a mark of respect
promo magazine

07.04

it may share some of the conventions of the form, but mark romanek's video for jay-z's '99 problems' is a hip-hop video like none other – or at least not the kind that have come to dominate the screens over the last decade or more.

from its opening moments when a teenage boy points a revolver out of the window of his apartment into the stark, almost post-apocalyptic street below, 99 problems starts to tear up the rulebook of the contemporary hip hop, rap or urban promo. in the process, some of the most ubiquitous principles of the genre are shown the exit.

most notably, it is the bling that's missing: the girls, the cars, the houses, the money, the fantasy... these staples of the hip-hop rap video are conspicuously and refreshingly absent in romanek's stark, powerful vision, which takes its starting point in jay-z's home town of brooklyn and creates a portrait that is uncompromising, shocking and, in some ways, political.

after that first scene in the mean streets of the impoverished bedford-stuyvesant district of brooklyn – where jay-z grew up – 99 problems is packed with imagery which creates a portrait of a ghetto, but is also bursting with vitality. rendered in black and white photography by joaquin baca-asay, we encounter everything from funeral parlours to the world of a black motorcycle gang. all this is intercut with a performance by jay-z – constantly and incongruously accompanied by extravagantly-bearded producer rick rubin – in which the artist harks back to his own formative years and recounts how things could have turned out very differently for him. in his respect, the song's unlovely '99 problems but a bitch ain't one' refrain is a succinct way of saying 'things could be a lot worse.'

but the element of threat, which is partly propelled by the music, remains almost palable throughout, and reaches ominous new heights when we witness a group of black men stripped naked as they are being processed before entering prison. considering the video was shot earlier in the year, this is frighteningly prescient footage in the light of the images of the mistreatment of iraqi prisoners at abu ghraib jail that have emerged earlier this year.

in fact, where other videos are largely aspirational fantasies, 99 problems is a documentary, or rather drama-documentary, as refracted through romanek's unmistakable directing style (the dramatic element is heightened by the use of actors – including cult actor/director/musician vincent gallo). ironically, romanek probably could not have made the video for anyone other than jay-z, an uncharacteristically self-effacing rapper who has been threatening to retire almost as long as he has been recording and is clearly blessed with all the accoutrements of success.

but the role of rick rubin is also important, for rubin has been behind several records for which romanek has made videos, none more famously than for johnny cash's hurt. and clearly 99 problems does owe a debt to hurt, in its seriousness, ambition, humanity and its pervading atmosphere of mortality. and here, 99 problems finally strays away from its documentary approach as jay-z is riddled with bullets from an unseen gun.

in some ways, romanek's video harks back to a bygone age of rap videos where performances were filmed simply on the streets of new york. in its devastatingly simple approach he has questioned the conventional 'bling' approach to making hip-hop videos and perhaps opened the door for a new type to emerge, with less bombast, more reality, but a video which is still imaginative and still true to its roots.

in the following interview with promo, mark romanek gives an insight into the making of this memorable, groundbreaking music video.

by anyone's standards this is a bleak vision of life in a brooklyn ghetto and certainly a stark contrast to the bling culture.

well, we wanted to do something different. i feel like the bling experience had been covered ad nauseam by hundreds of videos. and, not wanting to sound too moralistic, it's not the greatest or most truthful set of values to promote to young people. success is nice and nice things can be nice, but most of these videos suggest that material wealth and rampant consumption is the end-all-and-be-all of existence, that it somehow unlocks the secret to happiness. this is a pretty destructive idea.

how would you describe the video's themes?

i would say the song is about a kind of redemption. jay 'dodged a bullet', so to speak, when he was pulled over by a cop in 1994. he had 'items' in his trunk that shouldn't have been there and, because the k-9 drug-sniffing dogs were otherwise engaged, jay got off. so, at that moment, he felt he was given a chance to fully embrace his career as a rapper and leave behind a life that would've certainly taken him down a darker path. jay's massive success, when contrasted with imagery expressive of the life he left behind, suggests a form of redemption.

how did you decide on this approach?

i didn't really have a lot of ideas for this song. so, rick rubin got me on the phone with jay. jay said he wanted to do an 'artistic piece' about where he grew up in brooklyn. he said he wanted me to shoot a 'pissy wall like it was art.' i thought this was an exciting assignment and asked if i could shoot it in black and white. he loved that idea and off i went.

jay's in charge of his creative life. the record company advises him, but jay does what he wants. so, the only person i had to convince was jay, and he was very trusting of my instincts about what to shoot and how to shoot it.

much of the imagery is disturbing and you include a scene of naked men in a police house/jail context which is positively chilling in the context of the photos coming out of abu ghraib jail.

well, we live in chilling times. a lot of pop culture now is starting to get stronger. it has to in order to compete with the news. reality, at least as we experience it via the mainstream media is getting mighty surreal and dark these days.

how did you decide upon your specific subject matter, such as the above, or the motorcycle gang, or the funeral parlour?

i made a list of ideas for subjects and locations that i thought would have a certain transgressive quality – stuff that wouldn't normally be considered 'mtv-friendly'. i always do a lot of research before i shoot. i have a love for this sort of black & white photo reportage, especially about new york. i looked at work by eugene richards, bruce davidson, weegee, etc. a lot of the ideas for subjects came from this work. in the midst of this research, i came across a book called brooklyn kings by martin dixon, which is about black biker clubs in brooklyn. we tracked down some of the actual subjects who appear in the book.

were you aware from the outset that you were going to produce a version that might be difficult to broadcast, possibly because of the nature of the song's lyrics?

yep. but, i've had success in the past making videos without worrying about mtv-friendliness. once in a while, when an artist is feeling strong and confident about their career, i can take advantage of the opportunity to make a piece that's free from the narrow creative strictures of what mtv likes or doesn't like to show. i try to make something just as i think it should be, relative to its own creative rules. then, we sort of hash out a way to get it on the air later. sometimes it makes it on the air somewhat unscathed. other times, it gets mutilated. but, the uncensored version will always exist somewhere to be seen.

what about similarities with your johnny cash video for 'hurt'?

the success of the hurt video just emboldened me to continue in that mode – to attempt to use the medium both as a marketing tool and a forum for the exploration of serious images and themes.

obviously, there is the rick rubin connection. have you ever put rick in a video before, and if not, why now?

rick is a good friend and brilliant producer. he generally likes my videos, so he often recommends me to the artists he's working with. it's a lucky thing for me and a generous thing for him to do. i've never put him in a video before, but this jay-z track has that rick rubin/def jam signature sound, so it felt right to feature him. the last time he appeared in a video was in ll cool j's 'goin back to cali', which was over a decade ago.

also, how did you come to engage the involvement of vincent gallo and is there a backstory about his characters in the video?

i know gallo and he's good friends with rick. he showed up on the set with rick one day, so i put him in the scene. i didn't really know why, other than that gallo photographs well. i was going to cut him out, as he seemed a bit anomalous. but frankly, i didn't want to take the shit he'd give me if i cut him out, so i (somewhat cravenly, i think) left him in. i've rationalized it this way: gallo could be the hitman.

how long did it take to shoot the video?

it was a five-day shoot. the main location was the marcy houses in bedford-stuyvesant where jay grew up. the other locations were all around brooklyn. we cheated on a few things, like the prison is actually in the bronx. i found it easy to shoot in most of the locations, as we were using fairly fast film and fast lenses, so for the most part, we took advantage of available light. most of the extras were local. everyone in the neighborhoods treated us very nicely. i like shooting in new york.

how do you feel about having a version of the video going out for broadcast which does not adhere to your complete vision?

well, i tried to make it look censored. in other words, if mtv demanded that i change something, i just used and re-used a piece of stray footage of the camera assistant's hand covering the lens. i hope it's clear to people that these images are sort of visual bleeps. i'm not thrilled by the fact that the version that most people will see is not the complete version, but at least the uncensored version will exist somewhere.

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