Music Video: A Violent Riot Erupts in Jay-Z & Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild”

Romain Gavras is a badass.  Okay … now that that’s been covered I’ll try to sound a little more professional with this article.  Gavras has made a name for himself by directing several videos over the years that typically depict visually assaulting imagery of teens and violence.  While some may say that his videos take place in some post-apocalyptic future where teen violence is more rampant, you only have to look at the riots in such countries as France and Greece to see that the future may be here already.  In M.I.A ‘s video for “Born Free,” red-headed young boys are herded up and killed by a military force.  “Stress” by Justice shows young boys in a gang torment anyone who they come across.  He worked again with M.I.A on “Bad Girls” showing a Middle Eastern underground gang that spends their days performing tricks in their cars in the middle of the desert.  For the new video for “No Church in the Wild,” Gavras has again opted not to showcase the musicians behind the song- Jay-Z and Kanye West – but depict a violent clash between protesting teens and a SWAT team.  Cars are flipped over, Molotov cocktails are thrown, and teens are beat into submission, all under the concrete eyes of several religious statues that are shown high above the violence.  All of his videos have a unique film aspect to them that feels theatrical and yet highly realistic.  How this young French director hasn’t made a name for himself in Hollywood is shocking.  At any rate, check out the new video that got released a couple of days ago below.

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