tl;dr #1 - Nosetalgia Video

[PancakeBrah]

Let's start with Kendrick's addition. He's awkward. He's impeding Pusha's natural movement. Kendrick is staccato; he stops in the street, to emphasize himself. He needs to make his motion point towards his lyrics. He stops, pauses, and embraces himself. Pusha wants to have Kendrick, a hot name, on this track, so he stops his gait awkwardly in unison with Kendrick. You can tell it's awkward. Pusha acts out with his arms more actively during Kendrick's verse. Kendrick's verse is fine. It's fine. But it's not in keeping with Pusha's truth or the direction of this video. Kendrick is a necessary addition that Pusha deals with amicably just to do so. Kendrick is dope, when he's just Kendrick. This is not his place.

So let's go in reverse to Pusha's verse. His verse is the best music video released in quite some time. You start off behind him, slave to the gait, beholden to the cornrows. Waiting for the pan around. Then he takes complete control of the screen. The film is because of him, not on him. He's chopping, he's Ivan Drago, he's sniffing off sinuse's. He's the legacy of Pharrel, "Grindin'", losing his partner, and the continued pursuit in one longshot. Whereas in Kendrick's portion of the video you focus on everything besides Kendrick's theatrics, when Pusha is on the screen he is the only thing. His charisma is real. When he waves his hands you're captivated. When he starts mimicking chopping up his favorite subject you can't take your eyes off the hands. The lyrics just accent his presence. As he walks he seems bigger than everything; the cars, houses, the street itself.

Kendrick can be ignored. The star of Kendrick's portion of this video is still Pusha.

This song, and video, should have stopped at 1:35 and just served as the calling card of a legend owed his dues.