Culture

Five Black Women Music Video Storytellers You Need To Know

by

“One of the special things about our friendship is, nine times out of ten we are on the same wavelength,” Solange told the New Yorker when asked about working with music video director, Melina Matsoukas. “Her being a black woman being able to tell those stories in such a bold, unique way is really rare.” Black women, like Matsoukas, are outnumbered, often overlooked, and frequently pigeonholed in the music industry. This is particularly true for the world of music video direction and storytelling, where roles available to Black women often reinforce stereotypes and typecast them as video vixens or background characters in stories that don’t reflect their experience.

However, when the person behind the direction, story, or camera of a music video is in fact a Black woman, the ability to tell more nuanced and multifaceted stories, or reach the same “wavelength” of Black artists that Solange described, is more readily available. From Beyoncé’s “Formation” to Drake’s “God’s Plan,” the following five women have proven the necessity of Black direction in Black storytelling. Through their creative direction, skill, and unique perspective, they have not only told the authentic and artistic stories of artists through the music video format but made space for the Black female directors and creatives to come up behind them.

child.

Director and artist child. grew up surrounded by music in Shreveport, Louisiana, thanks to her churchgoing family and mother who child. shares “used to color and listen to gospel music while I was in her womb.” That foundation of art and spirituality never left her, pushing her into a career as a photographer and creative director. Leaning into her upbringing, and bringing dreamlike imagery to her work in videos she’s directed for Big Sean, Janelle Monáe, Nas, and H.E.R., child. draws inspiration from the Black experience, biblical stories, and even artists like Jean Michel Basquiat. Though her work pays homage to her past, child. has her eyes set on the future, sharing, “I plan to impact the art world like nothing they’ve ever seen before. I see myself going beyond the stars.”

Lacey Duke

Growing up in Toronto, Lacey Duke knew she wanted to be a music video director. She conquered her dream step by step, attending film school, then interning at a production company in London, and eventually moving to New York where she worked with smaller artists. But then, hard work crossed paths with opportunity when she met Janelle Monáe after a show. Eventually, Monáe asked her to direct her music video for her track “I Like That,” launching Duke into a career where she’s brought authentic portrayals of Black womanhood onto the small screen. Since then she’s directed award-winning videos for SZA, Bryson Tiller, and H.E.R. Speaking to Complex about her work with Black women, she shared, “I have a responsibility in a sense, and I don’t feel pigeonholed by it at all. I think there’s something beautiful about my subjects just being black women, that’s not some little shit.”

Karena Evans

Known for her cinematic, authentic, and narrative-heavy visuals, music video director Karena Evans got her start at a Toronto-based film school but eventually dropped out after getting frustrated by the curriculum’s slow pace. So, she took matters into her own hands, shooting a cold text to Canadian filmmaker Director X and landing an internship at his production company. That longshot paid off, and now she’s known for directing several of Drake’s music videos, including the altruistic “God’s Plan,” the fun-centric “I’m Upset,” and the star-studded “Nice for What.” Evans also understands what her work means to up-and-coming Black female directors and the importance of making space for those creators. She told Teen Vogue, “I think the first thing to realize is that there are in fact a lot of female directors. There are a lot of women of color who are here and present. The unfortunate part is that we were not always given a place. It took the Melina Matsoukas, the Ava DuVernays, and others who have paved the way for me, and the next generation of young Black female filmmakers, to help us understand that we do have a place, and to also break down those barriers so we can be heard.”

Melina Matsoukas

Melina Matsoukas’ resume speaks for itself, she’s responsible for creating some of the most critically acclaimed and award-winning music videos of the past decade. She’s brought her blueprint to Rihanna’s MTV Best Music Award-winning video for “We Found Love,” (she was the first female director to receive this honor) Solange’s “Losing You,” and even nabbed a Grammy for her direction of Beyoncé’s “Formation.” She’s also known for highlighting the Black experience through her film work, including her debut Queen & Slim. Matsoukas is credited for executive producing and directing Issa Rae’s successful HBO series Insecure, which notably gives an authentic, positive, and culturally resonate portrayal of Black women. In speaking on her career thus far, Matsoukas told Rolling Stone, “I am who I am because of Black women,” adding, “We’re beginning to redefine our community — and hopefully our version of Hollywood.”

Laurieann Gibson

Laurieann Gibson may be known for her choreographing dance numbers for legends like Michael Jackson and Beyoncé, but her focus on creative direction has also allowed her to become a successful music video director. Her direction credits include Lady Gaga’s “Judas” and “You and I,” and Keri Hilson’s “The Way You Love Me.” Gibson, who has appeared on multiple reality shows providing straight-forward dance direction, is cognizant of how her experience has differed from her white counterparts. She spoke to The Grio, about how her intensity as a Black woman is often seen as intimidating, sharing, “I absolutely have endured the lack of fairness as a young Black woman and as a professional woman. There is a difference. When we react or we are dramatic or intense then we’re intimidating.” She added, ”It is really difficult and I have had to find a way to evolve the conversation. Yes I’m intense because I’m passionate.“

‘Wom/n Worldwide’ Breaks Down The Fem Superheroes That Ruled The Summer

by

Who ran the world this summer? Women, that’s who.

In Uproxx’s latest video series, Wom/n Worldwide, we’re giving a much-deserved shout-out to the fem superheroes that are filling up our timelines with some much-needed good news. And women? They’ve been BUSY this year. Host Drew Dorsey breaks it all down in this, shining a light on the athletes, activists, actors, and all-around badasses affecting positive change in their respective fields. From decorated Olympians like Simone Biles putting a spotlight on mental health — and inspiring us all to take self-care more seriously — to the hip-hop queens ruling the charts, and the women revolutionizing the film industry from behind the camera — we’re hyped for it all.

The Olympics are still on everyone’s mind so now’s a good time to remind fans of how superstars like Biles, Katie Ledecky, and Naomi Osaka changed the game when it comes to how we view excellence in sport, and a couple of 13-year-old skateboarding phenoms blew our minds in Tokyo too. Speaking of empowerment, plenty of female artists have been delivering body-positive bangers this summer — we see you Cardi B — as icons like Billie Eilish, Lorde, and Halsey get ready to drop new music this Fall. (Our playlists needed updating anyway.)

We’re also ready for the world to update its beauty standards so naturally, we had to applaud Nikkie Tutorials for leading the way, and if you didn’t have enough to watch already, we’ve got a couple more female-helmed films to add to your binge-watching queue. All that and an update on the historic Generation Equality Forum that took place in Paris this summer pops up in our inaugural episode.

Check it out above!

NYC Hip-Hop And Skate Culture Collide In The Trailer For The Documentary ‘All The Streets Are Silent’

by

If you live for sneakers, skateboarding, Supreme drops, and all things hip-hop, you have late ‘80s and early ‘90s New York street culture to thank for that. And you’re probably going to love All The Streets Are Silent, a feature-length documentary debut from Jeremy Elkin that explores this still influential period of American youth culture. For the documentary, Elkin reached out to the kids (and Kids) who grew up in the scene — who better to document that golden age of style and music than the people who lived it?

Premiering today at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival as a documentary select, “All The Streets Are Silent” takes you on a deep dive into the streets of New York City, back to the days when skate culture and hip-hop were still rebellious expressions of street youth and not global commodities with rabid fan bases dominated by hype.

The film, which is narrated by Zoo York cofounder and Uproxx Style editor Eli Morgan Gesner uses archival footage and covers notable figures and locales of the era, including Harold Hunter, Club Mars, Supreme, and DJ Stretch Armstrong. The stars of the counterculture are in full effect but at its heart, All The Streets Are Silent is an examination of being a kid in New York City during a special time in pop culture. With guests like Rosario Dawson, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, DJ Clark Kent, the late Keith Hufnagel, and Yuki Watanabe, “All The Streets Are Silent” offers an exploration of race, society, fashion, and street culture in a culturally significant era in New York City history wrapped in a Paris is Burning meets Kids aesthetic that oozes cool.

Elkin took this project seriously, in addition to linking up with Gesner, he also tapped the legendary Large Professor, the producer that brought us Tribe Called Quest’s “Keep it Rollin” to do the soundtrack. It doesn’t get more vintage New York than that. Check out the trailer for All The Streets Are Silent above and stream it on-demand until June 23rd for $15 here.

Dave Chappelle Is Launching His First-Ever Podcast, Along With Talib Kweli And Yasiin Bey

by

“Last summer, Yellow Springs [Ohio] was what Hollywood is supposed to be,” says Talib Kweli about the much mythologized “Chappelle Summer Camp” of 2020, which has now given birth to Dave Chappelle’s first podcast. “What we realized is that Hollywood and all that stuff is fake. The real dopeness is where the people are. If someone like Chappelle says, ‘Well, I’m in Yellow Springs.’ Then that’s where the people are going to be.”

The show, co-hosted by Kweli and Yasiin Bey and called The Midnight Miracle, will air on the subscription podcast network Luminary, will reveal the inner workings of Chappelle’s covid rapid tested events (along with the even more legendary after-parties), held in Ohio through the summer and deep into the fall. The first episodes are set to drop “in the coming weeks” and will feature wide-ranging conversations as well as sketches, archival clips, and impersonations from Chappelle, along with a roster of his incredibly famous friends.

“The constant isn’t fame,” Kweli says, “it’s contributions to the culture. Chappelle, one of his many talents, is curating great rooms, so what people will hear on the podcast is essentially what they would hear if they were in the room with us. It’s very organic, very free-flowing, it’s non-linear… we just happen to associate ourselves with greatness.”

“The Midnight Miracle” was recorded in a retrofitted mechanic’s garage turned clubhouse, and the trio has already banked over 100 hours of content recorded with a jaw-dropping list of guests from Common and Tiffany Haddish to Questlove and Chris Rock (plus a soundtrack that includes Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk, and D’Angelo).

As for where the seed of the show first blossomed, Kweli credits his longtime Black Star partner in rhyme, Yasiin Bey. The trio’s friendship has endured since the Chappelle’s Show days.

“We speak often and the last few years we’ve spoken more, as we’ve gotten older,” Kweli tells us. “It was actually Yasiin’s idea to do this type of podcast, when he and Dave first heard people talking about my show, The People’s Party. [People’s Party is produced by Uproxx] Yasiin said to Dave, ‘you should be doing a podcast, too’ and Dave said ‘well the only way I’m doing it is if I do it with ya’ll,’ It was just that simple.”

“Making a podcast isn’t the obvious next move for me, but it’s the right one,” Chappelle said in a press release announcing the show. “The Midnight Miracle gives you a look into how me and my friends process the world around us, and I think it will change the way listeners think of what a podcast can be.”

Look for The Midnight Miracle to drop on Luminary in the weeks to come.

With Lil Nas X’s Satan Shoes, MSCHF Has Become The New Supreme

by
MSCHF/Uproxx

When your brand is literally called MSCHF, it shouldn’t be a shocker that there’s a good dose of actual mischief embedded in the ethos. That’s exactly what the label behind Lil Nas X’s wildly viral Satan shoes promises to deliver with each of its bi-monthly drops. Note we didn’t say “bi-monthly sneaker drops” — because while the most famous MSCHF products are shoes, they’ve also launched tongue-in-cheek bath bombs, internet browser add-ons, AI-generated feet photos, and rubber chicken bongs, along with various other weird shit and ephemera.

The Satan shoes aren’t the brand’s first brush with viral fame, either. Launched in 2016 and based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (obvi), MSCHF is the same brand that brought you this year’s Birkinstocks — Birkenstock sandals made using the leather from real Birkin bags and those dope as hell all-white Nike Aix Max 97s filled with 60CCs of Holy Water sourced from the River Jordan back in 2019. So while it might feel like they’ve come out of nowhere, stunt marketing like this is very much their #brand.

Everything out of MSCHF comes wrapped in layers of nihilistic irony that attempts to reflect the absurdity of a world where people get hyped over things like Supreme stamped bricks and shrug off stuff like an attempted coup from a game-show-host-turned-President as just another Wednesday in the waning days of the American Empire. But by adopting the uber-capitalistic “bi-weekly drop” cadence of a modern streetwear company, MSCHF is very much part of the world they’re skewering. (The line between viral marketing and literal trolling gets very tough to see when you look at things like MSCHF’s ClickSwipe app, which swipes right on Tinder for you every time you click something with your mouse).

“Our perspective is everything is funny in a nihilistic sort of way,” MSCHF CEO Gabriel Whaley told Business Insider in an interview. “We’re not here to make the world a better place. We’re making light of how much everything sucks.”

If you take those words at face value, MSCHF feels a lot of the old Supreme — which gained legitimate clout via viral product drops. When the Supreme brick happened it was product-as-commentary, a release that reflected the absurdity of the hype machine surrounding the counterculture skatewear brand itself. The fact that people actually paid for it is what made the brick such an iconically dark moment in streetwear history.

These days, Supreme plays its relatively safe, favoring official collaborations over everything, though they’ll still drop a random accessory here and there. The gap in the “is this a real commentary on commerce or just commerce in disguise as commentary?” space that Supreme left behind has since been filled by MSCHF. And the relationship is a weirdly reciprocal one — with MSCHF’s ironic products hitting harder because we saw how well that model actually served Supreme.

Now bring all that context to bear on the Satan shoes — which a judge has just ordered the brand to stop selling. Note, that this isn’t an official collab. MSCHF calls them “art pieces” and that’s correct, though Nike is arguing that the general public isn’t sophisticated enough to know that this devil-themed footwear wasn’t actually made by Swoosh & Co., which also seems to be true. While sneaker customization isn’t illegal, when you’re selling 666 customized sneakers with blood in the air bubble and freaking out square Christian parents across the country, the brand whose shoe you’re using has every right to ask you to chill.

MSCHF will surely cease and desist and their next drop will be all the more anticipated because of this episode. Nike lawyers could squash them, but why would they? Their brand got a little badass-rebel energy from this dance and their PR machine will fight to correct misperceptions among their core suburban fanbase. Round and round we go.

Eventually, the two brands will probably collaborate for real. Again, Supreme laid down the playbook for this. In 2000 Supreme received a cease-and-desist from Louis Vuitton for lifting the brand’s signature monogram print. 17 years later the two brands announced their first of several official collaborations. Let’s hope it doesn’t take that long for MSCHF and Nike to make nice.

What you think of MSCHF’s actual products depends on your life stage and whether its model feels fresh or tired to you. Do you think blood in a shoe is bold? What about a bath bomb shaped like a toaster? Or an Instagram account that proudly proclaims “DO NOT FOLLOW US“? If that sounds corny or if you’re past it because it feels like a retread of Supreme, feel free to look away.

For the rest of us, MSCHF is infusing the world of streetwear and accessory drops with some conversation-starting fun, re-capturing the counter-culture energy of an industry that has become commercialized to the point of banality. Whether it’s capitalism masquerading as rebellion or rebellion masquerading as capitalism is impossible to say. But maybe that, too, is part of the point.

If you want to sign up for early access to MSCHF products click here.