Hiphopnerd

One of the few things I purchased on my recent trip to Canada was a K-Os DVD entitled Publicity Stunt? from a used CD shop. The DVD is a collection of his music videos, live concert clips, and a few other things.

I bought it basically cuz I'm a sucker for music videos (provided that the underlying music is good) and a fan of K-Os' music. I knew I'd seen and enjoyed a couple of his videos as well. There are a total of 6 on this DVD- Superstarr Pt 0, B-Boy Stance, Crabbuckit, Man I Used To Be, The Love Song, & Heaven Only Knows and they are all fairly excellent. I think what I enjoy most about them is that he sets aside plenty of camera time for breakdancers and shots of graffiti- those oft-forgotten elements of hip-hop.

The live clips are ultimately disappointing. For one, they are indeed clips and not full songs. Not sure whose idea that was, but it's just bizarre to be dropped into the middle of a track and be returned to the menu after one verse... Secondly, it's not mixed well. The DVD is labeled 5.1, but the engineers put almost nothing in the rear channels making it utterly pointless. The stereo option sounds better. The third problem is also related to sound...the audience is almost completely muted...you hear no applause, and when K-Os holds the mic out for the audience to say the rhyme, you as the DVD watcher hear nothing. And finally, I get the impression that K-Os isn't all that great live. You can tell on his albums he sometimes falls off the beat, and that seems to be amplified on stage in a few of the included clips. Maybe it's just the clips that are on the DVD...it's hard to believe he'd get such sizeable crowds if he was subpar live.

There is one final segment of the DVD entitled "14:59 Minutes of Funk" which is basically 15 minutes worth of extended clips from the breaking sessions that were used in the videos. It's definitely a cool addition; there are some impressive moves caught by the camera.

In short, If you're a K-Os fan, it's worth picking up, at least at a $13.99 price. Dunno about the $31.99 on that Amazon link. Toronto denizens: I grabbed it from Pengiun Music just off Queen St W for $13.99, and it seemed like they had additional copies available.