Can you guess what Marshall’s videos made it to the list? Of course you can.
To celebrate hip hop’s incredible history of making a big impact on small screens the editors of Rolling Stone and a panel of music critics compiled the list of the 150 greatest hip hop videos.
The started counting up from No.150 — Lil Kim feat. Da Brat, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez, Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott, and Angie Martinez, “Not Tonight (Ladies Night Remix)”. The list covers the timeline up to 2023 and takes some unexpected twists and turns through its length culminating with this Top 5:
1. Missy Elliott, “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” 1997
Director: Hype Williams
2. Public Enemy, “Fight the Power” 1989
Director: Spike Lee
3. Busta Rhymes, “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See” 1997
Director: Hype Williams
4. Beastie Boys, “Sabotage” 1994
Director: Spike Jonze
5. Outkast, “B.O.B.” 2000
Director: Bryan Barber
The magazine could not ignore Marshall’s contribution to the genre but picked up only two, ranked rather modestly. “Stan” showed up at No.96, and “My Name Is” made it to the Top 50. Here are their entries written by Rolling Stone staffers.
Though many of his videos lean on Bart Simpson-esque skits, Eminem shows a much more serious side in this illustration of the dark side of fandom. Stan’s infatuation with Shady metamorphoses from relatively tame (writing letters in hope of a response) to dangerously obsessive (drinking and driving just like Slim Shady in “My Name Is”). Final Destination actor Devon Sawa’s chilling turn as the titular character stands as one of his proudest career moments. “It was like, ‘Eminem? C’mon Dev, I dunno about doing a music video,’” Sawa told Vice in 2018 recalling his agent’s reluctance about the role. “Nobody was really onboard with doing it on my team, and I was the only one who was like, ‘Oh my god, this guy’s really, really good.’ So I did it anyways.” —J.J.
Here’s one way to introduce yourself: grab a candy-colored beat by Dr. Dre and rap directly down the barrel of the camera dressed as a chemistry teacher, a late-night host, a straightjacketed patient, Marilyn Manson, Bill Clinton, a ventriloquist’s dummy, a bully, a scumbag, and, most pressingly, as a jumpsuit-clad rapper capable of fitting in more slant rhymes and pop-culture references per bar than scientists previously thought possible. Practically the only other characters in the video are the American wastelanders who Em charms over the video’s runtime — a fitting prediction.–C.P.
Fifty’s biggest hits is also on the list and it is placed above the median line.
When you’ve survived being shot nine times to sign a $1 million recording deal with hip-hop behemoths Eminem and Dr. Dre, you are entitled to a bit of myth-making. And so we get the star of “In Da Club,” 50 Cent, literally being rebuilt like Seventies television icon The Six Million Dollar Man. Suddenly he reappears hanging upside down in a gym rapping. But that famous sequence is not the video’s money shot, according to co-director Phillip G. Atwell. “Seeing 50 with Dre and Em having his back is as big a visual statement as it is a musical statement,” he explained to MTV News in 2003, referring to the ending scene in which 50’s mentors appear in lab coats approving of their brilliant creation. “You could see what the commitment was between [them] and what this project was going to be about.” —K.M.
Do you agree with the magazine’s choice?
