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Best Videos Ever: End of Summer 2016

It’s time to wrap up another summer of festivals, hit music videos, blockbuster movies, street fashion, and pop culture phenomenons. We’re sad it’s over, but excited to see what new craziness hits as we zoom through fall and onward to 2017.

Best Summer Music Video *Banger ALERT*

It’s not summer without a dope soundtrack to go with the long, hot days and nights. There’s always that one song (or songs) that are played everywhere non-stop, that simultaneously manage to capture that carefree summer feeling and get linked to all your best memories of the season. So here’s a video for one of Summer 2016’s Biggest Bangers.

This is the improbably Portland-based rap group Amine and their song “Caroline.”  We like that it avoids so many of those summer hip-hop video cliches (the beach, bikini dance parties, drinks on the beach, golf carts by the beach, swimming pools), and instead has more of a real urban feel with fast food drive-in runs, cruising in your car with your homies singing along to tunes, and playing Xbox at the crib. Bonus that the song and video also make us think of Outkast’s “Roses” (the muse of that song is also named Caroline) and how it was part of the soundtrack for Summer 2004.

Augmented Reality

Bjork hasn’t been in the news for awhile, but she’s long been known for pushing the envelope artistically (swan dress, anyone?). To drive attention to her latest album release, she used 3D virtual reality to present it at a press conference in London and answer questions virtually while her body was at home in Iceland. Nice touch making yourself look like an exotic alien superheroine, Bjork!

Pokemon Go A-Go-Go

This virtual reality-based mobile game sparked controversy and media hype after it hit 21 million daily active users (FAR exceeding Candy Crush’s’ peak DAU of 9.3mil), making it the biggest mobile game in history. But there has been a fair amount of bad press about the game too, mainly that it has caused some people to become victims of crime or accidents. For one thing, the game doesn’t distinguish between safe and unsafe neighborhoods when it’s leading you to that elusive Nidoqueen or your next battle. Or alert you that you’re about to walk right into traffic because you’re so distracted by hunting Pokemon’s on your phone.

Hence, this parody video. It’s definitely good for some laughs at the expense of Pokemon obsessives.

Gucci Mane Got #EverybodyLicking

How do you get positive press attention for your new album right after being released from prison? In the hip-hop world, this isn’t necessarily a problem, and notorious characters like Gucci Mane do well by taking advantage of said notoriety. But we like that Gucci Mane did it with humility – in a self-deprecating nod to the much-ridiculed ice cream cone tattoo on his face, he partnered with Spotify to do an ice cream truck takeover in NYC. He wrapped the trucks with his album title “Everyboyd Looking,” a blown-up representation of the cone tattoo, and the hashtag #EverybodyLicking. Fans lined up in droves and shot videos and photos they they then shared on their Instagram and Twitter accounts = the best press is free press.

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