This music video is MONEY.

January 17, 2009 2:08 PM

"Money"is a completely AWESOME music video of a track by N.A.S.A. (North America South America), a DJ collective featuring Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon plus many famous guest artists, including, on this track alone, David Byrne, Chuck D, Ras Congo, Seu Jorge, & Z-Trip. (Other tracks by N.A.S.A. feature the likes of Tom Waits, M.I.A., Gift of Gab and Kool Keith.) The video features the artwork of Shepard Fairey, who has been discussed previously here. The video was directed by Paul Griswold and Syd Garon (who also did this great video for DJ Qbert and this one for Dan the Automator, which features some nice Gilliamesque touches.)
posted by slappy_pinchbottom (15 comments total)

Sweet.
posted by shoesfullofdust at 2:18 PM on January 17

The video is pretty amazing, but the song kind of sucks.

I'm surprised there hasn't been more controversy of Fairey's association with Obama.
posted by empath at 2:41 PM on January 17

Just heard about N.A.S.A. a week or two ago through this song - Gifted by N.A.S.A. featuring Kanye West (actually rapping!), Lykke Li, and Santogold.

I'm pretty stoked for this album.

Thanks for the link.
posted by jourman2 at 2:42 PM on January 17

Huh, I thought the music was better then the video, there were parts where it was kind of cheesy. But also some parts were pretty cool.

That said, I'm expecting some good ole' fashion Fairey bashing in this thread soon. We'll see.
posted by delmoi at 2:50 PM on January 17

So the video is a beautiful t-shirt advertisement about the dangers of money? Maybe I'm not reading enough into the piece, but I'm confused as to why SF plastered it with image of his brand (which, sure, started as an underground mischief action, but is now comfortably commodified). If it's a statement of some kind I'm not getting it--it just seems lazy and unaware. But then I spent the whole day today watching TMZ on TV and eating guacamole, so I certainly have no room to talk.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:54 PM on January 17

[this is good]
posted by Mikey-San at 2:55 PM on January 17

Also "good ole' fashion Fairey bashing" is the name of a Skrewdriver album and I'm disturbed you would bring them up here delmoi. SHAME.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:58 PM on January 17 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I was hoping to like the song better. And it's "love of money is the root of all evil" according to the bible, not money itself. Which makes a lot more sense.

I would think Fairey's Saks 5th Avenue association would be more damaging to his street cred than Obama.
posted by Maias at 3:10 PM on January 17

Was the line about the 10 dollar bill and 20 dollar bill wrong about the presidents? "Thomas Jefferson on the $10, and Alexander Hamilton on the $20."
posted by rabbitsnake at 3:19 PM on January 17

An appropriate song title for Shepherd Faerie to have his "art" in. It's so easy when you have all of the groundwork laid out for you.
posted by noriyori at 3:34 PM on January 17

I dunno. Its all executed well enough but its also one giant tired (if true) cliche.

I felt like Id watched (and heard) the whole thing already when I was at :02.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 3:35 PM on January 17

Was the line about the 10 dollar bill and 20 dollar bill wrong about the presidents? "Thomas Jefferson on the $10, and Alexander Hamilton on the $20."

It was wrong, yes, but not in the way you say. He said Andrew Jackson on the $10, and Alexander Hamilton on the $20 (which is, of course, backwards).

On a different note, at least two of the phrases displayed on various things in the video were taken from the movie They Live.
posted by Flunkie at 4:41 PM on January 17

Bringing David Byrne and Chuck D together is all kinds of win. Loved it.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:40 PM on January 17

This song desperately needs to be incorporated into a mashup with this pre-Youtube video chestnut. MONEY!
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:48 PM on January 17

Dj Swamp is still alive? I thought he'd have slit his wrists with a turntable needle by now.
posted by mannequito at 3:51 AM on January 18