About Hype Williams:

The hottest director of our time, HYPE WILLIAMS continues to earn accolades from both audiences and critics for his vibrantly entertaining work in music, film, and advertising. Acclaimed for his visual bravado and vivid imagination, he has shot over 200 music videos and collaborated with many of the world’s biggest international stars.

His list of credits range from the cartoonishly manic to the sweepingly futuristic, including Busta Rhymes and Janet Jackson “What’s It Gonna Be,” Jay Z “Vita, Vita, Vita,” No Doubt “Ex Girlfriend,” DMX “How It’s Going Down,” “Get At Me Dog” to his recent work with Kanye West “Gold Digger” featuring Jamie Foxx, Beyonce’s “Check on it,” The Game’s “This Is How We Do” featuring 50 Cent, LL Cool J’s “Control Myself” featuring Jennifer Lopez and Janet Jackson’s “Call On Me” featuring Nelly. William’s made his fashion debut on the runways of London with fashion designer Julian McDonald’s “Modern Skins.” He has also received accolades for his commercial work by bringing a sense of Hip-Hop attitude to Nike, MasterCard, Revlon, Fubu, and The Gap.

The honors he’s received for his video work include the Billboard Music Video Award for Best Director of the Year (1996), the Jackson Limo Award for Best Rap Video of the Year (1996) for Busta Rhymes’ “Woo Hah,” the NAACP Image Award (1997), the 8th annual MVPA Award for Black Music Achievement (1997), MTV Video Music Award in the Best Rap Video (1998) category for Will Smith’s “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It,” MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video (1999) for TLC’s “No Scrubs,” and the Winner of the BET Award for Best Director (2006) for Kanye West “Gold Digger.”

Williams was born and bred in Hollis Queens, New York. Williams learned to use sensuous palette of colors at a young age. The son of working-class parents, he grew up wanting to be a painter. Rather than the conventional duck-cloth or linen canvas, however, Williams displayed his work by tagging local billboards, storefronts, and playgrounds. Back in the day, HYPE was his graffiti tag. “That’s probably what stimulated my interests in color,” he says. “I wanted to be Basquiat or Keith Haring of the streets.”

His illustrious career as a video maker began at ground level. After attending Adelphi University’s film program in the late 1980’s, he joined Classic Concept Productions where he swept floors on the set of videos for old-school Hip-Hop acts, and ran tapes for director Lionel Martin, the company’s owner. In 1993, Williams launched his own company, Big Dog Films, which quickly made its mark in the industry with some of the most imaginative and visually intoxicating videos ever made.

This first hot gritty but stylish video for the Wu Tang “Can It Be All So Simple” in 1994 established Williams as a major talent with underground Hip-Hop heads. When that video aired the offers started to pour in. He then went on direct videos for Usher’s “The Many Ways,” Brandy featuring Boyz II Men “Broken Hearted,” and Outkast’s “Benz & Beamer,” propelling previously unknown artists into the mainstream. Since then, he has become somewhat of a household name with his work on MTV and BET.

After years of turning down dozens of offers from Hollis to Hollywood, Williams made his feature film directorial debut in 1998 with Belly, which has gained a huge cult following. The film, an urban thriller about two childhood friends shooting their way up the ladder of organized crime, featured an all star cast of multi platinum rap artists, including DMX, Nas, T-Boz from TLC, and Method Man.

Williams is currently developing several new film projects for the big screen at New Line Cinema, television, DVD, in addition to directing sometimes as many as four new music videos a month.