Every week, a slew of new music videos hits the web. Watching them at your desk is not time theft because you deserve it; think of it as a nice reward for surviving another work week. But what if you don’t have time to watch every video — maybe you have a deadline, a hungry pet, or other grown-up concerns. In consideration of your schedule, Lizzie and Kaitlyn bring you a series called One Video. Each week we’ll tell you “one video” you need to watch, why, and for how long.
This week’s video: “Build You Up” by Kamaiyah
Lizzie: This week’s video had to battle for the ultra-coveted One Video spot with an animated Lil Yachty lyric video, a strange, boring Vic Mensa clip (sup with you, Vic?), and a new All-American Rejects video, by the band All-American Rejects who you might remember from 2005.
In “Build You Up,” Kamaiyah befriends a forlorn-looking woman on the train, buys her pizza, and takes her to a party. If you’ve learned nothing else from your favorite internet column, you know we love a good day-to-night tale of friendship.
Kaitlyn: All true, and Kamaiyah also beat out 20-year-old Norwegian pop star Sigrid, who released a video for her song “Plot Twist” today. Sigrid is a friend of Lorde’s, or at least someone Lorde sometimes includes on personal playlists, and so Sigrid is a friend of mine. Or at least someone I include on my personal playlists. It’s a good song! Kamaiyah’s is better, and so here we are. Another thing you might know if you’ve followed this column even casually is that choreographed dancing goes a long way with Kaitlyn and Lizzie. This video has more than one choreographed dance.
Who is Kamaiyah?
Lizzie: Kamaiyah is a rapper from Oakland who signed to Interscope after dropping her very very excellent 2016 mixtape A Good Night in the Ghetto. “Build You Up” is the first track off her upcoming mixtape Don’t Ever Get It Twisted, which was supposed to come out in May, but has been pushed back a few times. Hopefully this video means we won’t be waiting much longer.
Kaitlyn: If you haven’t heard Kamaiyah’s mixtape, it’s possible you know her from “All Around Me,” a song on Lil Yachty’s debut album Teenage Emotions, which came out last month. She and YG, another California rapper, contribute some pretty good verses to an otherwise uninteresting tune.
She and Drake also had verses on “Why You Always Hatin?” from YG’s 2016 album Still Brazy, so maybe you heard that one. If not, well, she’s the woman in this music video. She is 24 years old.
if we threw a one video pizza party would you come?
What’s special about “Build You Up” by Kamaiyah:
Lizzie: What’s special about this video is the very good outfits (primary color visors and matching socks, see-through rain jackets, canary yellow jumpsuits) and the way Kamaiyah and her crew just kind of take over the city of Oakland and convince everyone around them to have a good time.
Kaitlyn: I made a GIF of the sad train lady’s raincoat because the first time Lizzie and I watched this video Lizzie said, “Wow, I love her jacket,” and then pointed at the jacket and said, “Wow, what a good jacket.” It’s a pretty nice jacket, though it’s also an unfortunate reminder that yes, it is raining in New York City right now and I too had to wear a rain jacket this morning. Mine isn’t as nice. It says “Bloomfield Soccer” on it.
This video is special because of the rain jacket, which so far seems like the best thing that happened to Lizzie today.
Lizzie: It was and is.
How long everyone should watch “Build You Up” by Kamaiyah:
Lizzie: Definitely watch the choreographed dancing from 1:20 to 1:40 and 2:30 to 2:50.
Kaitlyn: I think my favorite part is near the beginning when Kamaiyah is saying stuff like “You don't need no one, you've got to love yourself” and the screen starts to glitch. I love it when sheer positivity nearly breaks computers.
If we threw a One Video pizza party would you come? Not today, because it’s raining and some of us don’t have cool raincoats, but another time?