Review Revue: Jay-Z And Kanye West’s “Otis” Video

Robbie Daw | August 12, 2011 9:45 am

To coincide with today’s physical CD release of Jay-Z and Kanye West’s collaborative LP Watch The Throne, the pair — who now go by the monicker The Throne — unleashed the Spike Jonze-directed video for their Otis Redding tribute jam “Otis” last night. And sure, you’ve got an opinion on the clip. But we figured you might be curious about what the Internet at large had to say about the two Cash Kings‘ new visual. Read on!

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:: Entertainment Weekly‘s Music Mix notes of the video that “it’s just three minutes of our boys gone Casual-Mogul Friday in jeans and crest-embossed white tees, racing stripped-down cars (not Yeezy’s other other Benz) and dropping verses in front of a giant American flag in a dusty backlot.”

:: Los Angeles Times‘ Pop & Hiss blog quips, “In the video, the Throne keep it simple — if simple for them means torching and chopping up a black Maybach to transform it into some souped-up ATV hybrid, which they take for a joyride — with models and Aziz Ansari in tow.”

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:: Rolling Stone looked past all the fluff: “Sure, there’s some fireworks, cars, hot chicks and Aziz Ansari, but that’s just background detail. The main attraction here is the big genuine smiles on Ye and Hov’s faces.”

:: Says The Atlantic, “Sure, those cars are Maybachs — which ranks second to Rolexes & co. as Throne lyrical memes — and by casually trashing them, the two superstars are once again telegraphing their own stratospheric fortunes. And yes, with Spike Jonze directing and Kanye/Jay involved, there’s little doubt that the shooting-the-shit vibe of the proceedings was storyboarded and calibrated for maximum relatability. But still. Fun stuff.”

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:: MTV’s RapFix saw the pure glee in the Otis Redding tribute clip: “There’s no tough guy mean-mugging in ‘Otis.’ It’s good times in the sunshine doing doughnuts in a tricked-out Maybach full of pretty women. And what’s not to like about that?”

:: However, Miami’s New Times zeroed in reasons why the “Otis” vid sucks: “Put simply, this pair of premiere rap man-baby millionaires has, quite predictably, substituted soul for swag. ”

:: XXL simply said, “The Throne had way too much fun making this.”

:: Prefixmag offered up two reactions to the clip: “1. It’s okay, I guess. 2. Why isn’t this just a video of Aziz Ansari looking goofily at Kanye while he stands in the doorway of a tricked out Maybach? Because I could watch that literally all day long.”

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