Beastie Boys, Nas - Too Many Rappers

What this video is

Produced at the twilight of Beastie Boys' active career, 'Too Many Rappers' unites two pillars of NYC hip-hop — the Beastie Boys and Nas — in an explicit defense of MC craft over commercial rap dilettantism. The song was originally destined for the unreleased Hot Sauce Committee Part One before MCA's cancer diagnosis halted that project; it resurfaced on 2011's Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, their final album. The…

Why it matters

Represents a critical late-period statement from two canonical NYC hip-hop acts asserting boom-bap authenticity against 2000s commercial rap. The video's documentary aesthetic and deliberate roughness mark it as a counter-cultural artifact within its own genre, aligning it with the DIY ethics that…

The director

Roman François Coppola (b. April 22, 1965, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France) is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, and music video director. Son of Francis Ford Coppola, he founded The Directors Bureau production company and is known for Wes Anderson…