Pages tagged “missy elliott”

It's turning out to be quite the season for hip-hop lovers. T.I.'s Paper Trail was released Tuesday, Missy Elliott's much-delayed Block Party will (hopefully) finally hit Nov. 11, Kanye West has moved up his new album to "sometime in November," 50 Cent's Before I Self Destruct debuts Dec. 9, and now Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 record is rumored to drop Dec. 2.

VH1 just announced the “100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs Ever!!!” and the list isn’t terrible. It’s actually pretty good. They have Public Enemy's “Fight The Power” in the right place (# 1), they identified the best Notorious B.I.G. song (“Juicy”) and, apart from the egregious inclusion of Coolio (at #38 with the horrendous “Gangsta’s Paradise”), they don’t have a lot of embarrassing inclusions.

But they did forget some amazing tracks.

Here, in 10 words or less, we make the case for the 10 best hip-hop songs VH1 forgot. They may not trump “Fight They Power,” but they’re all better than anything Coolio could ever dream of.

Once upon a time, the music video was an innovation. “What do you mean by 'music video,'” asked incredulous old-timers. “Do you mean footage of bands performing their songs live?” When told that music videos could actually have plots and other creative, cinematic elements, those same old-timers lost touch with the modern world, daunted by the infinite speed of progress. And then they died*.

Now, it’s time for a whole new generation of old-timers to experience shock and awe, because Missy Elliott is about to screen the world’s first-ever 3-D music video. Missy worked on the “Ching-A-Ling” video with longtime collaborator Dave Meyers, and the clip promises to be as audacious and crazy as her earlier visual experiments. The video features, among other things, a Japanese dance troupe called the Woomin Crew.

“Ching-A-Ling” will premiere on MTV in 3-D during this coming Monday’s TRL, and the 2-D version will follow later in the day on BET’s 106th & Park. For the full viewing experience, glasses are available at some FYE and Adidas stores, and via radio giveaways in cities screening the new movie Step Up 2 the Streets. Coincidentally enough, “Ching-A-Ling” appears on the Streets soundtrack, as well as Missy Elliott’s forthcoming album.

In case you didn’t know, Paste is your 3-D headquarters, so be sure to check out our continuing coverage of another multi-dimensional project, this one from U2.

* Only kidding, old-timers!

Related links:
Missy-Elliott.com
Missy Eliott on MySpace
Step Up 2 the Streets on MySpace

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