.  I used to think that the chosen video was the best video the MTVJams "committee" could feature.  Lately I've been thinking all one has to do to get their video as Jam of the Week is pay for it.  The Jam of the Week is one, sometimes two, video that is featured and played in extreme excess for the whole week.  When the video is good, I look forward to seeing it twice in an hour on Jams and probably two more times on U and Hits, during that same hour.  However, when the video/song is bad, it can be almost unbearable to watch these video channels.

For the past few weeks the Jam of the Week has been terrible! I can't quite remember when the bad videos began but I believe it was with Mavado's song "Im so special", about a month ago.  I do not know who authorized the making of this song/video and who decided it would be a good Jam of the Week but these people should have their music making privileges revoked!  It is one of the worst songs I've heard and no, Mavado, you are not so special.  That was a dark week for MTV, and since then the Jam of the Week has been in a rut.  The bad videos include Bow Wow and J.D "Roc the Mic", T.I. featuring Justin Timberlake "Dead and Gone", and this week's Solange "T.O.N.Y". 

It is really a shame that the Jam of the Week has been in the gutter lately because there are some really good new videos that should be featured and played more!  Some examples are Asher Roth "I Love College", The Dream " Rockin That Thang", and J Holiday "It's Yours".  Let's see more good videos as Jam of the Week!!!

Turning me on

I love Keri Hilson's song and video "Turning Me On" featuring Lil Wayne.  The beat is great, it makes me want to dance every time I hear it (and I do).  Hilson looks beautiful in the video throughout the whole video.  Even though I think she is too classy to pull of the "hoodfab" look, she still looks good.  Although my roommate thinks Hilson's wave is weird, I think she can pull off the hairstyle. I love her "On" an "Off" rings as well as the background girls' earrings. I want to know where I can find a pair.  

The choreography as a whole isn't very difficult but I do like a few parts, when she sings, "I gotta be feelin your energy", "checkin for this little mama...", and when she goes crazy with the hat over her eyes.  Another part of the video I love is when she is standing at the bar and a guy comes over and throws a stack of money on the counter then she throws an even bigger stack of money next to his and he picks his money up and walks away.  I like the message of the song, how it tells men to "recognize a real woman" as a strong independent woman who can buy her own clothes and drinks.  

For the most part I hate Lil Wayne.  I realize most people love him and think he is amazing, but I just don't get it.  I think he looks like The Predator, sounds like a raptor, and doesn't make sense half the time.  His rap in this song is pretty catchy for the most part.  I don't think he makes sense when he says, "You look baby mama type, I know that got you kinda hyped, MY ICE IS ALBINO WHITE, I hope your vagina tight!" I just don't understand why he throws in the color of his ice at that point in the song.  It just doesn't make sense.  I also think it's really funny when he says "Baby I'm the shit and thats the only thing you smell around me!" because it makes me wonder if he smells like shit all day.  It wouldn't surprise me.  I must say though my favorite of his part in the video is when he says "now you're in love with an alien" and moves his hands across his eyes and two red dots appear on his sunglasses making him look even more Predator-like.  

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