with the proliferation of youtube, itunes and vimeo, the promotional paradigm has shifted, and music videos have no where near the prestige they once did.

music videos have gone from an integral part of a records release, to a low budget after thought, usually helmed by the artist’s friend for little to no money. i can’t even begin to tell you how many video projects I’ve lost to someone volunteering a freebie.

but, looking back at music video’s hey-day, its amazing to see how exorbitant some of them were. i’ll recant a few over the next few weeks, but i figure there’s no better place to start than with the king of decadence, puffy, puff daddy, p. diddy, diddy.

directed by Marcus Nispel, the video boasted a budget of $2.7MM, (it was the most expensive video of it’s time, only to be dethroned by Mark Romanek’s “Scream” for Michael and Janet Jackson, which came with a staggering $7MM price tag. (Michael’s makeup cost $3,000/day))

“Victory” is an eight minute long epic, co-starring Danny Devito and Dennis Hopper, while strangely (for a rap video) tipping a hat to the 1987 Schwarzenegger vehicle, The Running Man.