On to the Hexed One
Jay-Z’s hypnotic music video for the song On to the Next One was released as “the first music video of the decade” on the morning of 01/01/10. Of course, Vigilant Citizen – who you’ll remember for his incisive analysis of Lady Gaga’s true Masonic origins – was immediately on the case. Jay-Z has been on the Citizen shitlist ever since the rapper wore a “Do What Thou Wilt” shirt last August, so with the release of this video came righteous vindication and the kind of breathless analysis that causes sharp spikes in the purchasing of duct tape and canned beans amongst the site’s core readership. God-fearing truthseekers weren’t the only ones dissecting the macabre clip. In an article on Jay-Z’s ties to the art world, Slate commented on the clip’s symbols of wealth and status:
Jay-Z and the director Sam Brown jumble bluntly evocative status symbols—a bulging stack of hundreds, Armand de Brignac champagne—with more mysterious symbolism—a bell jar containing taxidermy birds, a swirling ink blot, those whipping cords (which, it bears mentioning, are lifted from the 2002 video for Interpol’s “Obstacle 1”). Some of the most memorable shots in the video are of black paint pouring down a diamond-covered skull. The skull is a replica of “For the Love of God,” a Damien Hirst sculpture that the British artist fabricated for about $30 million in 2007 and sold for a purported $100 million (to a group of investors that includes the Ukrainian billionaire Viktor Pinchuk and, oddly, Hirst himself). Like the Jaguar XJ, Hirst’s skull telegraphs extreme wealth, but that’s not all: Screaming its value while begging to be mulled over, it’s a status symbol and a puzzle in one.’
But Slate’s art-fag analysis is just part of the big cover-up, because this video’s occult powers are clearly beyond anything that even Vigilant Citizen could conceive of, as explained by Derek Jones from the Light of the Lamb Church (Mr. Jones’ breakdown is, perhaps, the true masterpiece here).
Satanic mind control issues aside, the video itself is well-played. Watching this clip is like stumbling across yet another mind-blowingly amazing, anonymous Tumblr blog where nothing is contextualized, nothing is credited, and nothing stays on top for long (hello, NOWITSDARK). Incredible images flash past your eyes as you continue to scroll down… sometimes you’ll recognize a film still or some fashion editorial from 10 months ago, but most times you have no idea, though you feverishly wish you did. You look at the image properties for a clue, and of course it’s only named something like “tumblr_kwqnmlcOoe1qa2t6ho1_500.jpg”. You will probably never know. This video captures the awed anxiety of seeing too many disembodied things in rapid succession.
January 27th, 2010 at 3:07 am
Just wow. Once more another great video. What has the devil been putting in Jay-Z’s cereal in the morning??
January 27th, 2010 at 3:40 am
I do love Vigilant Citizen! My favorite part is when he says things that sound plausible or even likely… like when he was going off about the Masonic symbolism in the White House. I’m guessing he was right on that one.
And this new trend he’s spotted of all the videos where one eye is covered it just weird. Probably it’s just a small number of directors lifting each others’ imagery, I guess.
January 27th, 2010 at 4:19 am
@jwz Or equally th imagery is just the artists making a jab at the music industry and suggesting that it is just like the all controlling illuminati.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:06 am
I’ve had this bookmarked for like two weeks and have yet to watch it!
January 27th, 2010 at 8:29 am
Every time I see the Hirst skull, I think of this…
http://www.laurakeeble.com/Home/28595_untitled.html
Still my favorite artistic comment on Hirst ever.
January 27th, 2010 at 11:30 am
Vigilant Citizen is a misinformation campaign by the a New World Order thug to distract us from the real work his Illuminati masters are doing!
January 27th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
I love this!
A Refusnik’s comment on Damien Hirst – http://bit.ly/anQD4I
(Vladimir Anzelm, from the series “Migrant Workers of the Soul,” 2007. Coal, tar)
(P.S. Thanks for all your pointers, you’re pointed in http://bit.ly/b3KzLq)
January 27th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
OK, place your bets: when conspiracy loonies show up here, will they call us “sheep” first, or “cattle”?
January 27th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Normally I detest rap, but I REALLY enjoy the use of the drone in this.
Also, how did Jay Z get access to my wank file?
The guy in the hoodie was practically handcrafted by the universe for my aesthetic enjoyment.
January 27th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
I, for one, am thoroughly entertained by the omnipresent spoo and the spooky-whitey-as-exotic-minstrel aesthetic!
January 27th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
until someone watches this video and has those slaps of recognition that destroyed Keith Schofield’s video for Charlotte Gainsbourg…
http://tinyurl.com/yh7kde4
(if i had to guess, i’d say The Cell. remember that movie?)
January 27th, 2010 at 10:37 pm
I love the imagery but can’t stand the music so I watched it with a few different songs: Annie Lennox ‘Don’t Let it Bring you down’, Beborn Beton ‘Another World’, and finally Covenant ‘Dead Stars’ which seemed to work best.
January 28th, 2010 at 4:22 am
I like Jay-Z quite a bit so the video won me over and it remains my favorite track off the album (even if it is being savaged by reviews.)
The video has eye candy galore but it also captures the mood and feel of the lyrics. The Tumblr analogy is pretty much dead on in a lot of ways as a result. It has a few trappings of the standard hip hop video but it also breaks out of many of them.
A bit odd to see Jay-Z pull off the kind of video usually associated to more indie, artsy, and visually heavy acts and artists. Good for him.
@Patricia…I’ll give those songs a go. Seems many will no doubt play around with what songs fit this video best for their tastes.
January 28th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
Sweet video. I’m not a fan of Jay-Z, but I have to say I liked the Jonas Brothers jab.
January 29th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
thekamisama: right on!
Meanderthal: we will call you “sheeple” ;)
The skull the black paint is supposed to represent blood…as an offering. The great potency of blood (symbolic of the life force) has been utilized through sacrifice since the beginning of time to “feed” the spirits and gods. The blood being poured onto the skull represents an offering to the Lord of the Underworld, the God of Death. The fact that it’s the Hirst skull is brilliant because it’s the epitome of materialism! The sheeple are offering their life force energies to materialism…
The Masons are left-handed practitioners of the Occult. Black people who are Freemasons are called The Boule.
“In 1904, the first African -American Greek Secret Society was formed in Philadelphia, by Dr. Henry Minton and five of his colleagues. The Boule, (an acronym for Sigma Pi Phi) and pronounced “boo-lay”), was formed to bring together a select group of educated Black men and women.”
http://www.savethemales.ca/the_boule_-_the_black_skull_an.html
Did you listen to the lyrics to this song?
“Meanwhile, I had Oprah chillin’ in the projects”
“M.J.(Micheal Jordan) at the summer jam, Obama on the text”
They all belong to The Boule…
January 29th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
I should mention that I don’t agree with everything the author of the above link promotes…or the site for that matter. He’s a total misogynistic homophobe amongst other things. He’s pretty right on about The Boule though…
January 29th, 2010 at 10:47 pm
Not that anyone cares what I think but – I’m so SOOO tired of “looks amazing, can actually sing coupled with …. the same boring generic music”. I’m tired of aesthetic taking reign over substance. I won’t name names.
That said – the visual, vocal AND sound united together profoundly to grip the soul and satisfy the mind for this reader. This is one I could watch and listen to again. Thank you, Jay Z and co. (and Nadya for posting)