Steve 'Flash' JuonWhether it’s a utopian or a dystopian setting, hip-hop music and culture is not afraid to explore our potential future through science-fiction. It’s not at all hard to read the political and social upheavals pictured in the songs of artists like Del the Funky Hompsapien as allegories for our modern world which is certainly rife with strife in clashes over fossil fuels, ideological views, racial discrimination and intended and unintended consequences of social media taking over our lives.
Hip-Hop videos get the chance to explore those same themes with an added visual component. Rappers do at times get knocked for being unrealistic compared to the day to day lives of real people, particularly in terms of those who floss their conspicuous consumption, but the irony here is that the more fantastical the premise the easier it is to make it about our real life. Sometimes a hip-hop video can just revel in the robots and lasers for a bit of fun, but as I think you’ll see from the ten selections below, these cinematic masterpieces have more to say than meets the eye.
1.) Method Man – “Judgement Day”
2.) Deltron 3030 (Del) – “Virus”
3.) Common f/ Pharrell – “Universal Mind Control”
4.) Time Zone – “World Destruction”
5.) The Mighty Underdogs – “Science Fiction”
6.) OutKast – “Prototype”
7.) Gang Starr – “You Know My Steez”
8.) Madvillain (MF DOOM & Madlib) – “All Caps”
9.) Deltron 3030 (Del) – “Mastermind”
10.) Lupe Fiasco – “Daydreamin'”