The Strangest Video in the History of (Mainstream) Hip-Hop?

thebridgeisover · Post by **thebridgeisover** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:43 am

Rakim - Guess Who's Back (1997)

EDIT: I had written "move the crowd" for the video instead of "guess whos back". Apologies. I corrected it above. 2am posting will do that to you sometimes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxLzGvDKN_U

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Only Rakim could make this hot. I can up on it youtubing yesterday and not having seen it for years. I watched it three times laughing at how horribly awesome and odd it is.

Allow me to count the ways:

-Rakim falling through a time/space portal on the way to the stage

-Rakim barefoot in a orange hooded robe

-oddly distracting water drain that seems to be the costar of the video

-curled-hoofed Satyr/Satan

-said Satyr/Satan making rambling speech about wanting Rakim to help
him "move the crowd"

-extras from a smashing pumpkins video, the matrix revolutions, and a sketchy
venice beach circus

-Rakim unable to resist picking up and holding a twelve inch.... mic.

-horrible special effects

-creepy Satyr/Satan shifting around behind Rakim the whole video

-two men tattooing each other (okay, not so awesome...)

-zombie goth vampires in nightgowns playing violins

-woman kissing a snake

-bald man in makeup, dress and a small snake around his neck (2:00)

-spiked land mine

-black and white adam and eve

-virgin in white being danced over and looking scared only to been seen again in a half second reaction shot at the end of the video

-Satyr/Satan eating cantaloupe (?) like hes the happiest mf on earth

-headbobbin' deer/wolf (2:33)

-dead tattooed jesus-type

-Satyr/Satan flicking his tongue linda blair style

-Rakim drawing lightning to his twleve inch.... mic and destroying (?) the crowd (no repeat business I guess) including dead tattooed jesus-type

Anyone have anything mainstream as strange (or stranger) than that?

Blockhead · Post by **Blockhead** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:49 am

that was fantastic. i remember this vaguely. it never struck me as funny then as it is now. the beginning is bordering on gay porn.
you think rakim argued that costume choice? he's definitely the dopest mc to ever rock a flowing gown.

step one · Post by **step one** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 5:16 am

I never quite 'got' the video for I Know You Got Soul. It was just loads of old b&w film clips cut together with no relation to the track. Weird.
I havent seen it for a while but I seem to remember the video for Guess Whos Back was pretty bad aswell.

(i cant access youtube at work or I'd have posted them)

Thun · Post by **Thun** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:52 pm

This is pretty amazing in retrospect. Almost seems like a precursor to "Get Ur Freak On" era Missy Elliot videos.

Thun · Post by **Thun** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:54 pm

step one wrote:I never quite 'got' the video for I Know You Got Soul. It was just loads of old b&w film clips cut together with no relation to the track. Weird.
I havent seen it for a while but I seem to remember the video for Guess Whos Back was pretty bad aswell.

(i cant access youtube at work or I'd have posted them)

The video in questions is the "Guess Who's Back" video.

battlecatmeowstab212 · Tue Feb 10, 2009 4:42 pm

You ever see the ORIGINAL Paperboy "Ditty" video?

I think it's on par:

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thebridgeisover · Post by **thebridgeisover** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 12:09 am

battlecatmeowstab212 wrote:You ever see the ORIGINAL Paperboy "Ditty" video?

I think it's on par:

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LOL! that dude just pouring OJ through his fingers? Cow titties? Half-naked girls breaking into (empty) safes? great one-hit wonder. I had never seen this video. thanks.

RAZAH CUTZ · Post by **RAZAH CUTZ** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 2:58 pm

this used to be one of my favorite vids man....first off the song itself was ill, second Rakim was lookin buggd out up on that mountain.....lightening in the background, lol....

the overall vid itself just had a lot of biblical/mythological references and themes in it....I think that just flew over a lot of peoples heads or turned them off in general.....

even with some of the oddities in it, it's still waaay more interesting than anything out today.....

Irons Kill Lions · Post by **Irons Kill Lions** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 7:47 pm

Ok, maybe only strange because a video with so many half-naked chicks can still be so gay, but...

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Classic.