Drake- “First Person Shooter” Ft. J. Cole
Drake's First Person Shooter ft. J.Cole has become more than just a song with another excellent hip-hop collaboration; it's a visual storytelling masterpiece that captures the essence of rap's creative, comedic, and prowess nature. While showcasing a comedic yet cinematic music video, the two artists bring back a nostalgic view for fans as they represent a vocal and visually healthy competition in hip-hop.
The film opens with reference to The Office by capturing a scene with Brian Baumgartner playing video games while the song samples of Joe Washington's 'Look Me In the Eyes'' are in the background. As Baumgartner receives a C.E.O. phone call about the workflow of his co-workers, he lies and soon begins to unpause the game, and First Person Shooter starts to play as J.Coles lyric humorously aligns with the office setting: "To them niggas that say they wan' off us/you better be talkin' 'bout workin' in cubicles/Yeah, them boys had it locked, but I knew the code..." The video shows a Drake mannequin in a suit and other mannequin workers within each cubicle. As the camera reaches a "meeting in progress" frame, viewers are invited into the meeting room where J. Cole and Drake are head-to-head in a ping-pong competition. Surrounded is a group of men in work attire cheering for both artists. As the "Big as the what? (Ah)/Big as the what? (Mm)/Big as the what? (Ayy)/Big as the Super Bowl" lyrics transpire, the background drops into a Super Bowl scene where a commercialized Ad of "O.V.O. Inaugural Corporate Clash" pops up. The battle between the two aligns with Drakes "But the difference is it's just two guys playin' shit that they did in the studio/Niggas usually send they verses back to me, and they be terrible, just like a two-year-old I love a dinner with some fine women when they start debatin' about who the G.O.A.T./I'm like go on 'head, say it then, who the G.O.A.T.? (X3)." While 'Who the G.O.A.T.?' is in the debate between Drake and Cole, Drake hits the ball with immense strength, and the winner is almost apparent. While the ball's hit gets lost along the skyline, the camera shifts outwards, making the game view zoomed out, and the next scene switches to a chess match between the rappers.
As the video ranges within the lyrics perfectly throughout, there is a consistency of competition scenes symbolizing the artist and their mastery in the industry. Characterizing the G.O.A.T. debate adds hysteria as their lyrics compete against each other for who the best artist is. They also make cultural references from Muhammad Ali to the "Spiderman meme looking at Drake" and Micheal Jackson. While the second portion of the song begins, Drake pops off in his verses and motion frames as the camera captures him walking down the hall of an arena (October's Very Own Arena). With raving lights and bougie couture, Drake leads viewers toward the upper half of the arena while fans in the video who are dressed up as dogs gear up to see him perform. Making his cultural reference to Micheal Jackson, he wears a white glove indicating confidence in his status as a music figure while reversing one of Jackson's hit songs, Beat It: "Niggas talkin' 'bout when this gon' be repeated/What the fuck, bro? I'm one away from Michael/Nigga, beat it, nigga, beat it, what?"
While we know both artists have prowess and dominance in their music careers, their verses provide seasons of flavor as the video presents a healthy competition between them. There is no doubt that the song itself is a rap phenomenon, but the footage elevated the track to cinematic perfection.
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay up to date with our latest post.
