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kottke.org posts about Puff Daddy

Mo’ postmodernism

An appreciation of the postmodern masterpiece that is the music video for Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems (Puffy, Biggie, Mase, etc.).

So there it is: a weird/powerful truism about social politics delivered in a catchy, post-modern package that uses parody, found video, and cutting-edge video techniques (and let’s not sell Hype Williams short for a second โ€” check out the shots of Puffy and Mase in the yellow suits โ€” I mean, what the hell is that?!), all montaged together with an off-handed mastery (check out how some of the transitions are deliberately not on-beat) to create something that felt so like the future that it could never really be the future. Just like all videos for pop singles, it was dug, and it was forgotten. And so it goes. Somewhere out there there is a list of videos that really truly did something new, and this one belongs on that list.

(via fimoculous)