Jay-Z Requests Hova-Free Video

Jay-Z Requests Hova-Free Video

"She wants those heroin tracks," Jay-Z raps on "I Know" — and Pharrell Williams provided Jay with just that addictive of a beat.



"To me, that song sounded like heroin," Jay told us of the record. "That's what it sounded like to me. It sounded like somebody like Miles Davis was in a jazz club just high out his mind, just going off playing some of the most amazing freestyle music you ever heard. That's what it felt like. That's what happens with drugs. They don't pound you like that; they talk to you sweet. And that's the allure of it, and it pulls you in, and that's what was happening. The lyrics were harmless. It's like a love song, and so it was pulling you in. Pulling you in further and further until you've realized, now you're addicted to this drug. So that was the method behind why it sounds so sweet."

For the video, Hov pulled an "I Am Legend" but in reverse. While the producer of Will Smith's recent mega-hit film relied on him to carry the movie on his back, mostly without any human interaction, Jigga's latest video is propelled by the fact that Jay isn't in the clip at all. Hov recruited director Philip Andelman to carry out his vision. According to the lensman, the rap giant was a fan of his work on Lenny Kravitz's "Where Are We Running." And since Hov wouldn't be appearing in the clip himself, Andelman and company cast Kravitz's daughter, Zoe, to be the lead — but not after wracking his brain figuring out who would want to see a Jay-Z video without Jay-Z.

"At first, I thought it was going to be really challenging, because it was just daunting — the thought of holding your attention for three and a half minutes without Jay, because he's a huge presence normally," Andelman told us. "[But] from the get-go, Jay said it would be a distraction if he was in it. And I think he was really right. It winded up allowing us to tell a story."

The video is a series of scenes featuring Kravitz. Among them is a courtship with a young man; her walking aimlessly in lower Manhattan; and a club scene toward the end of the clip. For the most part, the images are dark, save for a few imposed special effects to light up the screen.

"I was just going off the beat of the song. It kind of sparkled. There's something light and airy about it," Andelman said. "But then there's this dark side of the song.

"It's like a Rubik's Cube on ecstasy," the director added. "I know it's bad to push the drug metaphor, but it's kind of funny. Zoe Kravitz is the girl in it, but we wanted to make it ambiguous as to whether it's one girl or four girls. No one can be 100 percent sure of what's going on [in the video]. They all have their own interpretations. And that's what makes it fun to me. It's like a riddle, and there's no right answer or wrong answers. It's like a three-and-a-half-minute head trip." ...

Mixtape Monday