Synopsis

The video opens with Jurassic 5's Zaakir, also known as Soup, in a short cinematic acting sequence. As he moves through changing settings, the clip shifts into a performance piece built around the crew's tightly coordinated rhymes, turntable work, and playful group presence. The visual style keeps the focus on the six members and their collective chemistry, matching a track that celebrates hip-hop's lasting power and the artists, sounds, and ideas that shaped their approach.

Factoids & Trivia

• Zaakir's opening performance was his first music-video acting role. The treatment impressed him because it reminded him of a Hugh Grant film in which the surroundings change as the central character walks.

• The same opportunity helped lead to Zaakir's first television acting job, on the series "Fastlane."

• DJ Nu-Mark built the track around a loop and a vocal sample from the Hi-Lo's. The song also incorporates a Busy Bee sample from the 1983 hip-hop film "Wild Style."

• Nu-Mark described the production as less drum-focused than some of his other Jurassic 5 work. He also favored the video's relatively simple presentation.

• "The Influence" was produced for "Quality Control," released in 2000, but appeared as the album's third single in 2001. Cut Chemist later said the track had at one point been considered as the album's first single.

• The song's blend of doo-wop vocals, sample-based production, and group harmonies became a concise example of Jurassic 5's old-school, culture-conscious approach.

• The opening doo-wop texture was distinctive enough to receive attention in later discussions of "Quality Control," where the group recalled the song as having a particularly unusual introduction.

• The official video is commonly dated to 2001, while the song itself belongs to the 2000 album "Quality Control."