The Brilliance of Hype
Part of Hype's genius is that he doesn't project his thoughts about artists on their videos; he gets inside their identity and creates self-portraits against a colorful backdrop -- an island for Aaliyah, gritty street corners for the Wu-Tang Clan, a yacht filled with disposable women for Jay-Z. There are glimpses of that ability in other video directors, including the slick direction of Little X or Paul Hunter, but Hype is the anti-formula: he lets the song develop its own world through his work. It would be easy for the director of more than 100 music videos in five years to slip into the predictable hip-hop video formula: lots of thong-baring women and plenty of ice-grilling artists spitting into the camera.
Instead, he continues to create visual kaleidoscopes for each personality -- making his mark on hip-hop and music video history along the way.
Now that the world has become accustomed to videos defining their thoughts about a song, it seems like Hype would have an easier go of things. But he is not a typical director -- the Hollis, Queens native is a lover of the music and a patron of visual arts. The delicate way he wields the camera, following a young woman with a baby on her hip through "Can It Be All So Simple" or parodying "Coming to America" through the eyes of Busta Rhymes in "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See," isn't just a way of him detailing those particular songs -- they are metaphors for where those songs fall in the realm of the urban set.
It's a big task for a guy who started off sweeping floors for video directors and started off as a hungry intern like his buddy, P.Diddy. For the graffiti artist who would be the most influential music video director of his generation, infusing class into an art form that used to be seen as less than glossy has sometimes been a challenge. He's said before that he wanted to be the "Basquiat or Keith Haring of the streets" -- and he has lived up to that aspiration many times over.
His vision fell short, for instance, in the one-dimensionally plotted "Belly", a visual achievement that lacked the presence of real acting talent from its principal characters DMX and Nas, as well as the very necessary interesting storyline to add fullness to the movie. Nonetheless, even that disappointing project can't mar his list of achievements.
This selection of videos isn't what fans of his work would choose, necessarily, as the strongest representation of his work. While L.L. Cool J's "Doin' It" is typical borderline raunchy L.L. fare, it doesn't display Hype's vision as well as the futuristic and omitted "What's It Gonna Be" featuring Busta Rhymes and Janet Jackson. He does include "No Scrubs" which features TLC looking polished and funky and Craig Mack looking as attractive as humanly possible on "Flava in Ya Ear (Remix)." The bonus features are a bit of a bore, aside from the uneven selection of videos -- Hype doesn't appear very interested in talking about his career or creative influences in the interview portion and the commentary doesn't offer a lot in the way of insight into his creative process.
Still, he's created hundreds of hip-hop music videos for everyone from the now-tormented R.Kelly to the vividly creative Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott. There is no limit to his vision, which is probably the most exciting thing about Hype Williams. He's presently working on several other projects with his company, Big Dog Films, which will hopefully offer as much promise on the big screen as he does on the smaller one.
— 7 August 2002
