TBG Beats: "Kush", The Video -- Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg and Akon

Some of the below videos may be NSFW, y'all.

Last month, Dr. Dre's "Kush" leaked online. Ever the front-running opportunist, I immediately posted a review. As noted in my write-up, Dr. Dre seemed uncomfortable with the buzz this track had generated and -- in subsequent interviews -- halfheartedly distanced himself from his latest supersonic chronic anthem.

Dre's attempt at subterfuge-by-separation gave Interscope Records all the time they needed to measure the temperature in the room. And, it didn't take long for all parties involved to realize they had a hit on their hands. The big-budget music video premiered late last week.





A-list music video director Joseph Kahn successfully uses the stop-motion effects and sparse lighting to create a glossy, yet intentionally underdeveloped snapshot of one night in Los Angeles. The viewer will squint, scan and rewind in a futile attempt to single out every bit of amusing imagery that's built into the background.

I refuse to believe Kahn wasn't at least somewhat influenced by the excellent Eminem/Dr. Dre "Guilty Conscience" video. The stop-motion worked better as a storytelling device here, but then again, I'm partial to anything with an appropriately out-of-place Robert Culp cameo.





The dimly-lit sets on "Kush" reminded me of Dr. Dre's explicitly suggestive "The Next Episode" video. This one's grimier than "Kush", though. At the time of its 1999/2000 release, Dre was fervently attempting to reintroduce himself as a street-credible rapper after disavowing gangsta rap posturing several years earlier.





The video for "Kush" is terrific and shows that Dr. Dre has come a LONG way from the days when he shot "club" videos inside old storage units and tried to squeeze five full-grown men into a tiny booth.