will.i.am, Nicki Minaj - Check It Out

What this video is

Released October 25, 2010, 'Check It Out' arrived at the precise moment of Nicki Minaj's mainstream crossover via her debut album Pink Friday. The song samples The Buggles' 'Video Killed the Radio Star'—famously the first video ever aired on MTV in 1981—creating a self-referential loop about media disruption that resonates with the 2010 digital-streaming transition. The video's fusion of Japanese anime aesthetics,…

Why it matters

Represents a pivotal document of the electro-rap crossover at its commercial zenith, bridging Black Eyed Peas-lineage technopop with Nicki Minaj's early 'Barbie' maximalism. The Buggles sample literalizes the genre's self-awareness about media history, while the anime/K-pop visual grammar signals…

The director

Richard 'Rich' T. Lee is an American music video and commercial director. He began his career as a sculptor and fabricator for Broadway productions in New York, later transitioning into 3-D previsualizations for major Hollywood features including Pirates of…