Eye Spy: “My Story” (Viral Video) by R. Kelly feat. 2 Chainz

Anna Cieslik ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Editor

For whatever reason it may be, us Chicagoans tend to be extremely vocal about our hometown pride. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Windy City is featured heavily in Chicago R&B legend R. Kelly’s newest music video for his song “My Story” featuring rapper 2 Chainz. The great part, however, is how the city is incorporated. R. Kelly takes you on a complete tour of Chicago in the four minute and 28 second video, from shots of the iconic skyline to riding on the CTA (that’s our public transit, in case you didn’t know) to a front row view of the rapper’s headlining set at Pitchfork Music Festival.

While a lot of the footage used in the video is rather typical Chicago stock imagery (how many times can we look at the skyline from the Lake Shore Drive vantage point?), it still does a great job at getting Kelly’s message across. The song is his story, after all, and the city of Chicago undoubtedly helped make him the musician that he is today. As he says himself “I’m from that Chi-town dirt. I went from being broke to sleeping in Versace shirts” and what better way to illustrate that point than by singing in front of the looming city skyline that made him what he is?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TntcHcNPDvM&w=420&h=315]