Armond White on ICE CUBE “Dead Homiez” Music Video – Part 4 (Dir: Eric Meza)

 

(Part 4) SAT, July 28, 2007 — SCANNERS 2007 Video Festival. Film Society of Lincoln Center. CRITIC Armond White’s “Official History of Music Video: An Introspective” Presentation. (15th Annual)

MEMOIR Genre
Critic Armond White on
Ice Cube “Dead Homiez”
Director: Eric Meza

Here are a few quotes by Armond White on the music video:

“…Boyz N The Hood may confirm Ice Cube’s star quality for the pop audience that pays no attention to rap, but Dead Homiez already proved his on-screen effectiveness – - the affable face and wide eyes that make him seem empathetic and concerned about Blacks’ oppression…”

“…The video’s style is hiphop elegy. The gang war violence that Boyz N The Hood sentimentalizes is given on intimate, too-late view that wasn’t apparent in the single alone. Cube lowers his temper to a cool sorrow and measures his rhythm so as to observe the death toll his other records (and malt liquor ads) encourage.”

“Dead Homiez would seem facetious and obscene if it weren’t so authentic about the styles of African American grieving. Set in a place Cube ordinarily would not be caught dead, it plays out various religious services as Cube surveys his reflection in a hearse window, the rotating funeral home announcements and the parade of suffering. The video’s entire procession is slo-mo; it makes every movement funereal – - walking, pall-bearing, hysterical crying, sermonizing and choir-singing…”

“…Cube detaches himself from the action by describing his presence (“I’m down in a suit and tie”) even though his absence is visible (he’s seen wearing a hooded jacket). The alienated rapper speaks for the dead: “So that’s why Ice Cube’s dressed up/Cuz the city is so damned messed up/And everyone’s so phony/Take a little time and think about your dead homiez.”

“There’s childishly confused anger (plus a sense of betrayal) in those lyrics. But the images fill in Cube’s cognitive lapses by bringing together the Black worlds of suits (church) and parkas (street) in the same shot. This makes vivid the gulf between generations and contrasting African American lifestyles. The slow-paced grieving harmonizes the superficial differences…”

“…(Director) Eric Meza’s most powerful images are in a montage of mourners: a close-up of a woman’s sweaty palm, creased with dark lines, waving in exhaustion and resignation. It’s matched by another waving hand that closes into a fist—not defiantly, but clenched in pain. That remarkable transition sums up contemporary Black progress.”

“…pioneering”

THE CITY SUN – July 17-23, 1991