Rick Ross, “The bawse”, Mr. Maybach music; Miami’s prominent gangsta rapper is no stranger to controversy. From his questionable credibility and past as a correctional officer, to his feud with 50 Cent, he has gotten himself into the headlines many times with his antics. We can now add another shocking controversy to the list of aforementioned events, producing terrible videos like "Mafia Music".
(Before I go any further, I want to write as a disclaimer that this is not a personal attack on the director of the video or the talents of anyone else involved in its production. I’m writing this to suggest improvements and provide a forum to discuss the art of music video production.)
Leaked as a prominent diss track from Rick Ross to 50 Cent, “Mafia Music” was the first song off “Deeper than Rap” to be released. With a dope beat from the Inkredibles the song is appropriately dark a foreboding, the video, on the other hand, not so much. With the right visuals, this song could have been taken much more seriously and, possibly broke the radio. The opposite happened in this case. The camera work leaves much to be desired with its random and shaky zoom ins and outs, which serve no discernible purpose. It’s also comical and equally cheesy to see Rick Ross eating food and counting stacks of money for most of the video.
We also get to see him sit in his limo/Maybach, smoking a cigar as he raps, and brandishing an AK-47or some other sort of assault rifle. There are also a bounty of shots where Ross is literally lounging without his shirt off as he raps, not the most pleasant thing to view, no matter who you are. While there was probably no budget for this video, and most hip-hop directors would jump at any chance to work with an artist of Rick Ross’ stature, there’s no excuse for calling in sick creatively and execution wise on the production.
There are plenty of low budget videos that look great and try to push the limits creatively. You can check out this list, one of many for the best low budget video of recent times.
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Member Comments
TheBayToLA
Haha hey it's a recession so I guess everyone is cutting costs. Especially production costs. This is like one of those hood2hood videos. And were all the topless shots necessary? seriously, does he think its sexy? hahaha my favorite is when he says burn the house down and it cuts to the fireplace! lol
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