LL COOL J - Doin' It

What this video is

Released February 20, 1996, 'Doin' It' arrived during hip-hop's most commercially expansive moment, when Def Jam was consolidating its crossover dominance and MTV served as the primary visibility engine for rap artists. The track sampled Grace Jones' 1983 'My Jamaican Guy' and peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #7 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart — figures that confirmed LL Cool J's commercial resurgence…

Why it matters

A landmark in the rap-R&B crossover genre, 'Doin' It' demonstrated how explicit lyrical content could achieve mainstream pop chart success when paired with sophisticated Hype Williams visual production and reggae-inflected production. Its chart performance and MTV rotation helped validate the…

The director

Harold 'Hype' Williams (born August 1, 1970, Queens, NY) is an American music video director, film producer, and screenwriter. He attended Adelphi University and began his career as a graffiti artist before transitioning into video production via Classic…