Pitchfork Forkcast: Video: Jay-Z [ft. Pharrell]: "I Know"

Video: Jay-Z [ft. Pharrell]: "I Know"

Turn down the lights and make sure there's no glare coming off your computer screen when you check out the Philip Andelman-directed video for the third single from Jay-Z's resurgent 2007 album, American Gangster. Darkness shrouds the clip for the Neptunes-produced "I Know", as the camera follows what according to MTV are four different young women-- one of whom happens to be Lenny Kravitz's daughter Zoe-- making their way through a slow-motion New York night. We get a corner meet-up, smoke clouds, clubbing, and finally, an arm that turns into something out of that movie Tron. Jay's drug metaphors blur into lust metaphors, Pharrell lends a ladies-man backing vocal, and the video at least manages to step out of the shadow of the cinematic American Gangster, though not as successfully as, say, the celebrity-studded video for "Roc Boys". Still, most of us probably won't feel compelled to watch this enough times to figure out what the hell is really supposed to be going on here. I was told Frank Lucas knew what I liked. (via MTV's Sucker Free blog)