Nas - EPMD

What this video is

Released April 1, 2021, the EPMD video arrived as a companion to Nas's contribution to the Judas and the Black Messiah soundtrack — a film chronicling the betrayal of Black Panther Party chairman Fred Hampton. The video consciously frames Black success, ownership, and cultural self-determination against a backdrop of luxury, connecting Nas's personal narrative to a wider discourse of reclamation. On-screen text…

Why it matters

The video represents a strand of early-2020s hip-hop visual production in which legacy artists use cinematic, high-production aesthetics to reassert canonical status. The Nas–Hit-Boy collaboration era (King's Disease, 2020; Judas and the Black Messiah soundtrack, 2021; King's Disease II, 2021)…

The director

Grammy-nominated music video director known professionally as Child. (also credited as child.). Born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana, in a religious household, they relocated to Los Angeles after attending Clark Atlanta University. Career began in…