Joseph Kahn.

Onyx – Last Dayz

For a couple of weeks now I’ve had a craving to hear “Last Dayz” by Onyx. It’s one of my favourite songs by the group so it’s not that random, but every time I’ve listened to it, impulsively I’ve had the desire to watch the video too. I’ve got a real thing for Onyx videos; I find them to be really iconic and typical of early nineties Hip Hop. “Last Dayz” is at a more professional standard than their usual videos, so I decided to do some detective work and find out what else the director had done. It turns out he’s done quite a lot in the last fifteen years.

Joseph Kahn began his career directing low budget Hip Hop videos after dropping out of NYU. Using skills he taught himself, Kahn acted as a one-man film crew, initially working with The Geto Boys, Lords of the Underground and AZ. But it wasn’t long before he started to direct videos for groups such as Das EFX and Onyx. By 1996, Kahn had branched out into the world of R’n’B and eventually Pop, later winning MTV and Grammy awards for videos by Brandy & Monica, Britney Spears and Eminem. Kahn is also the genius behind The Backstreet Boys’ “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” video.

His recent work may turn out to be his most controversial, as Kahn’s video for Eminem ft Rihanna “Love The Way You Lie” has been accused by some of glorifying domestic abuse. Though I can appreciate the style of the video, I’m more of a fan of his earlier work, so here is a selection of my favourite videos by Joseph Kahn.

Ahmad – Back In The Day