what does it take

Mavado - So Special

I was admittedly not blown away by the new So Special video, what with the random 'in the club' scenes and the weak computer graphic sequences, but I was still bummed to hear that BET canceled its premiere on 106th and Park at the last second. If nothing else the video seemed to be a clear-cut bid to fit in smoothly with the jeezy/t-wayne/omarion-clone chart toppers of the moment. Looks like the reasons for the pull had nothing to do with homophobic lyrics or guntalk - just some scantily clad women and gratuitous alcohol shots.. Come on now BET, fair is fair.. I've seen some way more scandalous hiphop videos than this one in the after-school rotation. Hopefully this will just be a little speed-bump for the gully god, and will keep the hype up for a promising first-quarter release. (Your first chance to cop this track legitimately, almost a year after it started floating around youtube, a primo example of how screwed up/outdated the music retail model is, at least with respect to reggae..)

SURVEY - WHAT PATH WILL MAVADO TAKE IN HIS JOURNEY TO MAINSTREAM SUCCESS?
a) Sign w/ Puff and make exercise dvds, then vanish.
b) Sign w' Dame Dash, move to New York, and cease all output instantly.
c) Do a bunch of watered down rap collabos with miscellaneous hip-hoppers, who will inevitably draw for dubious patoi flows - tony yayo anyone?
d) None of the above.
e) All of the above, with new sneaker deals.

If this is getting you down, here are some old videos that got the lets-reshoot-this-and-make-it-commercially-viable treatment.. Wish I could find the BCAT version of ele's joint, all I can remember is they were standing on some school desks in actual water and it was pretty rad.

Elephant Man - Pon The River


Sean Paul - We'll Be Burning


And here is the proper gullyside one for Last Night: