1. SmCity featuring Pro'verb, "My Own Boss"
Of all the rap videos that prominently feature Malcolm X imagery, at least 99 percent are sincere.

2. Young Sir, "Don't Stop"
Back-alley cinematography. Humble body language. A midsong work-ethic monologue. A Ben's shot.

3. Phil Adé feat. Casey Veggies "P.O.P. Music (Paper Over Pussy)"
FACT: You might say that you put money ahead of sex, but sooner or later sex is gonna work its way back to the top of the priority list.

4. Laelo featuring Paradise, "Fly With Me"
Frank Sinatra was on the "Come Fly With Me" tip like 50 years ago. Oh wait, this song is about weed.

5. Luegar, "The New DC"
His shirt says "Captain Kirk." The ladies' shirts say "Goony Girls." He calls himself a warlock. It's all good, though.

6. Garvey The Chosen One,  "Beat It Like A Dog"
The outtakes from this shoot are probably hilarious.

At first glance, D.C. rapper SmCity seems all confused in this video for "Twilight," a track from his upcoming The Indie Life: Hate, Love & Money. He's sportin' a limited-edition Nats hat, but that hometown W kinda gets lost in all those Brooklyn Bridge shots. And his sideman is Brooklyn MC Skyzoo. Why shoot the video on his turf? The New Yorker rhymes about getting D.C. love, so let him express it down here, right? It all works out in the end, though, trust us. Here's the important stuff: That wonderfully off-time, conga-heavy beat is by D.C.'s Best Kept Secret, the hook is sung by D.C.'s Kokayi, and the vid itself is a viable example of how to introduce a gargantuan gun and an attractive female into your visuals without dulling their metaphorical power.

Grazia Toderi

The exhibit is on view 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily to Sept. 5 at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Independence Ave. and 7th St. SW. Free. (202) 633-1000.

Like the best road treks, this cool video tour diary from locals The Ambulars goes from calm—sad-robot harmonies, ponderous landscapes, weird analog synth noises—to chaotic, with tortured, twisted riffs and parking-lot pyrotechnics. Big ups to the middle portion ("Marianne and Ferdinand"), whose bookish girl-boy vox briefly reignited my love of mid-'90s Midwestern indie pop.

UPDATE: It appears the video has already been taken down. Bummer.

Everybody loves Cee-Lo Green's "Fuck You," and I do, too. But this video? If it was with any other song, you'd think it was cute and then you'd forget about it. You could argue that the song/video combination is some sort of dialectic, but "Fuck You" alone has that kind of thing already goin' on. The net result of the vid? The reason America loves the song—the catharsis—is diluted. (The all-text video, on the other hand, nailed it.) I'm not gonna hold this against Green, though. I can't remember the official video for Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," but I do remember the clip with the Star Wars getups. And because "Fuck You" has legs, he'll get plenty of other shots at sound+image.

Erykah Badu, "Window Seat," 2010:

One of my fave vids of the last decade, The Bronx, "They Will Kill Us All (Without Mercy)," 2003:

NOTE: That is not the lead singer of The Bronx.

That B.O.B. guy, jumping around:

Chuck Brown talking about Lil' Benny:

A famous rapper saying some nice things:

Janelle Monae and Her Hair:

The Roots playing their own music:

So, there was this show, EIGHT, presented as part of the Capital Fringe Festival that Fringe & Purge Action News and Commentary Squad MVP Ian Buckwalter and I both really dug. It's comprised of eight monologues, only four of which are performed on any given night, as selected by audience vote. The show is deservedly extending its run for eight additional performances at DCAC starting Thursday night, Aug. 5.

I sat down with the cast and crew at Fort Fringe the weekend before last, four shows into their run. We made this video together. Sorry for all the door slamming; I did what I could to fix it. The Paul Greengrass-style shaky-cam effect is purely intentional.

Video not loading? Try watching it on YouTube in gloriously embiggened HD.

The Post's "Scene In" street-fashion video series is perpetually cheery, as if a handful of thoughtful fashionistas can make a rainbow in any neighborhood. We know better, of course: Spend 15 minutes on K Street at the end of a July workday, and style will appear to be a faint afterthought in the melted minds of everybody. I'd love to see a vid about people who are just tryin' to hold it together long enough to get home without sobbing.

But let's not be too grumpy about this: The "Scene In" pieces are pretty darn good, even if the human subjects are sometimes a little nutty or annoying or narcissistic. The clips, which average about 3 minutes a pop, are like the next stage of evolution for Bill Cunningham's page in the Sunday Styles section of The New York Times: The clothes are what counts, and the imagery has a certain verve to it. "Scene In" just happens to give the viewer a little extra information about the person's apparel-editing process. If you care.

For me, though, it's all about the total visual package. I like what Alexandra Garcia—the series' producer, director, or whatever you wanna call her—does with the neighborhoods themselves: Unlike your average news-knucklehead with a Flip camera, she's got a documentarian's eye for what sets the scene. (I mean, yeah, she's obviously got a decent camera, too. And an Emmy.)

Check out this image from the "H Street" shoot—she could've edited out that railing made of pressure-treated lumber, but she didn't, and it drives home the point that it's Not Georgetown:

In the "B-roll" department, I kinda like the nasty green beans in the "Eastern Market" episode:

And this shot from the "U Street" edition serves as a reminder that in D.C., for every fashionista, there are a least three dudes in cargo shorts or cargo pants:

Anyway, it's unclear whether the "Scene In" series is finished ("H Street" is labeled "16 of 16"), but here's my wish list for a few more:

1. Eden Center in Arlington
2. something with a heavy Latino angle
3. movie theater in the exurbs on a Friday night
4. Fort Reno concert
5. Capitol Skyline Hotel pool party