We were very clear that the re-bar mitzvah should really look like a bar mitzvah. We were being very true to the whole process in the temple. X: Yeah, he actually did, but it was very quiet, and we couldn't hear. Pitchfork: Was Drake really reciting passages in the temple scenes? Pitchfork: Had you ever been to an actual bar mitzvah before? Luckily, Drake has something no other rapper has- it's definitely one of the more unique videos I've worked on.
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People's attention spans are not what they used to be, so we had to do something that would grab them. Pitchfork: Do you think about a video's potential to go viral when you're planning a shoot? Pitchfork: Who thought of the concept for this video?ĭirector X: It was Drake's idea. He came to me a week before the shoot, and he knew what he wanted to do and when he wanted to do it. We got it together very, very quick- in about a day. This new generation of kids really know their videos. I loved the idea. It was about time he did something like this, and I knew it would get a lot of attention. Read on for our interview with Director X. According to Klein, Drake's mediated world offers an antidote in that "both of his sides, Jewish and black, sit engaged." "It doesn't need to be super serious all the time." She lauded Drake for opening the video with the bar mitzvah's "earnest" and "less glamorous religious components."Īnd Dan Klein of the Jewish lifestyle magazine Tablet says the video "offers the platonic ideal of American Judaism" while also eschewing the many "kitschy and opulent" pitfalls of recent bar mitzvah portrayals in pop culture on shows like "Community", "Entourage", and "30 Rock". "It's about young people taking ownership of their Jewish identity and engaging with it in a way that's comfortable and meaningful," she says. Jewcy's Stephanie Butnick noted its similarities to her company's "Shalom Motherfucker" t-shirt concept. Meanwhile, younger voices in the Jewish media have endorsed the clip. Temple Israel does not condone any aspect of the Drake video." Upon reviewing the clip, the president of Temple Israel, Ben Kuehne, said, "The complete video is certainly not consistent with Temple Israel's longstanding history and reputation as a progressive voice in the Jewish Reform movement. In contrast to more liberal forms of Judaism, where women are empowered with rabbi roles (according to X, a female rabbi chaperoned this shoot), the world of "HYFR" unapologetically depicts women as "bad bitches" who are reliant on men for college tuition, pills, and emotional stability. "What have I learned since getting richer?/ I learned working with the negatives can make for better pictures," he raps draw from either side of that double entendre and you'll find grounds for recreating a formative childhood experience. While the surface-oriented recklessness of the clip's reception parallels the song's freewheeling hook, there are deeper ideas about identity and memory embedded in both the video's ceremonial scenes and the song's verses. "HYFR" proves to be, at times, an apt soundtrack to this unlikely setting.
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The clip's re-bar mitzvah "ceremony" took place at the Temple Israel of Greater Miami and featured bagels and Manischewitz, a tallit and yarmulke, the Torah and the hora, and was attended by Trey Songz, Birdman, DJ Khaled, and Lil Wayne, who wore a panda ski mask. Kelly, and Common over the last 14 years. The "HYFR" visual, which dropped right at the start of Passover, was handled by veteran Director X, who has worked with the likes of Aaliyah, Kanye West, The-Dream, R. "I told myself that, if I ever got rich, I would throw myself a re-bar mitzvah." (Miller, thankfully, is nowhere to be found.) "When I had a bar mitzvah back in the day, my mom didn't have much money," Drake explains in a behind-the-scenes clip. "Yeah," he adds, his sarcasm building, "we all re-enact bar mitzvahs and do very Jewish things together."Īnd the flip joke turns out to be more of a hint in light of his recent video for "HYFR", which actually finds the Canadian MC coming of age all over again.
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"Now, you're half Jewish," the host, Chelsea Handler, asserts. "I didn't know there were any Jewish rappers." Drake responds with a smirk and easy laugh: "There are now." He then notes that fellow rapper Mac Miller is Jewish, too. Director's Cut features interviews with the people behind today's best music videos.įive months ago, Drake appeared on the late-night television program "Chelsea Lately", where he fielded questions about sex, Nicki Minaj, and Judaism.