Music Video Relapse: "HYFR" (2012) by Drake ft. Lil Wayne

Posted by Adam Fairholm on September 27, 2013 in Music Video Relapse

Staff Post

drake.jpg

When I was in high school in South Florida, one of my jobs was working for a company that did live event entertainment. There was the odd wedding, but mostly it was bar/bat mitzvahs every weekend. I know, I know - I was cool.

The point is, I saw a lot of bar mitzvahs, and never once did I say "hey this would make a great music video". So when Drake released the Director X-directed video for "HYFR" in 2012, I thought to myself "wow, bar mitzvhs do make for great music videos". Let's take a look.

The video, shot at Temple Israel in Miami, starts off with some footage of little Drake cutting a rug at his original bar mitzvah sometime in the early 1990s. He looks really young to be having a bar mitzvah though, so we think its more likely that this is him at another event, but it doesn't really matter - his dancing is hilarious. It then explains that Drake reaffirmed his commitment to the Jewish religion in 2011 in a sort of re-bar mitvahing and that's what we're about to see. Then, the party starts.

First of all, I didn't even know having a second bar mitzvah was a thing. However, it looks a lot more fun than the bar mitzvahs that I've been present at. 13 year olds tend to go with themed bar mitzvahs like "movies" or "baseball" and they're friends are also 13 year olds, so really, nobody has any fun. That's not the case at Drake's shindig, though. Drake's friends are a mix of his family, what seems like random old men, and his friends in the rap industry. Instead of root beer there are bottles of expensive looking alcohol that Drake and his friends drink out of. It's not that hard to pour it in a glass, but whatever.

Out of all of the hip hop artists present, however, Lil Wayne is the only one with a verse to perform, and he is also the only one who seems to have fallen asleep with some sort of knitted mask on. He is woken up and immediately jumps into action, giving one of the most energetic performances I think I've ever seen from Lil Wayne. I guess he likes bar mitzvahs.

The thing I love about this video is how Director X and his crew get all the little details right, down to those rental party chairs that seem to show up at every single catered function in the USA. There's also the awesomely awful cake with the torah on it, and the square, faux wood dance floor. It's not that these items are hard to get, it's that Drake could've had a really ridiculously glamorous party, and he instead called Miami Party Rentals or whoever rents stuff down there. That, I think, makes the video.

There's also definitely a feeling that Director X just sort of captured what was going on for at least some of the shots. There are some great candid ones of Drake in there, and although I'm sure there was a lot of set ups and coaching for a lot of the "old white guy dances with young lovely lady" stuff, a part of it still feels sort like it could've actually happened at Drake's crazy bar mitzvah.

I'm not Jewish, so I guess having a bar mitzvah would be inappropriate for me, but maybe I can do a second first communion? You bring the whiskey but no glasses please.

Adam Fairholm is the co-founder and lead developer of IMVDb. You can find him on twitter at @adamfairholm.



More Music Video Relapse:


Most of the time on Music Video Relapse I am writing about a music video that is a classic for a good reason - either being iconic or just fondly remembered. Sometimes I write about a music video that was release relatively recently but I think needs a second look… Read More

As we've covered on the blog before, ABBA has an interesting history with music videos, using the form back in the late 1970s to spread their music to overseas markets. The videos, while pretty primitive, are well-done for their time, and they are almost all on their ABBA Vevo account,… Read More

When a video gets pulled off of YouTube, they usually tell you who made them do it. Usually it's a record label, but sometimes it's a random name. For instance, Iggy Azalea used to have a video called "Pu$$y," but it now says "This video is no longer available because… Read More

People whose jobs revolve around throwaway "viral" stories hit pay dirt last week when someone noticed that a radio station in LA was playing Nelly's 2002 hit "Hot In Herre" over and over again. This is apparently relatively standard procedure for radio stations undergoing a format change (it has since… Read More

IMVDb Blog




Site Sponsors

Add Your Company




RSS Icon Subscribe with RSS


Search the Blog


Recent Posts


Archive


Categories


Content on the IMVDb blog is ©2012-2024 IMVDb and FilmedInsert, LLC. All Rights Reserved.