Heavy D & The Boyz - Money Earnin' Mt. Vernon

What this video is

Released in 1988 as a single from Heavy D & The Boyz's debut album Living Large, 'Money Earnin' Mt. Vernon' functions as a geographic identity anthem rooted in Mount Vernon, New York — a city directly adjacent to the Bronx and long associated with hip-hop culture. Heavy D (Dwight Myers), born in Jamaica and raised in Mount Vernon, used the track and video to place his hometown on the hip-hop map at a moment when…

Why it matters

A foundational example of the 'hometown pride' subgenre of Golden Age hip-hop, predating later city-anthem videos and establishing the template for location-driven, community-celebratory rap visuals. The track's dense funk sampling architecture — drawing on The O'Jays, James Brown, and Brass…

The director

Lionel C. Martin is an American music video director, film director, and VJ from Queens, New York. He co-created and co-hosts Video Music Box with Ralph McDaniels, one of the first television programs to feature hip-hop videos. He directed over 100 music…