Video Breakdown: Drake’s “Over” (Watch!)

This week, in typical journalistic fashion, I’ve decided to cover one of the hot topics in the industry right now, or at least our little hip-hop influenced corner of it. See, there’s this kid, you may have heard of him, his name’s Drake. He just released the first official single off his highly anticipated album Thank Me Later titled "Over," and shortly thereafter a video was also released. As we take a look his position in the industry and how his visuals will affect it, keep in mind he got his start as an actor on Degrassi Jr. High,... or maybe not.


Drake - Over
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Notwithstanding the visuals, the song "Over" is a certified hit. Drake’s not the best rapper in the game (old or new), nor is he hardest, or most interesting. What he does have on his side is being the hottest artist in the game without even releasing an album. This has afforded him the luxury of getting the best beats from the best producers in the world. We should also give credit to his in-house team from Toronto – especially Boi-1da, an Ontarian producer who has proven himself an extremely valuable diamond in the rough. And finally, Drake has the non-threatening boy-next-door appeal that sells records these days, in addition to being able to sing and rap equally well.

Let’s get into the visuals, though, as that’s the whole point of this column. You have the first single from the most anticipated debut album in the game, and you need a video for it. Where do you go? Spike Jonze, Joseph Kahn, Hype? The hottest director in the music video world right now is none of those people; it's Anthony Mandler, and that’s who Universal and Drake have commissioned to direct this video.

With interesting time-lapse visuals projected onto the walls of a hotel room and the artist himself, this video quickly separates itself from standard hip-hop fare. The glamorized, swanky night-clubesque scenes with Drake and his love interest are also very fitting and, again, not typical hip-hop video fodder. The only parts that stick out like sore thumbs are some of the performance. Drake on a black background: extremely uninteresting. Drake performing with motion trails and him then eating a smaller version of himself: weird. Overall this video is 80% hit and 20% miss. It just seems like somebody of Mandler’s quality and talent would knock this out of the park, but you do have to give him credit for trying something new.

Drake’s once again trying to position himself so he’s not seen as a typical hip-hop artist (as a business move and for longevity as well) and this is just one of the first pieces of that plan. Will he go Platinum, double Platinum when all is said and done? Probably. Will he still be around in 5-10 years? Harder to tell. Is this video good for him and his image/career? That’s for you to decide.