POPSCREEN: Beanie Sigel

Philadelphia-based Beanie Sigel may or may not be attempting to cement his status as a rap industry heavyweight with the video for “All the Above.” What’s for sure is that Sigel—who has done a year of federal time—was tired of orange jumpsuits.

More on that later. The video, which also features R. Kelly, is cinematic from the get-go. It opens with Beanie and Kellz’s names splashed across the screen, pans of the nighttime Chicago skyline, and the sounds of swishing helicopter blades. Soon thereafter, Beanie and R. pose on a high-rise rooftop as the latter sings, “I’m hood, I’m street / Still standing in the middle of the heat / I’m a mack, I’m a thug / I’m a pimp, I does all the above.”

Still, the video isn’t trying to reach new creative heights or push the visual envelope. We get the usual rap video schtick—a swanky hotel and club, gorgeous scantily clad women, and free-flowing champagne.

Beanie and R. Kelly’s styles are the brightest spots in the video. Whether Beanie’s rocking a fur-trimmed orange parka with a gentlemanly gray cap, a sleek black suit with a crisp white shirt, or a flashy gold chain and baggy jeans, he proves that he’s as versatile as anyone else in the couture game.

Kelly’s bold, bordering-on-tacky accessorizing is equally impressive. Flamboyant diamond studs, several massive pairs of sunglasses, and an enormous cigar nicely echo Kelly’s larger-than-life, tabloid-centric lifestyle.

For all of its flashy extravagance, the video for “All the Above” isn’t tailored to hide the song’s more unsightly aspects. If only it were.

—Katherine L. Miller