The Notorious B.I.G. - Mo Money Mo Problems
What this video is
Released posthumously on July 15, 1997, 'Mo Money Mo Problems' arrived in the immediate aftermath of The Notorious B.I.G.'s murder on March 9, 1997, making it both a commercial hip-hop blockbuster and a cultural mourning artifact. The track sampled Diana Ross's 'I'm Coming Out' (1980), emblematic of Bad Boy's disco-infused maximalist production philosophy. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, making…
Why it matters
A definitive artifact of the 'shiny suit era' and Bad Boy Records' maximalist mid-90s sound, the video cemented Hype Williams as the preeminent visual auteur of commercial hip-hop. Its archival footage integration to represent a deceased artist established an influential template for posthumous…
The director
Harold 'Hype' Williams (b. August 1, 1970, Queens, NY) is an American music video and film director who studied film at Adelphi University and began his career as a graffiti artist before transitioning to video production. He founded Big Dog Films in 1993…
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