First time directing a music video
 

I know there are a few hip hop heads on this forum. This post may interest you.

My Buddy Aidan runs a hip hop blog and spends a lot of his time watching and critiquing music videos. After a handful of drunken conversations on the subject, we decided that if we could criticize other peoples work, it was only right for us to actually make one of our own and take whatever feedback the web had to give.

So here it is... we hooked up with a local Seattle emcee JaWaan LaRue (Now based in Florida), and put together the following:

<iframe width="560" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/j3pZA94BCqM?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Be sure and bump it up to 1080.

Thanks for checking it out. Any feedback is appreciated...

Thanks,
Rich

Really like it. I love the simplicity. Most of thew videos are just crap. Too much over done, but sack grabbn, fake car blinging,etc..

Song has a very west coast hood surgeon feel. Would love to hear more of the record. How do we find it?

Did a quikie search and see his other work, but no way to download or buy.

No worries, Jason. PM me your email address and I'll send you his last album (which Rise Up is on) and the brand new one that he just dropped.

By the way... thanks for the compliment as well.

Great work.

Just did. I may be able to help him with some projects too.

I like the video a lot and this is coming from someone who hates videos. I also like the song and the positive message, I'd feel comfortable letting my kids listen to this song.

vid
 

Great video. The best part is no profanity so it can be played on the lake around kids. I never played music with a lot of profanity but every now and then a word or two might slip on a song and I always felt bad because of other families on the lake. Great vid and a great message. How much for one of his cd's? Are all of his songs clean?

Hey guys,
Thanks for the notes. I think Rue is selling his brand new CD for 5 bucks. I'm not sure if he's got em available online yet. I'll find out.

If you want, I'm happy to share his Saturn Rising CD with you... just PM me your email address. This track is on it. Some of the tracks do have profanity... but he's definitely a more message oriented cat. Not really one to throw out a bunch of party songs or hardcore subject matter just to be controversial. He's also a really good dude... a father and an Iraq vet.

Just to give you an idea of his range... here's another track from SR... one of my favorites. You may recognize the beat.
<iframe width="420" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Okg_1CH7Cj0?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I thought it was pretty damn good. I really liked when he was in the middle of the group. (2.07) it made me feel like I was there too. The only thing I didn't really like were the shots of the back of his head while walking.

I'd agree that it was better than a lot of the stuff out there.

Nice work !

Feeling it!

I like the last song. Easy to listen to. Sounds like a laid back guy.

Nice work Rich! I dig it! Not tryin to steal your thunder at all but my buddy and I are just finishing up our 1st music video. Other than being in front of the cameras, we did everything from pre-production to post. we're pretty stoked. I know the feeling you're going through right now, so congrats!

Not stealing any thunder from me, Joe! Congrats on your video as well... can't wait to see it! My buddy and I pretty much had the same experience on this one. We came up with the concept and pitched it to the artist, directed 3 days of shooting... I was the DP for one day (all the rooftop stuff) and we brought in a friend of mine to DP the other two. I edited everything... and had yet another friend handle color correction and motion graphics. I'm not actually in the vid anywhere... but my Directing Partner Aidan is... he's one of the 3 guys in the alley near the beginning.

Anyway... it was a fun process. And although the finished product is different in a lot of ways than what I imagined, all-in-all I'm very happy with it. Plus, we've gotten a call from a producer looking to do a video so we may get to roll up our sleeves and go do it again!

Rich, Been listening to the record for the last week. I love it. Great flow, solid beats, not a ton of swearing and good stories. Really looking forward to next record. Really impressed.