Vevo’s been celebrating hip-hop’s anniversary with Footnotes episodes featuring behind-the-scenes looks at some of the greatest videos from the genre. In the latest episode, De La Soul gives some insight into the making of their song “Me, Myself and I” and its accompanying video.
According to Posdnuos, the song was “written pretty quick” and allowed the group to address negative media, which had been calling them “hippies of hip-hop.” The video itself “underscored individuality and confidence in owning who you are and want to be,” and was influenced by the Twilight Zone.
“I’m a big Twilight Zone fan, so when it was time to figure out how to include [producer] Prince Paul in the video, we went with him being a hip-hop Rod Serling to set up the story,” he explained. “We did it in a comedic way playing off what was considered the conventional look for a hip-hop kid vs. a non conventional way of looking.”
A standout moment for Posdnuos was the scene where the teacher throws a record at a student’s head. “All the students were all fans of our music and were happy to have the opportunity to be in the video,” he said.
“Me, Myself and I” dropped in 1989, the year De La released 3 Feet High and Rising, which is now available on streaming services. If the video for the song was remade today, Posdnuos says it’d probably be about an individual who desires to “dress down and plain” in a world where “everyone is dressing so different and cool and loud.”
That someone would be “more focused on their inner growth than their outer independence,” he adds.
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