Wednesday 10 August 2011

-Music Videos on my Mind- Tyler, The Creator's "Yonkers"


It may just be the fact that England, right now, is in the grip of mindless rioting the scale of which this country has never seen, but one can't help wonder how on earth Odd Future member Tyler, The Creator's video for Yonkers has been nominated for 'Video of the Year' at 2011's MTV Music Video Award ceremony that takes place later this month. It's a hard-hitting video that features insect ingestion, vomiting and suicide all in a seemingly one take clip.

This is not to say that the music video for Yonkers is bad. In fact, it's a powerfully nihilistic clip that delivers a sensory body blow. In an age where all the other nominees in the best video category range from sanitised pop artists like Katy Perry, Adele and Bruno Mars; the inclusion of Yonkers is an obscenely leftfield choice and probably more fitting to the desperate and harshly bleak times were living in. If anything, Yonkers is perhaps a historically accurate cultural marker for these days, arguably more reflective of a world where unemployment is rampant, the economy is in the toilet and social fabric is disintegrating before our very eyes.

Directed by some guy called Wolf Haley (aka: Tyler, The Creator) and shot in stark black and white, Yonkers is most definitely controversial, but is it anything more than a slickly contrived shock piece, or is it a genuinely daring artistic statement?

10 comments:

  1. MTV never had any standards, so I'm not surprised. The programmes they air in recent few years have crossed all possible limits of acceptable behaviour and political correctness. The sad thing is that they don't care how much their attitude will influence future generations.

    Kids who watch JACKASS, JERSEY SHORE and who take Katy Perry, Rihanna and rap stars as their idols, definitely won't grow up to be the same people as people who grew up listening to 80's and 90's music and old pop and rock stars and watching good TV programmes,

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  2. "If anything, Yonkers is perhaps a historically accurate cultural marker for these days, arguably more reflective of a world where unemployment is rampant, the economy is in the toilet and social fabric is disintegrating before our very eyes." Love this.

    You have such a natural gift for writing, I wonder if you write professionally? If not, you should seriously, seriously consider it.

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  3. Well I'm shocked you don't write for a living. But at least you share your talent with us. :)

    And as for Moz, he's most definitely my future husband. He doesn't know it yet but he's saving himself for marriage...with me. And I'll give up food in general if just for the chance to have his name on a marriage certificate.

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  4. Your blog is super unique. :)

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  5. Well, I've never heard of Yonkers, and I've never seen the video..I guess that will be simple to change by clicking the "play" button, since you have it here on your blog!

    And, I didn't quite get your comment on my post - LOL. Did you actually suggest that I post on something different?! HAHA


    Amber
    Ambersmouthwash

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  6. Interesting post. Never seen that music video before.

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  7. Of Pericles, to rage the city turn, Following!

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  8. Wow, that was definitely a solid, albeit extreme, video. I'm so sick of turning on the radio to hear the same handful of "artists"... it's kind of sickening that there's so much talent out there, but we're force-fed the same "artists" again and again.

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  9. I can do without the homophobic bullshit, but i guess it's ok

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