Revisiting A$AP Mob’s 'Money Man / Put That On my Set' 12-minute Short Film By Dexter Navy.

Inspired by one of French cinema’s most influential and well-known films La Haine (1995), Dexter Navy delivered one of hip-hops great visual works which must not be overlooked. The 12-minute short film was released in 2016 in anticipation of A$AP Mob’s Cozy Tapes Vol. 1 and features verses from Rocky, Nast and Skepta, and acting performances from La Haine’s Said Taghmaoui, and Tina Kunakey among others.

La Haine’s resonating message is one of an impending disaster for French society in the midst of sparking social antagonisms between the Parisian ‘elite’ and those segregated and oppressed lower classes housed in the suburban ‘banlieu’s’, that preceded and followed violent riots in 1995. It displays three boys and their daily lives that are unstructured and impulsive, guided by the unhealthy motivations ripe within segregated communities.

Dexter Navy’s short film follows the same message in an impressionistic take on a ‘thug life’, mixing this with elements of social realism to create a visual masterpiece that is at once immensely stylistic but also socially and politically aware. It is shot in North-West London, and with its universal resonance has remained very politically on-topic. The film traces the life of a girl called Rina (Tina Kunakey) who navigates an underworld of crime and violence where a drug made of scorpion venom and butterfly wings plays a central role in structuring the films happenings. Rocky plays the role of ‘Money Man Flacko’ who is drug-dealer and sidekick to the main boss, and father of Rina, known only as the ‘Money Man’ played by Said Taghmaoui. Shot predominantly in black and white film, Dexter Navy creates a story that is harrowing, violent, euphoric, and visually stunning with the new wave/avant-garde print of the visual collective that surrounds the Mob.

You can watch the video here.