Example - I don't want to

2007

Example - I don't want to (2007) Director: Henry Scholfield Era: UK Post-Grime Indie Rap Emergence (2006–2007) - Low-budget grassroots music video era on The Beats (Mike Skinner's label); DIY aesthetic aligned with UK urban underground before mainstream crossover High archival value as a rare surviving document of the UK underground rap-to-mainstream pipeline in the pre-HD digital era. Significant as the early output of a director (Scholfield) who would go on to global renown, and as a cultural artefact of the Mike Skinner / The Beats ecosystem. The video's warm, low-budget urban London aesthetic provides contrast material for researchers tracking the dramatic production-value escalation in Example's subsequent major-label output (2010–2012). Tier elevated above pure archive by confirmed director provenance and cultural transitional significance. Context: Released in 2007 as part of Example's debut album cycle 'What We Made' on Mike Skinner's The Beats label (licensed to Warner Music UK), 'I Don't Want To' represents the transitional moment in UK urban music between the first wave of grime (Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, Kano) and the crossover pop-rap that would define Example's later career. The video's low-budget, street-shot aesthetic mirrors the self-funded, DIY culture of UK independent rap during the mid-2000s, predating the HD-digital production values that arrived with Example's mainstream breakthrough albums (2010–2011). Its warm, tungsten-lit London nocturne visuals are characteristic of the social realist video tradition that grime and British urban rap adopted from UK garage and drill antecedents. Director notes: The 'I Don't Want To' video was one of Henry Scholfield's earliest professional music video commissions, made for Example (Elliot Gleave) on Mike Skinner's The Beats label. According to a published interview with Scholfield (LBBOnline), the concept involved obtaining a vintage costume from the 1970s TV series Monkey and filming Example running around London in it. The entire production cost approximately £100. Scholfield confirmed this was his entry point into paid directing work, describing it as a formative project that led directly to further collaborations with Example and subsequently with Professor Green. Wikipedia's article on Example also confirms Scholfield directed the promos for 'Vile', 'You Can't Rap', 'Who Needs Sunshine?' and 'I Don't Want To' during this same period.