Missy Elliott featuring Ciara and Fat Man Scoop - Lose Control
*** (out of four)
Of the entire hip-hop world, only a handful of artists qualify for the MTV Video Vanguard award. Outkast, Busta Rhymes, Eminem and certainly Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott. While pretty much everyone else falls back on the requisite shots of expensive cars, bling, lavish club settings and booty dancers, you never know quite what to expect from one of Missy's videos. Though I admit "Lose Control" does have expensive cars, bling and booty dancers.
The video divides its time among a plain black soundstage with a choreographed line of men and women dancing robotically in blue sweat suits and white gloves, the same group in white shirts and khakis dancing in the desert while the camera rumbles earthquake-style and a flickering, silent-movie set that allows its participants to defy gravity at a couple points. And the a capella interlude from sexy-ass Ciara, who's positioned with the blue sweat suit crew in the middle of an empty street, certainly doesn't hurt.
"Lose Control" is one of the great party jams of the summer, its beat built around an old techno sample from Cybotron, and even though Fat Man Scoop doesn't do much more than stand around and yell "Hit the floor" over and over, his presence is welcome. This is fun stuff, and it marks the first time since I've been back reviewing videos that I've written about one I truly like and is not just plain passable or fucking horrible. I'm definitely keeping my eye out for more, but as we all know the crap-to-quality ratio these days is higher than ever. Thank God for Missy Elliott.
Of the entire hip-hop world, only a handful of artists qualify for the MTV Video Vanguard award. Outkast, Busta Rhymes, Eminem and certainly Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott. While pretty much everyone else falls back on the requisite shots of expensive cars, bling, lavish club settings and booty dancers, you never know quite what to expect from one of Missy's videos. Though I admit "Lose Control" does have expensive cars, bling and booty dancers.
The video divides its time among a plain black soundstage with a choreographed line of men and women dancing robotically in blue sweat suits and white gloves, the same group in white shirts and khakis dancing in the desert while the camera rumbles earthquake-style and a flickering, silent-movie set that allows its participants to defy gravity at a couple points. And the a capella interlude from sexy-ass Ciara, who's positioned with the blue sweat suit crew in the middle of an empty street, certainly doesn't hurt.
"Lose Control" is one of the great party jams of the summer, its beat built around an old techno sample from Cybotron, and even though Fat Man Scoop doesn't do much more than stand around and yell "Hit the floor" over and over, his presence is welcome. This is fun stuff, and it marks the first time since I've been back reviewing videos that I've written about one I truly like and is not just plain passable or fucking horrible. I'm definitely keeping my eye out for more, but as we all know the crap-to-quality ratio these days is higher than ever. Thank God for Missy Elliott.
posted by daytime at 10:15 PM
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