Styles of Beyond - Easy Back It Up (Music Video)

JUL 01 1999 · 12:00

Styles of Beyond - Easy Back It Up (Music Video) (1999) Era: Late-1990s West Coast Underground Hip-Hop (1998–1999), Lo-fi independent music video era concurrent with the SpyTech Records scene; pre-digital-broadcast, VHS-to-web transition period for underground rap visuals High curatorial value as a primary document of the West Coast underground rap scene at a pivotal moment, the late-1990s independent label era before digital distribution fundamentally altered the economics of hip-hop video production. Captures a formation-stage artifact of a group that would later gain broad recognition via their Fort Minor collaborations, making this an essential before-picture for longitudinal studies of underground-to-mainstream trajectory in hip-hop. Context: Released in 1999 on SpyTech Records, an independent label founded by DJ Cheapshot and based in Reseda, CA, this video documents Styles of Beyond at the apex of their underground credibility, shortly before their broader exposure via connections to Mike Shinoda and Fort Minor. The track samples A Tribe Called Quest's 'Jazz (We've Got)' and Woody Herman's 'Pontieo,' anchoring it in the jazz-rap and boom-bap tradition while the rapid-fire delivery of Ryu and Tak pushed toward the technical complexity of the emerging West Coast underground scene. The San Fernando Valley was a distinct node in the LA hip-hop geography, separating S.O.B. from both the Compton/South Central gangsta lineage and the Leimert Park jazz-rap axis, creating a niche for technically-oriented, independent-minded rap. Director notes: The music video was released in 1999 in association with the single 'Easy Back It Up / Part 2 (Endangered)' on SpyTech Records, drawn from the album '2000 Fold'. The video was hosted directly on the official SpyTech Records website. No production company, director, or cinematographer credit has been located in publicly available sources. The quantitative metrics (113 scene changes, 1.64s avg. shot length, low saturation, warm color temp) are consistent with low-budget independent hip-hop video production of the period, likely shot on consumer or prosumer video equipment.