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In the highly anticipated video for his newest single, “Run This Town,”
with Rihanna and Kanye West, Jay-Z further celebrates his alpha male
status by leading a fictitious band of marauders through what appears
to be a desolate, urban landscape. There is no convenient opening
storyline that establishes who these masked men are, or that explains
the David Fincher-esque imagery; but the feel and mood of the video
fits the arrogant urgency in the song.
Most of the imagery borrows heavily from the aforementioned Fincher, but also from cult classics like The Warriors,
and the Mad Max films. It was one of the few non-flossy videos from
Hov, and Kanye and Rihanna make able sidekicks. The sexy starlet, in
particular, is striking as a femme fatale posing against the gritty,
grimy backdrop in an array of commanding looks — none of which
undermine her sex appeal. Mr. West keeps it relatively low-key for much
of the video, as the camera focuses on Jay and Rihanna until Kanye
comes alive during his verse at the end.
Some might complain that there is no story line that adds to the vivid
visuals, but sometimes those types of narrative devices are a little
too easy and unnecessary. Part of what makes this video so appealing is
that it doesn’t spoon-feed
the audience some half-baked backstory — instead, it just drops you
into the middle of a futuristic landscape populated with menacing
figures that forces you to catch up and make your own assumptions about
who they are and what they are doing. So ponder their motivations if
you want — but you would probably do better to just nod ya head.
–todd williams
