2 Chainz - El Chapo Jr

What this video is

Released December 3, 2015, the video arrived during a period of intense global media coverage of El Chapo's July 2015 escape from Altiplano prison via a mile-long tunnel — his second prison break. Hip-hop's long tradition of outlaw mythologization found a natural contemporary subject in Guzmán, and 2 Chainz's reenactment video capitalized on the cultural moment with production design that dramatized the escape in…

Why it matters

Represents a peak moment of mid-2010s trap rap's engagement with outlaw iconography and cinematic narrative ambition in the music video format. The video exemplifies the genre's movement beyond performance-only clips toward short-film aesthetics, with practical set construction and costumed…

The director

The Stupid Geniuses is a directing collective active in hip-hop music video production in the mid-2010s. The name is distinct from the Massachusetts-based rap duo StupidGenius. The collective was credited on 2 Chainz's 'El Chapo Jr' video, premiering…