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

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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