When this thing was getting put together, I already knew it was going to go off, and
most videos I don't know that.
"Bad and Boujee" I had no idea about.
"T-Shirt" I had absolutely no idea about, but this one here man, I mean come one man.
I've actually done a lot of content with these guys.
I've done probably over 10 videos including stuff that they were featured in, but this
was definitely one of the biggest ones.
This particular concept derived from the guys initially.
They were watching ‘The Get Down’.
From there Coach said, "Yo, let's do 'Soul Train.'"
I had to then take it and put it into a digestible format.
The whole video I shot on beta tape.
My first time working with that.
It's just archaic.
People are all like, "Where's the HD version? Where’s the 1080p version?"
There is no fucking 1080p version, bro.
It was shot on tape.
This role of this Ron Delirious character, we had a few Instagram comedians on standby
to play the role, but I just thought, “This is an epic moment."
You've got Migos, you've got Drake, you've got a smash hit, and this character is central
to the show, you know what I mean?
The night before I called Coach K like, "Come on bro who can we get?"
"Can we get this person? That person?"
He was like, "I don't know anybody."
And I was like, "Jamie Foxx,” he’s like, “That's my guy. I know him.”
Coach K came through in the clutch.
You know what's funny about this?
People ask me, "Oh, who is the choreographer?"
There was no choreographer, no rehearsals, nothing.
So these guys are just so in sync.
No boy band.
The moment these guys walk on set dressed like this, it makes a good shooting environment
and creates good rapport because now we're all just in a good mood.
It's jovial you know that they're in a good mood.
You can't wear this and be in a bad mood.
You look like an idiot.
These guys are from a certain environment, and for you to be from that certain environment
and still do this kind of content, that’s tough to do, bro.
This zoom out shot right here might be my favorite shot in the whole
video.
When you're doing your videos, you have to have your research done because any little
thing you do or don't do, adds or takes away from the content.
So this right here is a shot I would never do in 2018, but because I've taken it back
to the '70's, that shot there just feels retro.
Whatever area you're doing something for, you have to see how they did it.
These fades, boom.
I would never, ever use a slow fade like that in the history of my videos.
Impossible, but that fade is very classic in those retro TV shows and movies.
For the set design on this video it was crazy because this video was confirmed on a Tuesday
and we shot it on a Friday.
So we had three days prep to do all that shit.
Basically I just referenced different ‘Soul Train’ episodes, so for example, this stage
right here, if you see this stage, all this green stuff right here, and then the brown
top, this is all from the Jackson 5 episode.
That whole green and brown scheme with the stairs, the light bulbs all around the edges.
Light bulbs in the staircases.
All of that.
Then, obviously the ‘Soul Train’ sign got the similar font.
'Soul Train' line is obviously probably one of the biggest parts of the TV show.
You can't have an inspired set like that without doing this epic moment.
Offset to me went crazy with the dancing, but everybody else also brought something
else to it as well that matched their verse, or matched their personality.
So it wasn't like it was a competition in terms of who's going to get the best dancing
done, you know what I mean?
Everyone’s ‘Soul Train’ moment had their own little swag to it.
One of my favorite moments in music video history is so small.
I don't know why I like it so much, maybe because I was a kid, but in "Bad,"’ there's
a moment where the guy is standing against the wall and he's moonwalking on the spot.
It looks like magic, bro.
So even though "Bad" was 80's, I said, "Fuck that."
'Give me some roller skaters."
That slide in is a funny moment man because no one expected that.
That's how you know it's going to be funny, like he just set the tone for himself.
When he told me he was going to wear a jheri curl?
Oh my god, I knew all the gifs, and all the memes were gonna go crazy.
So I already knew the Soul Glo action right here.
“Just let your Soul Glo!”
I don’t know how they do it ‘cause if it was me I would’ve been cracking up, but
I think what makes it even funnier is that they’re being serious.
After the takes is when they were laughing, but during the take there wasn't really many
mess ups.
You’ve got three big time acts.
You got Migos, you got Drake, you got Jamie Foxx, so you got a lot to shoot.
So yeah, they got straight to it.
This room here, it's a shame man.
Had to blur out all these posters, but this is my little homage to the black power struggle
in the '70's.
All these posters got blurred out.
We didn't have no clearance for these posters.
This part is controversial, but I’m gonna say it anyway.
There was a shot in the video that was even more framed right than this.
You see this poster right here?
This poster said, "Free Huey."
Huey P. Newton.
He's the co-founder of the Black Panther Party.
So this poster, you can even see the edges are rough.
I'm in an edit session and I'm telling the editor "Dege, bro, where's my Huey poster?"
He's like, "What Huey poster?"
I'm like, “Bro, I put the Free Huey there for the people, like a little plug, a lil' Easter egg.”
He's like "Bro, there's no Huey poster."
I'm like, "What are you talking about?"
So I called the art director.
I'm like, "Fam, where's the Huey poster?"
He's like "Bro, I've got to tell you."
"While we were on set someone from the label said cut it, but it was such a rush that I couldn't even tell you.”
All good.
No beef, but there you have it.
Free Huey.
I’m putting it now.
Since it wasn’t in the video, I'm going to tell you right now.
It was there.
I did that.
I don't think people really understand what these guys have done and are doing.
There's not many people in hip hop history that have had the spread they’ve had in
terms of the shit they control.
It's not easy bro, to have the streets on lock, the clubs on lock, and the pop charts
on lock.
That doesn't happen very often.
Rob: Did Coach K get down in this?
This is his level.
This is his joint.
Daps: Nah, I told him to get in it, but “You don’t want a producer all in the video…”
If you don’t want the producer all in the video, dancing. Come to Q.C.!