Hey, I'm Tony from Louisville, Kentucky.

Hi, I'm Matthew from Turner's Falls, Massachusetts.

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It's the sound of Young America.

I'm Jesse Thorn.

And this week's program was recorded live in New York City at WNYC Radio.

Let's go now to my conversation with hip-hop video director, Rick Cordera.

He's directed videos for artists like Nas, Jay-Z, Buster Rhymes, and The Roots, among others.

And in the process, he's helped revolutionize the way music videos are made.

I grew up in the 90s, and a lot of the videos back then were just so driven by materialism and stuff.

So, you know, I just decided to go the opposite route and just do stuff that's really bare bones.

You remember, I mean, I think the iconic Jay-Z video actually of the 90s might be Big Pimpen,

where it's this spectacular yacht, and they're cruising through the sea,

and they're, you know, wearing like Captain Hats made out of a thousand dollar bills.

It's amazing, you know, and it was like, it was great for that time,

because there was so much money, you know, in the music industry.

So they had like half a million dollars to burn on a three minute video, you know.

...