Top Vids of '08: #2

Artist: Santogold
Song: “L.E.S Artistes”
Rating: A

I’ve got a primetime mind and the day hasn’t come when it’s not hankering for some violence! But I like it with a side of iconography and message. Santogold and her two dancer hoods (who apparently go wherever she goes; they even showed up onstage with her when I saw Santi live) are the opening eye candy, but right before the viewer tires of seeing them, the video takes an exciting upward shift in terms of placement and meaning, it’s the sloppy pork n’ beans to be served up alongside one of the best songs of the year.

What’s Santi getting at here with the crimson-less carnage unfolding all around? I’ve got my wordplay theory: the senselessness of violence. Can you dig it?