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Electric Relaxation: Rik Cordero :: Reexamining the hip-hop video mold

By Paul Glanting   Photography by Nancy Mitchell

10/06/08 :: URB web

Hip-hop is a culture that celebrates range. While watching "Big Pimpin" Jay-Z doesn't want you to respect him because he owns expensive things. He wants you to squint your eyes and merely look at his beginning and appreciate how distant it is from where he is in the present. The culture thrives on scope.

At the other pole from "Big Pimpin'", Snoop sits on a lonely mattress in a barren room wearing a wife-beater. Wale, sleepy-eyed and disheveled, gets uncomfortably close to the camera-lens. Joell Ortiz, showered in hangover-aggravating light, plays a friendly game of dominos while crouching on a busted milk-crate. 

Queens born-and-based director Rik Cordero has the power to change the way hip-hop looks. He’s squishing the gap that separates the world where rappers came from into the world they now dwell. The resulting dynamic is a raw portrayal of the artist.

“We’re responsible for the image of the artist,” says Cordero. “They put their trust in us and we’re fans, so we don’t take it for granted.”

Peep any Cordero video and you’re sure to see a large emphasis on the grittiness and humanity of the music. Cordero’s pathos-mining is turning him into a true trendsetter, as his ability to depict his subjects stripped-down and perhaps even aesthetically unflatteringly is becoming increasingly sought after. Nas, The Roots, Ghostface, Remy Ma and many more, are all fans and repeat collaborators with the influential and visionary director. “We’re not being weird merely for the sake of being weird, like say, indie rockers,” says Cordero. “My confidence speaks for itself…some of the best human reactions and emotions are caught when the environment is relaxed.”

Cordero’s ability to reconstruct the biology of the hip-hop video certainly hasn’t been an easy trek nor one without conflict. "There have been a few artists who were more concerned with making their video look like standard issue network glitz rather than embracing their resources to make something captivating,” he says. “There are many directors who I look up to that do the glitz thing very well and I admire their work tremendously. For me, an expensive video is justified by the storyline. I shoot for the sake of shooting, not for the sake of spending shitloads of money.”

Cordero’s quest to extract the soul out of his subjects continues alongside his production company, Three/21 Media. Cordero’s first full-length film, Inside A Change, is soon to hit the independent film circuit. “After helping so many artists with their visions, it’ll be great to work on a vision of my own.”   

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