Chris Robinson (born September 28, 1967) is an American film director, commercial director, and music video director whose work has connected hip-hop, R&B, advertising, and mainstream film. Born in Edgewood, Maryland, Robinson began his career making music videos for local artists before establishing himself during the 1990s as a visually inventive director within the rap and urban music scenes.
His first credited music video was "Doo Doo Brown" by 2 Hyped Brothers & a Dog, released in 1991. Robinson went on to direct videos for a wide range of performers, including Jay-Z, Nas, Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Erykah Badu, T.I., Busta Rhymes, Pharrell Williams, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Rihanna, Mary J. Blige, Usher, and Outkast. His credits include Alicia Keys' "Fallin'" and "You Don't Know My Name," Jay-Z's "Bonnie & Clyde '03" and "Roc Boys (And the Winner Is...)," and Nas' "One Mic," which received a Grammy nomination for Best Short Form Music Video.
Robinson's work often combines performance, narrative, and highly controlled visual design. He has been particularly associated with the presentation of hip-hop artists as pop-cultural personalities rather than simply recording performers. That approach was evident in his commercial work, including campaigns for Apple, Coca-Cola, Verizon, and Boost Mobile. The Boost Mobile campaign became known for placing major rap artists in stylized, character-based advertisements, helping Robinson move between music videos and brand filmmaking without abandoning the culture that shaped his early work.
In 2000, Robinson launched the Robot Film Company, a production outlet that expanded his work in commercials, music, and film. One of his most prominent music-video achievements came with Erykah Badu's "Honey" in 2008. Credited under the name Mr. Roboto and co-directing with Badu, Robinson received the MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction. The video's playful use of record-store imagery and references to classic album artwork reflected his interest in treating music videos as compact pieces of popular-media history.
Robinson made his feature-film directorial debut with ATL (2006), a coming-of-age drama set in Atlanta and starring T.I., Big Boi, and Lauren London. The film brought the energy and musical identity of his video work into a longer narrative, while focusing on friendship, ambition, class, and the transition from adolescence to adulthood. He later directed Beats (2019), a drama about a troubled teenage music prodigy and the mentor who helps him reconnect with his talent. The film continued Robinson's interest in youth culture and music as forces capable of shaping identity and community.
His television work has included episodes and productions connected to Real Husbands of Hollywood, Star, American Soul, Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Grown-ish, and Black-ish. He also directed The New Edition Story (2017), a three-part BET miniseries chronicling the rise, internal conflicts, and changing careers of the Boston vocal group. The project demonstrated Robinson's ability to handle music-industry history on a larger dramatic scale and earned him a Black Reel Award for television directing.
Robinson directed the basketball drama Shooting Stars (2023), based on the early careers of LeBron James and his high-school teammates. Alongside his filmmaking, he has been a founding partner of RockCorps, an organization that links musical events and entertainment opportunities with youth volunteer work. Through music videos, commercials, features, and television, Robinson has built a career defined by movement between entertainment forms and by a sustained engagement with contemporary Black music and popular culture.