Though he’s not really known for his music video work, Spike Lee has directed over a dozen music vids (they are listed on Wikipedia, fyi). Perhaps his most notable are the dual version of Michael Jackson’s “They Don’t Care About Us” and Public Enemy‘s “Fight The Power” (in which he has a cameo at the end), but he has also directed videos by Prince (who scored all of “Girl 6“), Arrested Development, Bruce Horsnby, Branford Marsalis, Guru featuring Donald Byrd, Curtis Mayfield, Naughty by Nature and Fishbone, among others (the clip he did for the Crooklyn Dodgers uses his trademark dollyshot too). He also directed a clip for Mau Maus, the fake gangster rap band from “Bamboozled” that featured Mos Def.
One thing Lee has shied away from in his career is lensing music videos for “booty and bitches” rap videos or aggro ganster rap with anti-conscious messages (what Lee called “pimp culture”, though Mau Maus is a pretty good parody). Lee has never directed videos for folks like Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog, Tupac or any such hip-hop legend. But now, he is teaming-up with one of Dre and Snoop’s pals: Eminem.
Spike was in Detroit over the weekend and via Instagram revealed that he is shooting the video for “Headlights,” the fifth single off Eminem’s latest album, The Marshall Mathers LP2. Emimen wrote on twitter “Spike came out to The D for the “Headlights” video. . . . Coming soon.” Lee posted to Instagram and wrote “Detroit’s Finest EMINEM And Me Working Together On His Short a Film.Historic. Who Woulda Thunk It.”
Rolling Stone calls the track “an emotionally searing song in which Eminem apologizes to his mother, Debbie Mathers, and describes his feelings of ‘overwhelming sadness’ as he watched her drive away after their last meeting.” The singer from the band fun., Nate Ruess, sings the hook. Listen to the track below and keep an eye out for the video.