Jay-Z ‘On to the Next One’ Director Clears Conspiracy Theory Rumors

Director Sam Brown has done some truly amazing work with his music videos. His latest is a stark yet beautiful clip for Jay-Z's 'On to the Next One' off of 'Blueprint 3' -- a Swiss Beatz-helmed powerhouse and favorite of this here blog. The clip premiered on New Year's Eve and immediately caused something of a stir with those already accusing Hov of Illuminati and Freemason connections. Did Brown intend to help create some sort of New World Order? He recently spoke with AllHipHop.com and set the record straight.

"I'm aware of the stir the video has caused and what people are saying," Brown told journalist Keith Murray. "I think when you're dealing in abstract imagery people are going to want to draw lines between things and make sense of it. However, I've always felt that the viewing public was, in general, extremely visually literate. They don't always want or need things spelled out for them. One of the great things about music videos are they can be enjoyed purely visually -- it doesn't need to mean anything or make any sense. Conspiracy theory is another thing entirely, and seems to me to be about projecting pre-existing beliefs and desperately looking for things that confirm them. There is imagery in this video that is drawn from all over the place. None of it is owned by any one culture or belief system. You can connect anything if you try hard enough, and make it mean anything you want it to."

Good explanation, Mr. Brown, and it's been totally backed up by a puzzled Jay-Z. In an appearance on Angie Martinez's show on Jan. 13, Hov said: "I don't know where it came from. I don't know where it started. No, not me. Never done that before. Why in the world would I do that? That's retarded."

So, there you go, Internet theorists. You are, officially, retarded.