Music video director Gil Green is in a dank, bombed-out Overtown warehouse, surrounded by what might seem like the predictable panorama of stock hip-hop imagery: especially fine women, a six-figure ride and a couple of iced-out rappers.

Yet Green -- a Coral Gables Senior High graduate who has become one of the decade's definitive directors of hip-hop and dancehall -- delivers cinematic videos that manage to be real and socially responsible. More raw storytelling than hyperbole, Green's visual interpretation of rapper Black Dada's remix single Imma Zoe is a finely woven urban narrative of a Haitian boy's journey to the United States. Through this video, as with his other three-minute productions, Green hopes his refreshing vision will give more texture to the way popular music is experienced.

``There's a way to think and step out of the box and interpret the music in a positive way,'' Green, 34, offers the next morning at a Fat Joe video shoot at Crandon Park hours before he heads to Shanghai to work with rockers Linkin Park.

``I work hard to transcend the stereotypes.''

And not just in music videos. As dozens of crew members work to tame the typical madness of a video shoot, the easy-going Green sits on a nearby picnic bench discussing his first film effort -- a coming-of-age story about four teenagers who grow up in Miami.

``I am a narrative-driven director,'' Green says. ``I feel like if I can capture people's attention for three minutes, that's great. If I can do it for 90 minutes, that's even better,'' he says, struggling to be heard over the buzz of cicadas delivering their own kind of soundtrack. ``I really want to do a film that after people see it, and the credits are rolling, they are reflecting on their own life or the larger society.''

Over the last dozen years as hip-hop expanded its reign over popular culture, Green had built a respectable career working in the music industry bookends of New York and Los Angeles before his recent return to South Florida because of a family illness. He has worked in almost every genre from hip-hop and reggae to pop and rock; his videos rotate heavily on those arbiters of popular music, MTV and BET. Among the artists on his roster: Akon, DJ Khaled, John Legend, Sean Kingston, Natasha Bedingfield, Lil Wayne.

Green considers his videos -- many produced on location in South Florida -- to be artistic compositions of resonant images, metaphors and stylized moments. ``Three-minute movies shot over two days,'' he says.

He has directed more than 100 videos and has declined proposals for dozens more because of the slangin'-and-bangin' lyrics that celebrate the music's ugliest angles. He has won a handful of MTV and BET honors and is behind some of the popular And 1 commercials.

``Gil can create the craziest images that seem to come out of nowhere. He explains it, but you cannot see it until you see it through his eyes,'' says Black Dada, a Haitian-born rapper now living in Fort Lauderdale.

HIS AWARDS

In 2003, Green won Best Music Video from the Source Awards for Lil Jon's I Don't Give A, a chaotic club banger that showcases the power of Southern-flavored crunk. The next year, he was nominated for the MTV Music Video Award for Elephant Man's Pon Di River and was named Top Music Video Director in the Source's Power 30 Edition. He won the 2008 MTV Video Music Award for Best Hip Hop video for Lil Wayne's Lollipop.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@