Understanding Jay-Z’s “Run This Town” Video Concept
It’s deeper than Mad Max.
Director Anthony Mandler reveals the idea behind Jigga’s next visual:
“There’s a tone and feeling to the song, there’s a militia, a march and a kind of rambunctious energy to it that, for me, I immediately wanted to tap into. I showed [Jay] some references from the classic rebellious zones of the world. We live in very orderly society in America, but when you get into Brazil, you get into the Middle East, you get into Africa, you get into Eastern Europe, when you get into places like that, there’s a different sort of ‘we run this town’ [going on]. There’s less order and more chaos. So we looked at a lot of those references, new photos and historical photos, to capture that kind of falling-apart feeling.”
“We wanted you to feel uneasy throughout the piece,” he said. “We wanted there to be a constant layer of tension through the piece. Even in the way I shot — where the camera comes by Jay, it doesn’t stop on him, it goes to Rihanna — there’s kind of this chaos of revealing and covering and concealing. And things happen offscreen that you don’t see. I think people are really gonna flip on this.”
We better. Video drops tmw night at 8 EST on MTV.
Props: 1515 Boys
And if you’re so inclined. Another fuckin’ teaser. Smh. Can we stop stretching content? Geesh!
I think this video is gonna be a classic. I really like the concept, the all black, i think its gonna be hot. Definitely lookin’ forward to this.
I think Im LUVIN the whole movemen 4 sho!!!
Track listing
# Title Producer Length
1. “What We Talkin’ About” (featuring Luke Steele of Empire of the Sun) Kanye West
2. “Thank You” No I.D.
3. “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)” No I.D. 4:16
4. “Run This Town” (featuring Kanye West and Rihanna) Kanye West, No I.D. 4:35
5. “Empire State of Mind” (featuring Alicia Keys) Kanye West, No I.D.
6. “Real as It Gets” (featuring Young Jeezy) Timbaland
7. “On to the Next One” (featuring Swizz Beatz) Swizz Beatz
8. “Off That” (featuring Drake) Kanye West
9. “A Star is Born” (featuring J. Cole) Kanye West
10. “Venus vs. Mars” MGMT
11. “Already Home” (featuring Kid Cudi) Kanye West
12. “Hate” (featuring Kanye West) Kanye West
13. “Reminder” Timbaland 3:55
14. “So Ambitious” (featuring Pharrell) The Neptunes
15. “Young Forever” (featuring Mr Hudson) Kanye West
Sample Credits:
“Run This Town” samples “Someday in Athens” by The Four Levels of Existence
“D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)” samples “In The Space” by Janko Nilovic and Dave Sucky
Curious to see if jigga will go Gold first week
to me if he does 300k it’s a good move
more it’s great. sorry but platinium
first week is impossible now but
Gold is a minimum normaly for
him or around like 430k
so let we see this
september !
the question is :
will “a platinium plaque 4 this one” be there ???
this’ tha : ROC NATION’s empire ‘s masterpiece !
i hope…
new label, new artists, new ambiations
but one goal : Still succe$$ful sh*t !
He’s a Mason, he even says it in the song. If you don’t know what the Mason’s be up to, I suggest you do some researching.
i want an itw
and a question about Mason !
lol nah for real cuz people talk to much
so please next interviewer on mtv or whatever
do ya job for the people
Jay is a Freemason satanic ..worshiper …
Good job !
YN