As the third music video from Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “Watch the Throne” album, “No Church in the Wild” came with huge expectations when it was released to the public this Tuesday. The single currently plays on radio and can be heard constantly during the TV commercial for Denzel Washington’s “Safe House” movie which will be available on DVD today.
The video opens with a man preparing a Molotov cocktail, which he hurls at shielded and armored police officers who are struggling to keep a riot as small as possible. In the beginning, there is a clear division between the two sides, as the rioters and cops simply face and taunt one another — but then the battle begins. The battle consists of police beating protestors and the protesters seeking revenge by lighting police officers and their car on fire. This is clearly an exaggerated enactment of an Occupy Wall Street protest gone wrong.
LOVE IT: As the song progresses with Frank Ocean’s courageous chorus, the video leaves you expecting a powerful climax and during your first look at the video this will keep you captivated. It will force you to keep your eyes glued to the screen or cheat and fast forward to the end to see who wins.
HATE IT: Unfortunately, there is no appearance from Jay-Z or Kanye West which leads to an incomplete feeling. Even if they weren’t rapping on top of a car or launching a bomb at police, you at least expected them to take the Michael Jackson approach in “Beat It” and try to initiate peace from both sides. But their absence makes the video a waste of time and begins to question what Jay and Ye are thinking regarding this project. Their last video released from the album, “N*ggas In Paris” was an easy approach to taking a live performance from their tour and turning it into a visual presentation. But that video was also mediocre considering that they performed the song up to 6 times per show based on the crowd’s response and none of that energy was shown on camera. This isn’t the first time that Jay had ditched his own video. His video for “I Know” from the “American Gangster” album also shows no signs of him in any scene.