Friday, August 12, 2011

An Analysis of Jay-Z & Kanye West's Otis Music Video



New videos are popping up left and right, with Kanye and Jay finally coming through with the visuals for Otis, their first single from Watch the Throne.

If anything, the video -- which shows the two Roc stars laughing and enjoying the spoils of success by driving around a vacant parking lot in a one-of-a-kind Maybach while trading verses -- makes me like the song even more.

With that said, I'm still not sure what exactly the song is about, nor do I understand why two veritable musical geniuses would work so hard on an album only to reward its lead single with a lazy, unimaginative title that, again, apparently has nothing to do with the song's enigmatic subject matter.

I guess to make us laymen feel slightly better about the decadent discussion that comprises the conversation-style lyrics exchanged between the two rappers (not to mention disassembling a luxury vehicle that costs north of $400,000), there is a printed disclaimer on the screen at the end of the video explaining that the dismantled Maybach will be "offered up for auction" with proceeds being "donated towards the East African drought disaster."

So let me get this right -- Jay-Z, who is fresh off his most recent Forbes list, and Kanye, who's had a pretty good past 12 months, too, couldn't just up and donate from their massive stashes and instead opted to auction off what they will call a customized luxury vehicle but what the rest of us will see as a useless prop from a new installment of the Mad Max series?

Maybe I'm being short-sighted here but it is doubtful this auction, if it ever even happens, will generate much excitement (or money) surrounding this car, which literally had its roof and doors violently removed with heavy duty machinery, a move that has undoubtedly decrease its value.

It would appear that using such an expensive car to try to raise awareness of famine is on par with burning a stack of hundreds to light a Cohiba. To put it mildly, there are other, more prudent avenues that could be taken to reach the final destination.

But maybe this is just another invitation from the dynamic duo for us to keep watching their throne so the continuous doubters will yet again be amazed by the success of their next accomplishments. Maybe.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It is a shame, but of course no they couldn't just donate the money but instead they had to auction off the "customized" vehicle. Many people would not have even though about the fact that these two could not just give some of their money. That is what is wrong with our society. The rich get richer while the poor continue to stay poor or even worse, fall deeper into poverty. The question to the rich is how do they stay rich by donating their money? The assumption is that they wont, so to look good they have to give something somewhere, and even though they give, it is not there money being given. It relates to the psychological and economical ideas of sunken cost, and opportunity cost.