Time Ranks ‘Fracking’ Rap Among Most Creative Videos of 2011

An online video featuring an unlikely fusion of hip-hop lyrics and the natural gas extraction technology known as “fracking” was ranked number 2 on Time magazine’s list of most creative videos in 2011. Produced by a team of students from New York University’s Studio 20 journalism program, the video, “My Water’s on Fire Tonight (The Fracking Song),” features a rap-style description of the hydraulic fracturing drilling process — and its possible environmental consequences — over animated graphics. Lisa Rucker, a Los Angeles-based editor who helped produce the video, said the video has the potential to introduce the controversial fracking debate to a wide audience. The video has attracted more than 200,000 viewers since it was posted on YouTube in the spring.