‘YOUR UGLY’: MAKING RAP FRESH AGAIN

Consider the smash rap singles to date that have gone on to become smash rap videos--namely, “Walk This Way” by Run-D.M.C. with Aerosmith, “Fight for Your Right to Party” by the Beastie Boys, and “Wipe Out” by the Fat Boys with the Beach Boys. Now consider this: What do these hits have in common?

Answer: White people.

So much for the cross-cultural rap revolution, at least as far as MTV, “Friday Night Videos,” “Night Flight,” “Night Tracks” and all the other outlets are concerned.

Certainly racism can’t take the entire rap (pun intended) for black-spawned rap music’s failure to break out on the video channels of America. The structural limitations of a genre that consists mainly of young toughs bragging about themselves as anti-tonally as possible are such that the music is easily given over to monotony, self-parody and--finally--something that’s more appropriate for the inevitable cutesy TV commercials selling soft drinks and station wagons than for serious music fans.

Once in a while, though, a record comes along with either a cogent social sense or just a wonderfully warped sense of humor that makes the form seem fresh. In the latter category is Velore & Double-O’s “Your Ugly” (their misspelling, not ours), accompanied by a video as much of an unadulterated delight as just about any pop clip this year. It’s funny, it includes scores of beautiful (black) women, and it has enough of a novelty hook to seem an instant across-the-board mainstream winner. So out of all the prominent national video outlets in America, guess which ones are playing it?

Answer: The Black Entertainment Television cable channel. Solely. Anyone surprised?

Given a clip this much fun (and given how pop video is currently ignoring top sellers like L.L. Cool J), you simply have to wonder if the lack of white faces is all that’s keeping it off mainstream airwaves.

Sound & Vision to video programmers: Y-y-y-y-y-y-your (sic) ugly!

Meanwhile, those who claim that rap music is unproportionally obsessed with bravado ought to get a load of U2’s new clip for “Where the Streets Have No Name,” which comes off as a bigger ego trip than anything a black New York street rapper could think up in his wildest rhymes. “Ugly” and “Streets” are rated near the top and bottom, respectively, of Sound & Vision’s 0-100 scale this month.

VID CLIPS PICKED TO CLICK:

Velore & Double-O’s “Your Ugly.” Director: Doug Cameron. “Ugly” starts off as an apparent insult rap, a la Run-D.M.C.’s “You Talk Too Much,” but soon we see that Velore & Double-O can’t mean the title too literally, because the duo happens to be “insulting” some of New York’s most beautiful black models. The phrase you’re (or your ) ugly , it seems, has been turned around to actually mean something quite the opposite, at least in the street parlance here--in this context, a pejorative phrase has been neatly robbed of its venom. And for once the models aren’t in a clip purely for decorative purposes (though they serve that function quite nicely); their dance steps and mugging “ugly” faces give their male accusers quite a run for their money. 86

R.E.M.’s “The One I Love.” Director: Robert Longo. R.E.M.’s anti-video videos have always tended toward vague imagery, but finally the band has a clip as incendiary as it is impressionistic. Slice-of-life scenes (presumably shot in the South) are overlaid with flaming shots of what look like sizzling sparklers and electrical shorts, sensually suggesting the fiery passion that lies underneath the video’s low-key visuals and the song’s tense, beautiful yearning. 80

Fishbone’s “Theme From ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ ” Director: Barbara Kanowitz. And here you thought that only today’s spate of youth-oriented movies could spawn an endless stream of promotional clips on MTV. But when the cable channel came up with a new award category, best video from a film, for its annual Music Video Awards this year, network execs decided to highlight it by creating a somewhat self-parodic new video for an old film--thus, Los Angeles’ frantic Fishbone meets poor Jimmy Stewart in a black-and-white never-never land. Frank Capra may not approve of the results, but the sly intercutting of old and new footage is highly amusing, and--unlike most “videos from a film”--the lyrics really do have something to do with the movie. (The clip was so well-received in its premiere on the awards telecast that MTV plans to add it to its regular rotation soon, and Fishbone now has plans to cut a Christmas EP centered around the song.) 79

The Other Ones’ “Holiday.” Director: Alex Proyas. “Distant lands are not so far away / I don’t know why we don’t go,” goes the refrain of this breezy rising hit about getting away from it all. Of course, vacationing is easier said than done for most of us, and in this clip the distant lands--represented by vacation post cards from distant parts of the globe--stand in stark contrast to the dank, dismal London flat to which they’ve been sent. The special effects that make the magical post cards come to colorful life are utterly marvelous, and anyone who ever got a “Wish You Were Here” note from the Bahamas in the middle of a non-stop, late-winter gray-out will appreciate the irony. 79

Squeeze’s “Hourglass.” Director: Adrian Edmonton. Squeeze, guilty-as-charged in the past when it came to accusations of taking itself too seriously, couldn’t be in a lighter vein with “Hourglass”--a suitably wacky trip through a fluorescent fun house filled with rooms that aren’t what they seem, optical illusions galore, and, of course, the old rubber guitar-neck trick. 72

GAMMA RAY ROT:

U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name.” Director: Miert Avis. What an absolute load of bollocks this is. Remember that unbelievably crass slogan CBS Records came up with in the late ‘60s to try to reach the counterculture market: “The man can’t bust our music”? Well, in 1987, it seems that U2 (or someone connected with the band)--perhaps worried by the status-quo status involved with being the World’s Most Popular Rock Band--has decided to show its true rebellious stripes, to come out and tell the masses, The man can’t bust our music . Thus, never mind the spiritual overtones of this classic single; the video will be a full-blown showdown between U2 and the rock-hating proper authorities as thousands of innocent, adoring fans look on.

Shooting a clip for the heavenly minded “Streets” atop a building overlooking downtown Los Angeles’ hellish Main Street would seem to have great potential for reverse symbolism and rich visual irony. But in fact, as it turns out, it was really designed to attract such a crowd and create such a scene that the Police Department would show up and shut ‘em down, resulting in the least spontaneous remake of the rooftop concert scene in “Let It Be” ever filmed. The location indeed looks terrific, but don’t count on too many establishing shots to set the scene. The director and editors are too busy cutting to close-ups of those nasty establishment coppers trying to bust U2’s music . 22

Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again.” Director: Marty Callner. Gams, gams, gams. What Joe Cocker is to arms, singer David Coverdale’s girlfriend is to legs. Her well-shaved limbs are all over the place--twitching and doing the splits across the hood of his expensive European sports car, draped over the front seat of same car, sticking out of the window (look out for that passing truck!). The overkill is enough to make mini-skirts go back out of fashion, and Lord knows we don’t want that . Certainly it’s Coverdale’s right and prerogative as a middle-age leader of hard rock’s kiddie aristocracy to pick and choose whatever kind of gorgeous fashion-model floozy he wants, but Dave, tell her to keep those calves out of our faces, OK? 5