Video Jam: Kid Sister, Snoop Dogg

By lonewolf on Thu, Dec 20, 2007 9:34 pm

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New tracks from pop industry vet Snoop Dogg and nkotb Kid Sister find surprising resonance in their shared 80s electro-funk throwback vibe. But it's the contrast in the videos that demonstrate the fundamental difference between a hungry artist on her come-up and the pop veteran struggling against the weight of his own history.

Snoop's "Sensual Seduction" does its best to replicate the nastiness of third-gen VHS playback with its opening sync jump and the crispy "PLAY" icon jittering up in the top-left the corner. A row of stage lights and abundant use of fog machine establish "Sensual Seduction" as an homage to those halcyon days of early video when amateur porn was the killer app and twin pillars were hot (phallic) stage props. To get just the right amount of warm magnetic fuzz, director Melina repeatedly ran the video through a pawn shop VCR in post-production while classic fx from Baked Goods situate it somewhere between Bedknobs and Broomsticks and 3, 2, 1 Contact.

Despite its sonic similarity, Kid Sister's "Pro Nails" resists the retro impulse, preferring instead the relatively timeless opening image of flickering strip-mall signage. Once inside, the screwed-up half-time hook kicks in as Ruben Fleischer directs a series of quick pans and soft focus macro shots of fake nails on display. The video's brilliant gimmick is an on-going dance sequence featuring fingers alternately stuffed into tiny sneakers and rocking those iconic artificial nails.

Snoop's late-70s coke-nosed pimp character should be familiar to most viewers but rarely has the rest of the world dressed up to meet him the way it does here. Decked in washed out gamma, tha Dogg brings to life Skippy White's dollar bin record sleeves as he struts from one cable access TV transition to the next. Kid Sister's nail salon, on the other hand, is a place of streetside glamour where the lights are bright and everyone wears sunglasses indoors. After hours, they run blacklights, host DJs, and send everyone running out back to juke in the alleyway.

Both videos are packed with women but where Snoop's crew crawls, moans, and vogues, Sister's sisters are queens running dance routines on thick-cushioned pedicure thrones. Kanye, the only man with a voice in the nail salon, is at his most fey in LV silk and creamy leather gloves. There is sex appeal but nice clothes and a keytar aren't worth much in Sister's salon - you gotta know how to switchboard and massage a delicate foot to hang in those digs.

In the end, one has to marvel at the two videos side-by-side. With an HD Panasonic and decent lighting at just a couple grand, the low-budget / big-budget aesthetic divide is officially a thing of the past. Snoop, an artist of infinite budget, digs for gear in a pawn shop while the raw newbie calls in favors to rap's giant-killer and gets lulz for dancing fingertips.

You thought you needed a major label deal to make a sick vid? Naw. Ef those recupables. Schlocklift a camera and get busy, kid.

Kid Sister, "Pro Nails", 2007. Director: Ruben Fleischer

Snoop Dogg, "Sensual Seduction", 2007. Director: Melina