Synopsis

Shot in stark black and white, the video follows Black Thought through a Brooklyn housing project where the streets are littered with motionless bodies. The Roots perform amid this unsettling landscape while Erykah Badu appears in separate performance scenes, bringing a warmer, soulful counterpoint to the bleak surroundings. The imagery gradually blurs the boundary between reality and inner experience, leading to a final reversal that reframes what has come before. Common and Tracy Morgan make brief appearances in the clip.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video premiered on BET on Christmas Day in 1998, ahead of the single's January 25, 1999 release.

• Contemporary coverage described the clip as a deliberate break from the excesses of mainstream rap videos. Its black-and-white imagery and surreal street scenes helped establish a more poetic visual identity for The Roots.

• The video was the first time a mass audience saw the members of The Roots together. Before its premiere, the group's promotional campaign had largely kept them off screen, apart from animated postcards and live appearances.

• Tracy Morgan appears as a passenger on the bus, while Common also makes a cameo.

• Eve delivers the song's second rap verse on the record but does not appear in the music video.

• Jill Scott co-wrote the song and recorded the original chorus and bridge. Her vocals were later replaced by Erykah Badu for the official release.

• "You Got Me" became The Roots' breakthrough hit and won the group and Badu the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 2000.