Week 8 Video Reviews
Paid in Full
Artist's Name:
Eric B. & Rakim are a pair of East Coast rappers made up of DJ Eric Barrier and MC Rakim.
Song Title:
"Paid in Full"
CD/Album Title
Paid in Full
Year
1988
Record Company
4th and B’Way
Director
Unknown
Narrative of Video:
The video begins with large letters and a voice over that reads "This is a journey into sound". It then shows images of an old radio and two women sitting in chairs listening to it. The images change to a couple sitting on a couch and then to a large old radio. The beat of the song can be heard as the images continue to switch to these older 50's era pictures of people and a large radio tower. The scene changes to a man sitting in front of a microphone. He repeats the words "This is a journey into sound" once again. The image flashes to a pair of hands playing a drum and back to the man in front of the microphone. He says that "it is a journey that along the way will bring you new color" and when he says this, a picture of a rose opening up can be seen. He then says "new dimensions" and the words "new dimensions" are seen on the screen. He also says, "new values". The camera flashes to a young blonde woman and then to an older woman who has a shocked expression on her face. The images shift quickly to a mug of beer, a man, a monkey, the hands playing the drum. Back to the man in front of the microphone. He announces that he is going to "throw this switch" and the word Pump is on the screen, followed by "Pump up the volume" and a muscle bound man whose arms raise to flex his muscles in time to the music. The screen changes to lines of Arabic writing in foreground, and different images in the background, primarily a belly dancer dancing. The scene changes to a young woman who says "you make me feel so good" but it is amplified and reverb is also used to add emphasis to the words. The man in front of the microphone is there again. He says something, then the scene goes back to the young woman. She says, "Oh my gosh, the music just turns me on" but the sound is once again amplified. Her image is also distorted into a wavy like image. The scene then changes to one of the artists who begins rapping. The video flashes to different images and back to the rapper. Different words flash on the screen at the same time he says them. Images are also used in this way. The camera changes to close up and back out to show the DJ in the background. The scene shifts to two young girls who do a countdown. Then, the video shows the rapper again and continues to flash words and images as he says them. The scene focuses in on the dj who is spinning records. The scene changes to a man dancing, then a couple, then another man. The video continues to change between different people dancing. It moves back to the Arabic language scrolling across the screen with a shadow of two men dancing in the background. The video continues to flash different images very quickly. The sound of a man's voice can be heard saying "good-night kids" and the scene shows a weird image in the background. As the video ends, someone whispers "was it good enough for you?" This question is repeated three times as the video ends.
How the Music and Video Relate:
The video and music relate very well together. The video images move quickly and in time with the rapper's lyrics. The tempo of the video goes well with the beat of the song.
Review:
The video does a good job of capturing the high energy beat of this song. Using words and images to move onto the screen in exact time when the rapper says them accentuates the lyric and provides a visual display that is very entertaining.