18/02/2000 08:45 GMT, The Mill, Great Marlborough Street
Hype makes a sunrise stop-off at his West End hotel suite to view a video shot by his second unit crew at various locations in Paris and London, including the Dome, during his stay.  After an hour's editing, he heads for Heathrow and the next flight to JFK.  He hasn't had time to soak up the morning-after responses to the show.  If he had done, he'd have seen that, despite post-show mutterings, there have been some glowing write-ups.  More importantly, the unexpected return of Naomi has made Julien's new dresses headline news.

22/02/2000 12:35 EST, Manhattan
Hype is running around town today, catching up on all the work he put off and put back and put away while he was in England.  He has two books coming out -- one of his own photography and one of stills and stories from his videos.  There's a recently inked deal to direct a new sci-fi movie.  And, when the circumstances are right, he can still get excited about the humble pop video.  "I met Bjork while I was in London," he says, "and someone like that, with everything she's done... I mean, I'd be real excited about doing something with her."
          The fashion connection will undoubtedly continue -- Hype is already working with Russell Simmons' Phat Farm and shooting covers for style magazines.  But will he be doing another show in a hurry?
          "This was my first live event, really," he says carefully.  "I really was open to Julien and the idea of what he did.  He had his ideas, and sometimes they were different from mine, but he's great.  I can't say when I'll do something like this again.  But I'm into everything visual.  That's my deal, man.  It's just what I do.  It's all I know."

This early, defiantly grim promo was integral to the slow-burning sucess of the first Wu-Tang LP.  After this, the Wu inclined towards widescreen extravaganzas that wanted to be science fiction.  Back then, though, they were happy to celebrate the rough textures and long shadows of the slums of Shaolin

Barely a year earlier, Martin Scorcese's Casino had been praised as one of the most visually audacious films around.  Working with a fraction of the budget, Hype lovingly recreated all the movie's best bits, made the gangsters' suits even more garish and polished up a technical marvel

Hype's work had been turning heads for ages before this, but Missy's first solo single gave him the chance to fuse avant-garde camera angles and ass-kicking dance routines in one big, shiny shoot.  Missy wore a Michelin Mom rubber suit and bugged-out glasses that took the 'Fly' idea to its logical conclusion.  Seminal

Not Hype's most subtle moment, but that was always the idea: Busta and Janet bounce and bogle in a room made entirely of shimmering metallic surfaces.  In terms of budget, ambition and impact it's the T2: Judgement Day of Hype's oeuvre.  Busta's record label even scheduled a full-on London premiere

The video that started the Puff Daddy downslide, which continued through the whole of last year.  Nas and Puff were crucified in this baroque mini-epic -- Puffy wanted the scene cut, it wasn't.  And voila: Nas' manager was attacked, Puffy was arrested, and rap's biggest news story of the year was sealed

Kelis had a song that demanded to be listened to, in return got a strangely gothic video that demanded to be seen.  Proof that Hype's trademark girls-and-glitter style doesn't mark the pinnacle of his talents and that, after all this time, he can still come up with video concepts to blow the rest away.