Jay-Z Turns "On To the Next One" Clip Into High-Concept Video Art

Jay-Z unveiled the new video for his latest Blueprint 3 single "On To the Next One" when the clock struck midnight on December 31st. If Jigga's New Year's resolution was to produce music videos that are on a completely different visual plane than all other vids in hip-hop, then he's off to a great start. "On To the Next One" is intercut with so many stunning black-and-white images that it seems like it was made more for a Museum of Modern Art installation than MTV.

"On To the Next One" comes just a week after a video for Blueprint 3 closer "Young Forever" was released, but that clip is reportedly just for the international market and "Next One" is the album's true next North American single. Jay-Z had previously boasted on his Website that "Next One" would be "the first video of the decade," and while it's unclear whether Jay-Z beat Big Boi's "Shine Blockas" as the legit first video of the '10s, "Next One" is definitely the favorite in the strangest video of the decade race.

Images delivered in the "Next One" clip include a man evoking The Dark Knight's Joker, demonic-looking bull horns, expensive sneakers overflowing with white paint, a black-crystal skull smothered in black paint, an homage to the Jennifer's Body movie poster, basketballs on fire, the song's producer Swizz Beatz and more. If Cremaster artist Matthew Barney was credited with envisioning "Next One," we wouldn't be surprised, but several reports name artist Sam Brown as the video's director.

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Song Stories

“The A Team”

Ed Sheeran | 2011

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.

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