Too $hort gets silly in "Double Header."

​Too $hort is firing off a battery of new videos to support his forthcoming No Trespassing album. The first, "Money On The Floor" (with E-40) revisits a familiar booty-shaking theme (albeit with stunningly cinematic new angles), while "Hey," with Silk-E, showcases an almost romantic vibe that is never present in his visual work. He's promised that "Money On The Floor" will be the only video with the typical clichés, and delivered on that vow with the latest, "Double Header."

Featuring an unlikely collaborator in wacky Oakland crunk-pop artist Wallpaper., the two don clown makeup (!) as director Joslyn Rose Lyons sets their curiously Cosby-riddled rhyme to circus fun house effects:

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Hunx X 3 = Fun

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How many Hunxes would a good Hunx hump if a good Hunx could hump Hunxes?

Eh, nevermind. Point is: The new video for "Always Forever," the first single off of Hunx's upcoming solo album, Hairdresser Blues, features not one or two but three Hunxes, all competing in split-screen glory. Directed by Hannah Lew, of notable local punk band Grass Widow, "Always Forever" finds Hunx engaging in all kinds of fabulous strutting and posing. He even dives into a pool and swims after a dollar bill, recalling the baby on the cover of Nevermind. (The baby was naked, though.) All of this is remarkably entertaining, considering this is a video where basically nothing happens.

The best part here is really the song, which has grown on us considerably since we first heard it a couple of months ago. There's a damp, anxious yearning to the vibe here that's complemented by Hunx's nasally vocal tone and frazzled guitarring. Still, it's elusive: Is "Always Forever" a truly heartfelt fuck-off anthem dressed in black pleather pants, or just stylish lipstick painted around a hollow core? You'd think Hunx would be singing his true feelings on Hairdresser Blues -- that's what he said the album was for, after all. And it is possible that even at his most perturbed and angry, the man born Seth Bogart remains as relatively composed as he is in "Always Forever." Apparently we'll have to hear the album to find out how sincere he is, but you can download the song and enjoy the video right now:

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Roach Gigz puttin' out the heat with some sake.

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After years of releasing mixtapes -- most of them excellent -- S.F. rapper Roach Gigz is finally putting out a for-real debut album this summer entitled Bugged Out. "Wasabi" is the first single from album, a typical C-Loz-produced Gigz banger that brags about the man's broke-ness, pale skin, preference for dipping pizza in ranch, and being "hotter than wasabi." The song is merely good by Gigz standards -- as with most of his stuff, it's grin-inducing-funny, although he seems to have slowed up and toned down the acrobatics of his rubbery rhymes a bit. (Maybe so people can understand what the nasal-voiced rapper is saying on the first listen?)

But, well, the video: Directed by Aris Jerome, it has Gigz bouncing around even more notable S.F. locales than usual (even wearing tie-dye in the Haight), dancing in the club, and pulling on a hookah with a bevy of smiling ladies. It's a for-real video for a for-real single. Also, is this the first rap song to feature sake as the intoxicating liquid of choice? We hope it is. And with requisite Mac Dre shout-out included, this is clip very Bay (and damn well it should be). Watch Gigz's new "Wasabi" video after the jump and see why we love this guy.

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Chuck Prophet as newsman.

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Temple Beautiful, the latest album from local rock songwriter Chuck Prophet, is basically a tribute to San Francisco: Different songs deal with notable parts of the city's history. A few months ago we premiered the song "Castro Halloween," which tells the story of the grisly murders that ended the neighborhood's notoriously fabulous Halloween parties.

With his new video for "White Night, Big City," Prophet deals again with a Castro-related conflict: The 1979 riots that followed the lenient sentencing of Dan White, who murdered S.F. supervisor and gay rights activist Harvey Milk and then-mayor George Moscone. The riots took place the night of May 21, after White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter -- not first-degree murder. After the ruling, Castro erupted into a violent confrontation between gays and police, a standoff that eventually led to the gay community gaining more influence in local affairs. (Albeit at a tragic cost.)

That's heavy material for a rock 'n' roll song, but as he did with "Castro Halloween," Prophet tells the story with a mix of compassion, outrage, and undiluted affection for this city. The Thaddeus Homan-directed clip contains some gorgeous old footage of S.F., too. Check out after the jump.

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Battlehooch's lonely mariachi.

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It's a new year, and with a new year comes a new crop of music videos. Less than two weeks into 2012, we already found a bunch from (mostly) local artists that we dig. So instead of posting each one individually, we thought we'd round up our five favorites and serve 'em to you in one big dose. After the jump, check out cool new vids from Dominant Legs, Battlehooch, J-Boogie's Dubtronic Science, Bhi Bhiman, and Royal Baths.

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50 Cent and LoveRance smack on some air.

​The most played local song on KMEL in the past year is "Up," an ode to licking and sticking girls by San Francisco's LoveRance that is consistent with a growing national trend of rappers declaring that they actually engage in oral sex as givers.

Chris Brown did a remix for the song earlier this year -- a bit of an unfortunate choice considering that the chorus goes, "I beat the pussy up" -- but that has seemingly vanished. In its place, 50 Cent (who has a knack for scouting out hot California tunes to invade) hopped on the track in time for its Interscope release. The video is mildly NSFW due to gyrating stripper action, but we find the most compelling part of it is toward the end, when 50 and LoveRance engage in some air booty smacking, batting and waving at a pair of invisible behinds.

The catchy, repetitive ditty has spawned big imitators, most notably Drake's "The Motto." But unlike some of the folks who appeared in that locally-shot video, 50 did not come to the Bay rocking Dodgers gear -- instead, he smartly suited up in a S.F.-emblazoned cap and jacket. The video also features a cameo from KMEL jock Big Von, who makes like he's on the air hyping up the track. Check it out after the jump.

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Fred, Thao, and Carrie onstage in S.F.

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No, dammit, we didn't get to go to the S.F. stop of the live Portlandia, either, and in case we all need any evidence that missing it was a huge bummer, here it is: A sizzling clip of the show's co-creators and stars, Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen, onstage at Mezzanine, playing a cover of Salt-N-Pepa's deservedly immortal "Push It" with local friends and musical heroes Mirah and Thao. Immediate reactions: Wow, the song's beat sounds good live; wow, Thao Nguyen's husky flow would make her quite a decent rapper; and wow, Fred Armisen is totally going to make that headless Steinberger bass the hipster's '80s artifact of choice. (Which is absolutely fine with us.) Watch this and just try to not go on a YouTube binge through Salt-N-Pepa's greatest hits.

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Young Money

Drake pals around with E-40 and Mistah F.A.B. in "The Motto."

​Canadian rapper/pop star Drake just dropped the video for his single "The Motto," featuring labelmates Lil Wayne and Tyga. It's the third single from Drake's second album, Take Care, which debuted at No. 1 last month with more than 600,000 copies sold in the first week.

"I'm in the building and I'm feeling myself/ Rest in peace Mac Dre, I'mma do this for the Bay," Drake says on "The Motto," an ode to working hard -- a quality still thankfully associated with this region's independent rap scene.

Filmed largely in East Oakland in late November, the video shows off San Francisco, as well as local MCs E-40 and Mistah F.A.B. The clip opens with a message from Wanda Salvatto, Mac Dre's mother, speaking to her late son. "As long as I'm here, you'll be here," she promises.

Have a look-see at Drake in the Bay after the jump.

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Does Christmas make you feel like sighing? Us too. So we're sort of enamored with the holiday melancholy of "I'm Not Really in the Christmas Mood This Year," a beautiful new video and song from the Bay Area's Foxtails Brigade. The song itself -- plaintive and precious and old-timey as it is -- is enough to get excited about, but, well, we love the noncommittal holiday spirit of the video: Smash the train! Let those candles go out! Keep the lights low! Who needs a Christmas party!?

Well, maybe everyone? Or, perhaps, no one. Either way, we see no reason why this shouldn't be immediately added to the canon of holiday music -- its ambivalence is perfect for a year like 2011. Check out the video after the jump and see what you think.

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From Seventeen Evergreen's "Polarity Song" video.

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Ah, the music video: In three decades, these modest clips went from insider promo tool, to prime-time TV staple, to Internet meme-generator. And despite all the online noise and bustle of 2011, a good music video is still a fantastic way to grab eyeballs and turn people on to something they didn't know about. There were dozens of excellent music vids released this year, but here, we've narrowed it down to the 10 we remember best from Bay Area artists. In no particular order, our favorite local music videos of 2011:

tUnE-yArDs, "Bizness"

Any music video that matched half of the freewheeling creativity of this Oakland outfit's breakthrough sophomore album, w h o k i l l, was going to be a blast. And with singing schoolchildren, facepaint galore, and a lot of funky dancing, this Mimi Cave-directed clip made for a dazzling accompaniment to the album's lead-off single.

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