The year is 1993. The location? A yellow-walled apartment living room, octagonally shaped. The music video for the Counting Crows’ instant classic “Mr. Jones” is being filmed, and Adam Duritz is buoyant, energized, and dressed up in loosely-fitted clothing. “My performance in this video will be remembered and paid tribute to long into the future,” Duritz thinks. “I know this to be true.”

None of us have quite been able to forget Duritz’s performance in the “Mr. Jones” video—and how could we? The man was dressed in cowboy boots and a fringed suede jacket, shouting into an old-timey microphone, “Everybody wants to pass as cats!” We all want to be big, big stars. But we’ve got different reasons for that. Etc.

While it’s been twenty-two years since the premiere of the “Mr. Jones” video, its memory lives on. So much so that a tipster—one Francesca Becker—emailed us to point out the similarities between Duritz’s performance in the “Mr. Jones” video and that of Wiz Khalifa rapping “See You Again” on Sunday night at the Billboard Music Awards. Above we have Adam Duritz jumping about like a cool guy; below we have Wiz Khalifa doing almost exactly the same moves. But can you really tell them apart? Which one is which? Has any time passed at all? Are Wiz Khalifa and Adam Duritz the same person? Time is, after all, a flat circle.

Are gifs not enough proof for you? How about watching the videos one after the other? Will that convince you?

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Don’t say we never gave you anything. We believe.


Contact the author at dayna.evans@gawker.com.