Pitchfork

There's a lot of ideas in the video for "Sly Fox", from legendary New York rapper Nas' forthcoming self-titled LP. Obviously, "Fuck FOX!", but the smartest and most empowering notion comes at the end, when the screen flashes the words, "We are the media." 'Cause we really are. And not just those of us who write for online magazines. It's almost become cliché that anyone with something to say can have a voice in the current media climate of blogs and 24-hour news cycles. But it also happens to be true, as Dan Rather learned a few years ago, and as the ongoing presidential election season may yet prove.

"Sly Fox", of course, spends most of its time criticizing the previous media establishment, specifically a certain "fair and balanced" cable news channel. "Only black man that FOX loves is in jail or a dead one," Nas spits furiously over bristling rock guitars that would fit well alongside Tha Carter III's "Shoot Me Down", and frankly I think it's giving FOX News-men like John Gibson way too much credit. Just think: This was all done before Barack Obama's "nuts" made it onto "The O'Reilly Factor".

The video, directed by the gritty and talented Rik Cordero, seethes with much the same righteous outrage as Nas's verses, juxtaposing clips from FOX with shots of viewers and interviews with kids who smash up a TV and computer like the Office Space dudes beating the "PC Load Letter" out of their copy machine. There's "Ignorant Shit", and then, under Stuff White People Like, there's Rupert Murdoch's programming. But it's not enough just to complain, the video warns (then Phil Gramm will call us whiners), emphasizing that after we destroy the current system, we need to rebuild, make our own voices be heard. It's about goddamn time.

[from Untitled; due 07/15/08 on Def Jam]