Throughout much of hip-hop’s history, it has had an invisible love of dark cinema, from the self-evident horror (hip-hop with a clear overtones of horror) of the 1990s to the decadent whipping of the 2010s with its latent destructive energy. All this time, the directors of video haven`t been avoiding borrowing the horror aesthetics, but also creating independently working genre works with stunning musical accompaniment to royalty free rap beats at Taketones.com.
10.GRAVEDIGGAZ – DIARY OF A MADMAN
(directed by Hype Williams)
Director Hype Williams fills the main clip of New York’s popularizers of horrorcore with a huge amount of clichéd grotesque imagery. Combined with an uncomplicated song about murder under the influence of demonic forces, the old-fashionedness of the plot brings an ironic smile. Still, it’s worth noting that the noisy and darkened chaos on screen works better than the much more straightforward video from horrorcore rival Flatlinerz.
9. SNOOP DOGG – MURDER WAS THE CASE
(dir. Dr. Dre)
Not without self-irony, Snoop Dogg plays the lead role in a video that completes a mystical dimension over the hood-movie genre. Legendary producer Dr. Dre shoots the clip with a Hollywood swagger and topical for its time special effects devilish reincarnations. The result is just the perfect choice for a fun YouTube Halloween party.
8. MAJOR LAZER feat. ANDY MILONAKIS – ZUMBIE
(directed by Eli Gunn-Jones)
Alternative comedian Andy Milonakis reads a comedy rap as a zombie in scary makeup, molesting passersby, eating raw meat in a supermarket, biting the neck of a man in a Superman suit, and falling asleep on a subway platform with a sad and lost expression at the end of the clip. Milonakis himself, thanks to a rare genetic disease, looks no older than 14 in his 40s, which gives this grotesque ode to corporeality an existential dimension.
7. GUCCI MANE feat. TRINIDAD JAMES – GUWOP
(dir. Cricket)
To include in this list a clip that doesn’t envision even a hint of the usual horror aesthetic might seem like cheating. But one only has to include the first few seconds of this creation by rap star Gucci Mein at the peak of freakishness, drug-addled stonerism, and body mass, and everything immediately falls into place. The nauseating camerawork, epileptic editing and grotesque lighting, combined with Trinidad James’ demonic shut-outs, are enough to feed you nightmares for a week or two.
6. 21 SAVAGE – ALL THE SMOKE
(directed by Matthew Swinski)
21 Savage monotonously recites his trademark grim rap about murder and neighborhood crack dealing while his psychopathic alter ego brutally massacres a group of young men gathered around a campfire. The full clip presents this lovingly filmed homage to slashers in all their bloody glory.
5. STITCHES – BRICK IN YO FACE
(dir. Mazadi Vision)
Stitches, who is horrible in himself (scary tattoos and grills combined with the facial expression of a serial killer), sings about beating money out of debtors, so convincingly that it looks like he’s about to use his machine gun right through the monitor. When he screams about his love of cocaine while Pinhead himself is dancing, you just have to throw your wallet and run away.
4. FATHER – EVERYBODY IN THE CLUB GETTIN SHOT
(dir. PrettyPuke)
Rapper Father, in his hit with a telling title, fully materializes the destructive elements that are invariably present in all hedonistic rap. The video’s denouement is, of course, predictable. But how many other artists do you know who are ready to kill all their girlfriends just for fun?
3. KANYE WEST feat. JAY-Z, NICKI MINAJ, RICK ROSS, BON IVER – MONSTER
(directed by jake nava)
Kanye West, Jay Z and Rick Ross rap surrounded by the corpses of gorgeous models (there are also cannibals and werewolves in the clip, but that’s not so interesting). After accusations of misogyny, West was forced to remove the empathetic work from his channel, but is it possible to call a man who so gently helps a dead girl assume the most graceful position on the bed a misogynist?
2. DIE ANTWOORD – PITBULL TERRIER
(dir. Ninja)
Not even the comedic digressions can outweigh the gruesome effect of the bloody dog mask and demonic makeup in South Africans Die Antwoord’s scariest video. The Ninja member directs the video himself, combining equally confidently filmed bloody violence and hypnotic choreography. This combination is so compelling that you want to add more dancing and blood to an ambitious full-length pitch about the band’s comedic history
1.CHILDISH GAMBINO – TELEGRAPH AVE (OAKLAND by LLOYD)
(directed by Hiro Murai)
The atmospheric story of the summer vacation of rapper and TV series star Donald Glover is a fully working horror in miniature. The main character’s romance with a beautiful girl with a Buddha tattoo awaits a dark climax, but director Hiro Murai does not forget that this is a music video and not just a short film. The overall atmosphere is affected by the montage of the dance, the flames dancing on the face, and even the wind, which seems to grow colder along with the music.
