[TIA] Young Thug and Gunna’s “Hot” is one of the biggest trap anthems of the year
with its lively horns, bars, memes and even a Travis Scott remix.
The music video made the track even hotter with enough pyrotechnics to shoot a full-length
action movie.
[CHRISTIAN]: “So I got all these pyro guys and stunt, people, because you know, my interpretation
of Young Thug saying he wants Gunna to be on fire, he means he physically wants to be
on fire.
Well, I think some people thought that I was going to do that in post.”
[TIA] That's Christian Sutton, director of the “Hot” music video.
His production team Psycho Films has worked with everyone from Kendrick Lamar to YG.
From Sutton’s first listen of “So Much Fun,” he knew he had to direct the video
for “Hot.”
CHRISTIAN: “One of the commissioners at 300 sent me
a voice memo that Young Thug had did.
He saw my treatment, he liked it.
He had a couple ideas he wanted to add to it.
The main one which was he wanted Gunna to be on fire.”
[TIA] But Sutton took Thugger’s imagined flames and turned them into real life pyrotechnics.
CHRISTIAN: “So we get to the day of the shoot.
At first Gunna and Thug were like, ‘Oh man, what do you mean we're going to be on fire?’
And I'm like, ‘Come on guys.
Like y'all gotta be down.’
And I walked them through the process.
I actually set my own arm on fire.
And I really explained to them that if we actually set you guys on fire that would be
a good piece of the production as opposed to doing it in post.
So they were down.”
“Gunna was actually the first one to burn.
We did both his arms and his leg.
There were takes where he was like, ‘Oh, y’all could have kept the fire going longer.’
But for the most part, all the fire you see is real and practical flames.
It’s hot as hell in the studio.
You look at some of the BTS photos, you see Young Thug and me with like masks on so that
we can protect our airways and breathe it cause it was that much fire.”
“Gunna actually was one of the first people to leak a video of the production.
He said, ‘I do my own stunts’.
And they had him on fire.
I'm going apeshit cause I’m just excited to be working with these artists.
The camera swings to Gunna, and I say, ‘Gunna, say what up!’
And he says, ‘Slat!’
And I'm like, ‘Yeah, yeah!’
I get really hype...
CHRISTIAN SUTTON: “Yeah!
Wassup.”
...ust from him being that creative to think of that and to say that.”
[TIA] He enlisted a crew of professionals to create the inferno.
CHRISTIAN: “I probably had eight to 10 pyro guys on
the scene on the set.”
CHRISTIAN: “What they do is they treat the whole wardrobe,
they make it basically fireproof.
And then they put on a certain chemical that would actually burn”
GUNNA: “I’m about to get set on fire.”
CHRISTIAN: “They had to wear like an under suit that
keeps their body cool, so that while the flame is on them it’s not too intense or get to
hot on ethem.
They would light the flame on them and then after the scene they would put
it out.”
[TIA] Thug worked hand in hand with Sutton to bring his vision to life.
CHRISTIAN: “Later on, we did Young Thug’s scenes
on fire.
When he’s busting through the door, he’s on fire.
He’s walking through the hallway, he’s on fire.
He had a really cool idea that he added in.
He was like, ‘Look man, if I'm on fire, I’m gonna be sweating.
So you guys gotta put spritzer on my face, so I look like I'm sweating.’
I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s a great idea.’”
CHRISTIAN: Being able to call them my slimes, being able
to say SLAT on set and make it part of production and have them teach my crew like, I thought
that was super, super cool.”
CHRISTIAN : “Slat!”
CREW: “Slllaaaat!”
YOUNG THUG: “Grammy, bitch.
Slat.”
“That is a wrap, wrap, wrap, wrap.”
[TIA] Sutton was working on a first cut when Thug dropped some big news on him.
CHRISTIAN: We shot the whole video for "Hot" before Travis was on it.
“Young Thug FaceTimed me, and he’s playing the song in the background.
He's like, ‘Travis got on the song.
We gotta shoot something with him ASAP.’”
[TIA] Despite his signature adlib...
[TIA]...and his nickname La Flame, Travis
needed to be swayed to go under the flame.
CHRISTIAN: “Four days later, we ended up shooting Travis’ verse.
And it was also a mission to convince him to be on fire.
He was like, Oh, y'all not doing the fire in VFX.’
And I'm like, ‘Man, everybody keeps thinking that.
Nah man, we’re trying to do the fire practically.’
He was like, ‘Alright, cool, let's, let's do it on my left sleeve.
So we flamed him up.
In his verse, he’s swagging so hard and so calm and collected.
You wouldn’t even think he was on fire.
You wouldn't even think it was real.
But it was” TIA: Sutton even makes a cameo as Travis’
doppelgänger.
CHRISTIAN: “When the house blows up and then it cuts to Travis’ eye.
I didn't have a closeup of Travis’ eye, so that’s actually my eye.
I saw comments on the eye like, ‘Oh, Travis got some pretty eyes.’
He does, but so do I.” TIA: And like Travis’ 2018 Super Bowl Halftime
Show, the marching band scenes in “Hot” were inspired by the very same episode of
‘SpongeBob Squarepants.’
CHRISTIAN: “There was a meme going around that used the song with a scene from ‘SpongeBob.’
And it had a marching band in it” SQUIDWARD:
1, 2 3, 4...
CHRISTIAN:So I just was like, ‘Man, that would be really cool if we figured out some
way to use a band and tie it back in” TIA: There’s also a connection to Beyonce’s
2018 headlining Coachella performance.
CHRISTIAN: “They cast some of our black band members who were actually in the Beychella
performance.
So some of my big movers and my big shakers on the band would be the black people who
could give you that HBCU feel.”
TIA: And while no rappers were hurt in the making of the “Hot” music video, some
very expensive outfits were.
CHRISTIAN “They were totally down.
We ruined a lot of their clothes, a lot of Gunna’s especially.
And it was really fun for them be down for that.”
CHRISTIAN “And shoutout to the pyro team for keeping them safe and them being professional
and knowing what to do.”
I’m Tia with Genius News bringing you the meaning and the knowledge behind the music.