Latest / The Bootleg Kev Podcast / #212 - Edgar Esteves
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Boutleg Head podcast. We got a special guest in here,
- 0:03Speaker 1: the homie Edgar is here from Blank Square Productions. I
- 0:05Speaker 1: do these guys. I'm gonna let you kind of introduce
- 0:08Speaker 1: yourself in just tell everybody what you do. Man man
- 0:12Speaker 1: Venezuela and American director. Just having fun and fucking shut
- 0:16Speaker 1: up right now. Yeah, you're like one of the I mean,
- 0:19Speaker 1: I would say the top two or three video directors
- 0:22Speaker 1: in the game right now. I appreciate that you've done.
- 0:26Speaker 1: I mean, you did the box video. I mean, you've
- 0:30Speaker 1: done so many videos, So like what are like the
- 0:32Speaker 1: bigger like just kind of run down some of your
- 0:34Speaker 1: Obviously you guys started with Russ. We'll get into that,
- 0:36Speaker 1: but like give me some of your highlights of the
- 0:37Speaker 1: last couple of years. Honestly. So that's a lot confusion.
- 0:42Speaker 1: I'm a production company and I'm also a director. So
- 0:45Speaker 1: your company is Blank Square. Yeah, so Blank Square And
- 0:49Speaker 1: so basically I have twelve directors on my company and
- 0:52Speaker 1: then I'll including myself, So then I direct projects and
- 0:54Speaker 1: they also do projects. I like to be involved in
- 0:57Speaker 1: a little bit of everything, just kind of like just
- 0:58Speaker 1: about the culture and just show up people how to
- 1:00Speaker 1: get things and how to treat artists. But yeah, it
- 1:03Speaker 1: comes into a situation where I think a lot of
- 1:05Speaker 1: the people always like, damn, your videos are everywhere. It's like, no,
- 1:08Speaker 1: my company's everywhere, So what about your company? What are
- 1:11Speaker 1: the bigger videos of the last few years that Blank
- 1:14Speaker 1: Squares handled? Ah? Man, you know, we just did the
- 1:16Speaker 1: Hansomer remix video with Tiffany Hattich. Cool. That one was dope.
- 1:20Speaker 1: It was like a little mini movie. Yeah, one hundred percent.
- 1:21Speaker 1: I was just trying to bring back that like that
- 1:23Speaker 1: old Chris Robinson, that old you know, like Jesse Terrero
- 1:26Speaker 1: skits type of videos. But other videos though, what else? Yeah,
- 1:31Speaker 1: there's just so many the videos that were about to
- 1:34Speaker 1: come up. Is like, you know, we're shooting Nikki next week,
- 1:36Speaker 1: so that's gonna be cool. I can't say the record yet,
- 1:39Speaker 1: but well I think it's the one she's probably been teasing, right,
- 1:41Speaker 1: the freaking Girl record. You know, just you know, surprise
- 1:44Speaker 1: for everybody, you know what I'm saying. But but yeah,
- 1:46Speaker 1: I'm excited about that. And yeah, man, just so many
- 1:49Speaker 1: videos at this point. Like I was just in Mexico
- 1:51Speaker 1: shooting a big artist out there named Downa Paola, So
- 1:54Speaker 1: and she has a huge following. I was out compared
- 1:56Speaker 1: to kind of like, you know, she's like that new
- 1:58Speaker 1: girl in Mexico on the and yeah, it's pretty cool, man,
- 2:02Speaker 1: just to try to like just work with different artists
- 2:04Speaker 1: and different levels of their career. Right, there was a
- 2:07Speaker 1: video which video did you do that? Tiana Trump was in?
- 2:10Speaker 1: Oh the throw Baby remix. Yeah, yeah, I'll be forgetting
- 2:13Speaker 1: all the videos that we'd be doing, honestly, but that
- 2:15Speaker 1: was a crazy ass video. Yeah. A lot of people
- 2:18Speaker 1: were talking about it, especially the baby scene where yeah, yeah,
- 2:21Speaker 1: you know, it's funny because me and my friends were honestly,
- 2:24Speaker 1: we're just like smoking weed and we're just like in
- 2:26Speaker 1: my living room and we're just talking about it. I
- 2:28Speaker 1: play the record and we all honestly just came up
- 2:30Speaker 1: with a scene and we were just like having fun
- 2:33Speaker 1: with it and we're like, yo, how nasty can you
- 2:34Speaker 1: get with it? But still like making it in a
- 2:37Speaker 1: cool way. And yeah, one of my friends was like, yo,
- 2:40Speaker 1: what if the baby was a you know, surfering down
- 2:43Speaker 1: a tongue? And then someone else said like, yeah, like this,
- 2:46Speaker 1: and then I was like, yeah, we'll put the goggles
- 2:48Speaker 1: on them. And then like We just started like collaborating
- 2:50Speaker 1: on the idea and then we're like, you know what
- 2:52Speaker 1: we wrote into the treatment and LVRN, who manages BRS Cash,
- 2:55Speaker 1: was like, we love the idea. We want to be
- 2:57Speaker 1: provocative and it worked. Worked. Yeah, what is like for you?
- 3:02Speaker 1: Been the most creatively challenging video to pull off? Man? Definitely?
- 3:07Speaker 1: I shot this video for RUSS. They misunderstood it was
- 3:09Speaker 1: shot on motion control, so basically that camera moves like
- 3:12Speaker 1: this like a robot. And yeah, that was that was
- 3:15Speaker 1: kind of a that was kind of a challenge. I
- 3:17Speaker 1: had one day to do it. The budget wasn't like
- 3:21Speaker 1: where it had to be for that type of video,
- 3:22Speaker 1: but I really pushed it, gave up my rate and
- 3:25Speaker 1: I was like, yo, I really want to make something different.
- 3:27Speaker 1: And at the time, you know, a lot of like
- 3:28Speaker 1: the media was talking about him in XXYZ, and I
- 3:32Speaker 1: was like, I really want to highlight everything in a video,
- 3:35Speaker 1: you know, and just do it in one take and seamlessly.
- 3:37Speaker 1: And I think I did a great job of it. Yeah,
- 3:39Speaker 1: for people who don't know, give me because you came
- 3:43Speaker 1: to America as an immigrant, right, Yeah, I came here
- 3:46Speaker 1: when I was eleven months old. I was born in Valencia, Venezuela.
- 3:49Speaker 1: And would you end up coming to Florida. No, Actually,
- 3:53Speaker 1: I moved to Houston for a year. So me and
- 3:56Speaker 1: my family just immigrant story. You know, we were in
- 3:58Speaker 1: a garage, and about like ten months after we moved
- 4:01Speaker 1: to Houston, we you know, we dipped out to Florida.
- 4:04Speaker 1: But what people don't know, and like this is probably
- 4:06Speaker 1: the first time I'll say it on camera, is like,
- 4:07Speaker 1: I actually came to America because I had like a
- 4:10Speaker 1: you know, like a life threatening surgery in my brain.
- 4:13Speaker 1: Because when I was a kid, I hit my head
- 4:14Speaker 1: on a metal bed. So when I hit my medal,
- 4:16Speaker 1: when I got hit in the head, I basically like
- 4:19Speaker 1: no one knew because it was an internal wound. So
- 4:22Speaker 1: I started having internal bleeding in my brain. So then
- 4:25Speaker 1: my aunt comes home drunk at three in the morning
- 4:27Speaker 1: from a nightclub. Basically here's me crying in the middle
- 4:30Speaker 1: of night, picks me up, and I'm purple. I go
- 4:32Speaker 1: to the hospital and at the time, you know, Venezuela,
- 4:35Speaker 1: the healthcare is not the greatest over there, so they're like, oh,
- 4:37Speaker 1: he's having an allergic reaction. Just give him some antibiotics
- 4:39Speaker 1: and he'll be fine. But then my mom's like, no,
- 4:42Speaker 1: something's wrong, So it took me to a private clinic.
- 4:44Speaker 1: My dad before was going back and forth between the
- 4:46Speaker 1: US and America, so he had an American Express credit card,
- 4:49Speaker 1: so he put the whole operation on American Express and
- 4:52Speaker 1: that was making it made him go bankrupt, and that's
- 4:54Speaker 1: the reason why we came to this country. Shit. Yeah.
- 4:56Speaker 1: So then we moved to Houston because my dad had
- 4:58Speaker 1: a friend over there. We stayed in hit his garage
- 4:59Speaker 1: for like a ten ti months eleven months, and then
- 5:01Speaker 1: my dad was like, damn, this is this is us.
- 5:04Speaker 1: This is not our vibe. I tried to go to Florida.
- 5:06Speaker 1: There's more spash people there. So that's why we went
- 5:08Speaker 1: to Florida and I moved to Fort Lauderdale, and then
- 5:10Speaker 1: like in my later years in high school, I kind
- 5:12Speaker 1: of like started making my shift to Miami. Damn. Yeah.
- 5:15Speaker 1: So it's almost like I was definitely mega here the
- 5:19Speaker 1: biggest gifting curse situation. Yeah. Yeah, I had a crazy
- 5:22Speaker 1: traumatic surgery. But if it wasn't for that, you probably
- 5:25Speaker 1: wouldn't be here, right, No. Yeah, And then it's nice
- 5:27Speaker 1: because it's like it always gives me perspective of like Damn.
- 5:30Speaker 1: They try to take me out early, you know, and
- 5:31Speaker 1: I'm still here. So no, that's crazy. So like you
- 5:35Speaker 1: end up kind of getting to Miami. I saw. I
- 5:38Speaker 1: didn't know that you were interning for Lex. Shout to
- 5:41Speaker 1: my guy, Lexum, I just saw it. I was just
- 5:43Speaker 1: with him last week in Miami. Yeah he's a legend. No,
- 5:47Speaker 1: he's the guy. Uh So yeah with Lex you can
- 5:50Speaker 1: still look up my tweets back from like twenty ten. Yeah,
- 5:53Speaker 1: I graduated high school and if people don't know, like
- 5:55Speaker 1: I came to the country and overstayed my my tourist visa.
- 5:59Speaker 1: So I was on docuitt it for twenty seven years, right,
- 6:01Speaker 1: And so that means when you're undocumented, you can't work,
- 6:04Speaker 1: you can't drive, you can't you know, you can't do anything.
- 6:07Speaker 1: Mostly like that. I'm Americans could So yeah, Lex, I
- 6:11Speaker 1: tweeted him after high school because I wanted to go
- 6:13Speaker 1: to college. I had some scholarships, but I was gonna
- 6:15Speaker 1: go to Virginia Tech for architecture and I couldn't go
- 6:18Speaker 1: because I wasn't a citizen. So then I was like,
- 6:20Speaker 1: all right, cool, what what else can I do? I
- 6:22Speaker 1: used to walk around school with a little camera, just
- 6:24Speaker 1: filming people like little block stuff, and I knew how
- 6:27Speaker 1: to edit, so I'm like, oh, maybe I can get
- 6:28Speaker 1: into like content or something like that. And I met
- 6:31Speaker 1: Lex because I tweeted. I was just tweeting a bunch
- 6:35Speaker 1: of places. I was like, yo, like I didn't even
- 6:37Speaker 1: know like how to submit my remisentry. I was just
- 6:38Speaker 1: like Lex Promotions, I would love to entern for you,
- 6:41Speaker 1: like da da da da. The tweet still up and yeah,
- 6:44Speaker 1: he hit me back. He's like, all right, cool, come
- 6:45Speaker 1: to our office. I came in his office the next
- 6:48Speaker 1: day and then he was like all right, cool, what
- 6:49Speaker 1: do you What do you want to do? And I
- 6:51Speaker 1: was like, honestly anything. And I intern at five companies.
- 6:54Speaker 1: I intern at Hit Factory Mixed Studios, Lex Promotions Mixed
- 6:58Speaker 1: Studios with Jason Jason imaging for all the radio stations.
- 7:02Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, the mixed show, that's what it was called. Yeah. No.
- 7:05Speaker 1: And then and then uh, I interned at two Night
- 7:09Speaker 1: dot Com and also for Poor Boy Music Group under
- 7:12Speaker 1: Freezy for and uh, you know, as a graphic designer
- 7:16Speaker 1: because I learned photoshop in high school, so so I
- 7:18Speaker 1: took like the traits that I knew about editing and
- 7:20Speaker 1: photoshop and like, you know, Lex mixed flyers, So I
- 7:22Speaker 1: started making flyers for them, and then I just started
- 7:25Speaker 1: just you know, how old are you at this point?
- 7:26Speaker 1: I was like fresh high school. Yeah, seventeen, That's when
- 7:28Speaker 1: I graduated, So you were seventeen like helping out with
- 7:31Speaker 1: flyers and yeah, doing nightclub flyers for like Club Dream
- 7:35Speaker 1: and all those that Miami scene at the time. You know,
- 7:37Speaker 1: damn were you at the I know, the dude from
- 7:40Speaker 1: the mixed groups got these take one down to he's
- 7:42Speaker 1: got these, He's got these iron man fucking statues? Did did?
- 7:45Speaker 1: Were you there when he had those? Jason? Maybe? And
- 7:49Speaker 1: maybe I don't know. Yeah, yeah, so how did obviously
- 7:52Speaker 1: you go from that? I know that like, uh, we're
- 7:57Speaker 1: really kind of helped pop off you as a director
- 7:59Speaker 1: was working is Russ right? Yeah? So Russ was based
- 8:02Speaker 1: in Atlanta. Yeah, he was based in Atlanta. And the
- 8:05Speaker 1: funny story about in Atlanta. Yeah he's still based but yeah,
- 8:08Speaker 1: funny thing about Russ is like, prior to Russ, I
- 8:11Speaker 1: was working with this kid named Jake Miller. He was
- 8:13Speaker 1: a pop Jake Miller. I know Jake Miller. Yeah, he's
- 8:15Speaker 1: a well my roommates and one of my really good friends.
- 8:17Speaker 1: And really he's an empire now I think, yeah, he
- 8:19Speaker 1: has empire. Yeah and yeah. So then as Russ as
- 8:24Speaker 1: I found Russ, I actually found him and Alicia Car
- 8:27Speaker 1: at the same time. Wow, And I was like, I
- 8:29Speaker 1: was on a and R report dot com and I
- 8:31Speaker 1: saw both of those artists and I was like, I
- 8:32Speaker 1: don't know if that site still exists, but I was like,
- 8:35Speaker 1: like trying to find a new artist to work with.
- 8:37Speaker 1: And yeah, Lisia Carr lived in Toronto, so I was like, oh,
- 8:40Speaker 1: I couldn't travel. So then I was like, oh cool,
- 8:42Speaker 1: let me let me focus on Russ. So I DMed
- 8:45Speaker 1: him and I said, let's shoot everything and hit me back,
- 8:47Speaker 1: and he's like, bro of course. And at that time,
- 8:49Speaker 1: I was already doing videos because you know, I came
- 8:51Speaker 1: you know, under kind of calid earlier before that. So
- 8:53Speaker 1: what were some of like your earlier videos before Russ?
- 8:56Speaker 1: Oh man, you know I really started. I really want
- 8:59Speaker 1: to give a shout out to Kik we be the
- 9:00Speaker 1: best because he connected me with ace Hood, and the
- 9:02Speaker 1: ace Hood connected me with Khalid. Kalid connected me with
- 9:05Speaker 1: like the golden Miami hip hop scene, which was like
- 9:08Speaker 1: Lil Wayne, you know, Drake, Rickey Ross. Like I was
- 9:11Speaker 1: around all of those guys because of DJ Khaled and
- 9:14Speaker 1: before that, like you know, I was dping a lot
- 9:16Speaker 1: for like you know, directors like Drake Films and John
- 9:18Speaker 1: Jay and Miami. So like I was doing like, you know,
- 9:21Speaker 1: tat on my arms and you get me don't panic
- 9:24Speaker 1: with Rick Ross and Miek Millan Yogatti and I was
- 9:26Speaker 1: just kind of like there's I remember the Spiff TV
- 9:29Speaker 1: and the Drake Yeah Films videos. Yeah, I was looking
- 9:33Speaker 1: up to guys like that coming up in Miami, and
- 9:34Speaker 1: I was just like, yo, these guys. I remember there's
- 9:36Speaker 1: a Arts Nam Murph music down there, and I was
- 9:38Speaker 1: just like yo, Like I remember one time I was
- 9:40Speaker 1: watching this video. I was like, yo, Dre's like crazy
- 9:43Speaker 1: out here. He's killing it. And I was like, this
- 9:45Speaker 1: is what I kind of want to do. And he
- 9:47Speaker 1: took me under his wing and just kind of like
- 9:49Speaker 1: let me, you know, because I knew a little bit
- 9:51Speaker 1: more about the cinematography side, right, So he would direct
- 9:53Speaker 1: and I would DP, which is like the director of photography. Yeah,
- 9:56Speaker 1: what is so for people who don't know, because obviously
- 9:58Speaker 1: directing shooting, running, the camera DP. What is it? What
- 10:02Speaker 1: is a DP in the grand scheme of like the
- 10:04Speaker 1: process of a video getting done, I would explain it
- 10:06Speaker 1: the best as a cinematographer. So the guy who you
- 10:09Speaker 1: know does the lighting and you know, talks to the
- 10:11Speaker 1: gene crew, which is the grip and electric to make
- 10:13Speaker 1: sure you know, everything's kind of so set in tone. Yeah, me,
- 10:16Speaker 1: and you're really you're really in charge of the look
- 10:18Speaker 1: of the film or the video. Mmm. So back back
- 10:22Speaker 1: in the day, Yeah, different time. There's before you were
- 10:27Speaker 1: using like dps and grips and all that. I'm assuming
- 10:30Speaker 1: all the early Russ stuff was just done with just
- 10:32Speaker 1: your camera. I think I had heard you tell a
- 10:34Speaker 1: story about the one in the forest. What's that video? Oh?
- 10:37Speaker 1: What they want? What they want? And just like how
- 10:39Speaker 1: you guys just kind of like wing that video a bit? Yeah,
- 10:43Speaker 1: do you feel like because because there's still obviously listen,
- 10:48Speaker 1: there's still great videos that are being done for like
- 10:50Speaker 1: fucking twelve hundred dollars, fifteen hundred dollars. People who have
- 10:54Speaker 1: you know a Sony A seven two with the right
- 10:56Speaker 1: lens that could pull off a good enough video, right,
- 10:58Speaker 1: that would make sense? That was a setup right there.
- 11:00Speaker 1: Oh yeah, the A seven two. I had the A
- 11:02Speaker 1: seven to one and then the ronin and you just
- 11:04Speaker 1: just pull up. Yeah. Yeah. At what point in time
- 11:09Speaker 1: did things start to change for you where you were
- 11:10Speaker 1: able to kind of cause like, obviously things really start
- 11:13Speaker 1: to change when you don't have to handle every aspect
- 11:15Speaker 1: of a video. Yeah, you know, because you've been in
- 11:18Speaker 1: that position where you got to shoot it, you got
- 11:19Speaker 1: to edit it, and you're like it's like damn. And
- 11:22Speaker 1: now you once budgets started opening up, you could probably
- 11:25Speaker 1: have a lot more, you know, because I know what
- 11:28Speaker 1: it's like, I have artists. It's like, dude, we've got
- 11:30Speaker 1: to keep this shit under this amount of money. Yeah,
- 11:32Speaker 1: so the idea has got to be not as grandy
- 11:34Speaker 1: or well that's what like, you know, when I was
- 11:37Speaker 1: working for ace Hood and Khalid, like I was shooting
- 11:40Speaker 1: videos for them, but they're paying me like fifteen hundred
- 11:42Speaker 1: two thousand, and they're just like, all right, let's just
- 11:43Speaker 1: get a little video. But what I was doing, I
- 11:45Speaker 1: was shooting videos for other artists and locally, and then
- 11:48Speaker 1: I would charge them like twenty five hundred three thousand,
- 11:50Speaker 1: so I would take like half of my rate and
- 11:52Speaker 1: then put it into Kalid's video or Aces video because
- 11:54Speaker 1: I knew they had the eyes. You got me at
- 11:56Speaker 1: the time World Star was out. You know, I did
- 11:59Speaker 1: a lot of videos on world so you were kind
- 12:00Speaker 1: of like reinvesting your your money into the ship that
- 12:04Speaker 1: you knew people would see. Yeah, because I'm like, I
- 12:06Speaker 1: believe in like people, not the idea. So I was
- 12:08Speaker 1: just like I knew Ace Hud at the time. He
- 12:09Speaker 1: had hustled out and he was like big in my city.
- 12:11Speaker 1: So I was a great guy too. Yeah. Yeah, and
- 12:14Speaker 1: he just like gave me a chance. He's like, yo,
- 12:15Speaker 1: let's go rock, Let's go shoot videos every week. And
- 12:17Speaker 1: then kl would give him, you know, a few grand
- 12:19Speaker 1: or he'd pay for himself. I'm not sure who had
- 12:21Speaker 1: the money, but and then we would take care of that,
- 12:23Speaker 1: and I ended up leading me to a lot of
- 12:25Speaker 1: features and you know, working with that, guys like Kevin
- 12:27Speaker 1: Cossum who was a songwriter, yeah, who introduced me to
- 12:30Speaker 1: other people and this and that. And I was around
- 12:32Speaker 1: the studio the whole time, so I met like Fat Joe,
- 12:35Speaker 1: Bustera Rohm's, j Cole, all these people early early days
- 12:38Speaker 1: at the we the best studio, so shout out to them.
- 12:40Speaker 1: Would you say, Lincoln with a single specific artist like Russ,
- 12:45Speaker 1: because I do feel like on the music side, yeah,
- 12:48Speaker 1: that helps producers, right, if you're a producer. I always
- 12:52Speaker 1: tell producers like, yo, if you're a producer, find it
- 12:54Speaker 1: an artist that you can come up with, yeah, craft
- 12:56Speaker 1: a sound with, yeah, and then build with that person.
- 13:00Speaker 1: And would you say you kind of did something similar
- 13:02Speaker 1: on the video side with Russ, Oh, one hundred percent. Yeah.
- 13:04Speaker 1: I said one time, like, you know, instead of trying
- 13:06Speaker 1: to build with like jay Z and Kanye and you know,
- 13:08Speaker 1: the little Wayes of the world, I was like, let
- 13:10Speaker 1: me build with like, you know, the Russes, the little babies,
- 13:13Speaker 1: you know, the roddy Riches of the world, so we
- 13:14Speaker 1: can you know, grow together and take it to the
- 13:16Speaker 1: next level. Because at one point, you know, everyone saw
- 13:20Speaker 1: me as the cameraman and they were like, yo, you're
- 13:22Speaker 1: just a behind the scene guy and you're really good
- 13:23Speaker 1: at that, and we're gonna keep you here. So like
- 13:26Speaker 1: a lot of people were just like they did never
- 13:27Speaker 1: saw me in the light, and they didn't know that
- 13:29Speaker 1: I could do that. That's why I decided, Uh, when
- 13:31Speaker 1: I left call it, I was like I'm gonna go
- 13:33Speaker 1: find another artist, and it was Jake Miller. He was
- 13:35Speaker 1: a kid who lived like fifteen minutes away, and Jake
- 13:37Speaker 1: Miller had a wave. Yeah, he was like it was
- 13:39Speaker 1: like Justin Bieber, Austin Mahome, Jake Miller, Seawn Mendez and
- 13:43Speaker 1: yeah when we were we started working with him, and
- 13:46Speaker 1: uh yeah, things just started slowly, you know, growing, and
- 13:48Speaker 1: then I started realizing that the music was you know,
- 13:51Speaker 1: slowly connecting, but it was really the YouTube videos that
- 13:54Speaker 1: really started blowing them up. And then I was like
- 13:56Speaker 1: and I was, you know, think for my work ethic
- 13:59Speaker 1: and his and his big as an entertainer, and then
- 14:01Speaker 1: we just kind of started working that way. We started
- 14:03Speaker 1: dropping vlogs almost every day and they were about ten minutes,
- 14:06Speaker 1: so I was just cranking them out and he started
- 14:08Speaker 1: blowing up. He went on tour. I was like, yo,
- 14:11Speaker 1: me and my friend John. He started the tour because
- 14:13Speaker 1: I couldn't travel at the time, right, But then like
- 14:15Speaker 1: I think like three weeks later, I got my first
- 14:18Speaker 1: license at twenty four, and then I was able to travel.
- 14:20Speaker 1: And yeah, I ended up chilling with Jake and for
- 14:23Speaker 1: about two three years just building up with him until
- 14:26Speaker 1: you got signed to Warner Brothers and they gave me
- 14:28Speaker 1: my first chance to direct a ten thousand dollars music video.
- 14:30Speaker 1: So that was the first time I ever got a
- 14:32Speaker 1: DP a producer and was able to do something. Finally,
- 14:35Speaker 1: you know, that's fire. What's your turnaround time on a
- 14:39Speaker 1: ten minute vlog for video editors that are watching this, honestly,
- 14:43Speaker 1: because that's the biggest gripe if you hire someone to
- 14:46Speaker 1: edit video, it's the turnaround time. Well for me, you know,
- 14:49Speaker 1: like like I couldn't work legally, right, so like you
- 14:52Speaker 1: got to understand that. Like I was just like I
- 14:54Speaker 1: wanted to make a good impression on everybody, and I
- 14:56Speaker 1: didn't want to lose the job because they were paying
- 14:58Speaker 1: me under the table, right, So it was just like
- 15:00Speaker 1: and this is because of your immigration status. Yeah you
- 15:03Speaker 1: were here. I would do a tenn and video Lily
- 15:05Speaker 1: every day, Like, how long would that take you? I'd
- 15:07Speaker 1: probably it'd probably take me a lot that at the time,
- 15:09Speaker 1: maybe like five six hours to edit it. Yeah, me,
- 15:11Speaker 1: So I'll shoot all day and then at night I
- 15:13Speaker 1: would edit it, and then we do that on tour.
- 15:15Speaker 1: And then that's funny because the stuff that I did
- 15:17Speaker 1: with Jake Miller actually started spilling off into Russ because
- 15:20Speaker 1: I had that work ethic that I was basically when
- 15:22Speaker 1: I when I came to Russ and I started doing
- 15:24Speaker 1: his music videos for free. Then I was like, yo,
- 15:27Speaker 1: I want to go on tour with you. And he's like, bro,
- 15:29Speaker 1: you want to come on tour with me? I'm like
- 15:30Speaker 1: for sure, bro, like I'm here to help you. I
- 15:32Speaker 1: want to see you blow because I think you're going
- 15:33Speaker 1: to be a big artist, right, And he's like all right, cool.
- 15:35Speaker 1: So we went to the did It My Way tour
- 15:37Speaker 1: and you know, he started. I think Chicago was like
- 15:39Speaker 1: seventy five people. It was like very small shows, and
- 15:42Speaker 1: I knew from the Jake experience that I was like,
- 15:44Speaker 1: I could shoot these videos and make seventy five people
- 15:46Speaker 1: look like two hundred in the video and make it
- 15:49Speaker 1: look more amped through the editing. Yeah. Me. And then
- 15:51Speaker 1: that's what happened. And then next you know, the show
- 15:53Speaker 1: started getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger, and
- 15:55Speaker 1: now he's you know, seventeen thousand at the Hollywood Bowl,
- 15:58Speaker 1: so it's craz sort out the Stable Center. Yeah yeah,
- 16:00Speaker 1: And I came out on stage on both of them
- 16:02Speaker 1: and he's like, and he's so dope that he lets
- 16:03Speaker 1: you do that and lets you be a part of
- 16:05Speaker 1: that moment. And that's why I was big up Russ.
- 16:07Speaker 1: And you know, he taught me a lot about just
- 16:09Speaker 1: you know, I knew I was manifesting, but I never
- 16:11Speaker 1: knew what that word meant, and like he kind of
- 16:13Speaker 1: gave it a definition for me, so like it really
- 16:15Speaker 1: inspired me to like, you know, do the stuff that
- 16:17Speaker 1: I do now. And I always give my hats off
- 16:19Speaker 1: to Russ because a loyal guy, trustworthy gives it as
- 16:23Speaker 1: all and you know, very inspiring. I think Russ is
- 16:27Speaker 1: like one of the more inspiring people for me personally,
- 16:31Speaker 1: like the last I don't know, dude, because I'm just like,
- 16:33Speaker 1: there's this dude makes no excuses and I appreciate the
- 16:36Speaker 1: fact that like he's so like most people try to
- 16:41Speaker 1: hold onto the game. Yeah, this guy just openly shares
- 16:44Speaker 1: it with everybody and inspired me to do the same
- 16:46Speaker 1: thing with videos. Yes, it's like, dude, like if you're
- 16:49Speaker 1: not listening to this guy as an artist and like
- 16:51Speaker 1: applying what he's saying to like your own personal shit,
- 16:53Speaker 1: you're fucking crazy. Yeah. It's like either you're a hater
- 16:56Speaker 1: or you just like I don't understand because I'm like, yo,
- 16:58Speaker 1: he's giving away all the game, the most labels, managers,
- 17:02Speaker 1: they don't want you to have any of this shit,
- 17:04Speaker 1: Like it's it's crazy. But you know, I think when
- 17:06Speaker 1: you know, when and I have a very, like we
- 17:08Speaker 1: have a very. We always talk about this, how we
- 17:09Speaker 1: have very similar trajectories, just in different paths for sure,
- 17:12Speaker 1: and it's just like, you know, you get rejected so
- 17:14Speaker 1: much and you're just like you have this chip on
- 17:16Speaker 1: your shoulder, you know, people telling you, oh, you're just
- 17:18Speaker 1: the camera man so many times, or I'm telling him, yo,
- 17:21Speaker 1: you're just a producer. You're not really a rapper, or
- 17:23Speaker 1: you're not good enough for all those things and all
- 17:26Speaker 1: those like you know, I guess attacks they have on you,
- 17:29Speaker 1: like they build up and then it's like you start
- 17:32Speaker 1: realizing once you get it, you're like, you know what,
- 17:34Speaker 1: we don't need to you know, depend on anyone else, Yeah,
- 17:37Speaker 1: depend on anyone else. And also when you find happiness,
- 17:39Speaker 1: helping others find their happiness, yeah, me, And that's I
- 17:42Speaker 1: think more of our agenda now. And I can't speak
- 17:45Speaker 1: for him, but I know that's kind of like his vibe.
- 17:48Speaker 1: You know, he just wants to help and he wants
- 17:50Speaker 1: that kid who reminds himself of us when he was
- 17:52Speaker 1: twenty years old, like to be like, Yo, you can
- 17:54Speaker 1: still do this, And that's why I post things like
- 17:57Speaker 1: that too. Yeah for sure. You post a lot of
- 17:59Speaker 1: motivational shit percent man, and you have like a lot
- 18:01Speaker 1: of old footage, like you got a ton of That's
- 18:04Speaker 1: the thing is, like I knew, like I knew, I
- 18:06Speaker 1: knew I was gonna be something one day. I just
- 18:08Speaker 1: like I didn't know how I was gonna get there.
- 18:09Speaker 1: But I'm like, let me document everything, because that's honestly
- 18:12Speaker 1: what I do. So I was like, let me document
- 18:14Speaker 1: everything and have this very like like I guess I
- 18:16Speaker 1: would compare it to the Kanye West genius and I'm
- 18:18Speaker 1: like yeah, yeah, yeah sure, And you got to document
- 18:20Speaker 1: stuff like that just so you can look back on
- 18:22Speaker 1: it and be like, look, I was talking that shit
- 18:24Speaker 1: in twenty twelve. I was talking that shit in twenty
- 18:26Speaker 1: ten and twenty twenty two. Like you go back and
- 18:30Speaker 1: check the receipt, you know, if you want to do
- 18:31Speaker 1: the homework, you'll see that. Like I've always had this
- 18:33Speaker 1: confidence and I've always been this type of person. So
- 18:36Speaker 1: it's like, don't tell me who I am, because I
- 18:37Speaker 1: know who I was. You get me. I was just
- 18:39Speaker 1: ahead of where I was at the time. We got
- 18:42Speaker 1: to stop the interview real quick to tell you about
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- 20:08Speaker 1: my book you go run it up. Let's get back
- 20:09Speaker 1: to the interview. Okay, Hypothetically speaking, there's somebody who wants
- 20:13Speaker 1: to shoot music videos. Yeah, kind of follow your path.
- 20:19Speaker 1: They got five grand in the bank, What camera, what lens?
- 20:23Speaker 1: What are they getting to get the most bang for
- 20:26Speaker 1: their buck to try to you know, maybe they're in Missoula,
- 20:29Speaker 1: Montana and they're want to start shooting music videos. Yeah,
- 20:31Speaker 1: for their homie. What are they? What are they getting?
- 20:33Speaker 1: Give me the breakdown of like the gear that you
- 20:35Speaker 1: could get for about five grand. Honestly, if you're trying
- 20:37Speaker 1: to get the music videos, always tell people like, you
- 20:39Speaker 1: gotta believe in the artists you got me, Like you
- 20:41Speaker 1: gotta listen to the music. And like, I think equipment
- 20:44Speaker 1: is definitely, you know, helpful, And I would definitely rock
- 20:46Speaker 1: with that Ronan and that Sony seven s and you know,
- 20:49Speaker 1: just put pop a memory card in there and just
- 20:51Speaker 1: have fun. Any sort of lens the broken on, you know,
- 20:54Speaker 1: a lens set, you know, yeah, low light, you can
- 20:56Speaker 1: shoot at nighttime, you can shoot a day really really
- 21:00Speaker 1: clean glass. But and you probably get that all under
- 21:02Speaker 1: like probably four grand. But I always say, like, it
- 21:05Speaker 1: doesn't matter who you shoot videos for if like the
- 21:08Speaker 1: song is not good, if the artist doesn't have that
- 21:10Speaker 1: confidence that he's going to be the biggest artist. And
- 21:13Speaker 1: I saw that a lot in myself, So then I
- 21:15Speaker 1: started trying to find artists with that same energy you
- 21:18Speaker 1: get me. So when I saw Russ, I was like, yo,
- 21:20Speaker 1: I was listening to music and he's he's talking that shit.
- 21:22Speaker 1: If you listen, you get me. And even back in
- 21:24Speaker 1: the day, like I was like twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen,
- 21:27Speaker 1: he was you know, he was rapping about like how
- 21:30Speaker 1: he's going to be the biggest one day, and like
- 21:31Speaker 1: that's the type of confidence you want an artist, and
- 21:34Speaker 1: that's that's kind of what I bet on. You get me.
- 21:36Speaker 1: And I was like, and same thing with Jake Miller, Like,
- 21:38Speaker 1: you know, he had really beautiful family and they were
- 21:41Speaker 1: also working. He had a manager that managed Jason Derillo,
- 21:43Speaker 1: and he had a good team setup, and I'm like, oh,
- 21:45Speaker 1: this guy's gonna win yet me. It's not just like
- 21:48Speaker 1: the music, it's also like the structure and you know,
- 21:51Speaker 1: their surroundings and they had that. So so you said
- 21:55Speaker 1: the Sony A seven s, Yeah, the Sony seven s,
- 21:57Speaker 1: the rown in the broken on lens set and you know,
- 22:01Speaker 1: get some end filters, you know, and some secular polarizers,
- 22:04Speaker 1: you know if you're shooting outside. And honestly a lot
- 22:07Speaker 1: of YouTube tatorials because that's how I learned. You know,
- 22:09Speaker 1: would you say final cut or premiere. I'm gonna go premiere,
- 22:12Speaker 1: But I started off final cut. Nowadays, final cut has
- 22:15Speaker 1: its perks, so to premiere so it's just about you know, yeah,
- 22:18Speaker 1: I know people some people use both, and then there
- 22:20Speaker 1: are people who are just so married to like one
- 22:22Speaker 1: or the other, like I I know Final Cut guys
- 22:25Speaker 1: like him and with the man bun over there just
- 22:27Speaker 1: won't let go Final Cut. Well, you know, it's honestly
- 22:30Speaker 1: really just depends on who you are and what you're
- 22:32Speaker 1: trying to do. But I also like, I think there's
- 22:34Speaker 1: a there's a there's a big thing. And also like
- 22:36Speaker 1: what I started learning because I didn't learn this early,
- 22:39Speaker 1: is you know a story. You know, what are you
- 22:41Speaker 1: trying to say? What's a theme? You know, what's the
- 22:43Speaker 1: universal theme that everyone's gonna connect to? You get me?
- 22:46Speaker 1: Like when we shoot russ Is Exposed and we basically
- 22:48Speaker 1: pull up a bunch of archival concert footage. We shot
- 22:51Speaker 1: that video Lily in two minutes. It was snowing and Spokane, Washington,
- 22:54Speaker 1: and I really said, Yo, stand right there, we're gonna
- 22:56Speaker 1: shoot one performance. I took that performance, I mixed it
- 22:59Speaker 1: up archive ar Kibo footage of the tour, and then
- 23:01Speaker 1: I just basically put up text you got me, same
- 23:04Speaker 1: thing with what they want? You know. It was a
- 23:06Speaker 1: forty minute video shot that's crazy, you know. I just
- 23:08Speaker 1: went there and I was like, damn, and we're the
- 23:10Speaker 1: first video that was coloring on that shit was so fire. Yeah,
- 23:13Speaker 1: And I learned it through a YouTube, Taturi, you got me.
- 23:15Speaker 1: And I was there on YouTube like looking at how
- 23:17Speaker 1: to do infrared and then going back to Da Vinci
- 23:19Speaker 1: that's a coloring program, and then I was like boom,
- 23:21Speaker 1: and I was just doing that back and forth. And
- 23:23Speaker 1: that video is funny because we were shooting this video
- 23:26Speaker 1: and he was dressed in all white. He had a
- 23:27Speaker 1: glass of wine and we're like, yo, this is kind
- 23:29Speaker 1: of whack. And we're like shooting this for thirty minutes
- 23:31Speaker 1: and we're like, they sayin't it. So as we're driving
- 23:34Speaker 1: back through a botanical garden in Atlanta, I see this
- 23:37Speaker 1: shed and I'm like, yo, let's stop there. And I
- 23:39Speaker 1: remember I think, I think Travis Scott and t I
- 23:43Speaker 1: had a video caught upper echelon that was shot in
- 23:45Speaker 1: like a cabin and I was like, maybe I could
- 23:47Speaker 1: do something here. And then I walked to the cabin.
- 23:49Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, I could shoot this. How about this, Russ.
- 23:51Speaker 1: Let's do like a few takes and let's see what
- 23:53Speaker 1: we get and we did that. He was performing, he
- 23:56Speaker 1: was having fun, and then I took it home and
- 23:58Speaker 1: then I'm like, damn, this video kind of sucked. And
- 24:00Speaker 1: then I was like, how can I make it different?
- 24:02Speaker 1: And then in the editing process, that's when I made
- 24:04Speaker 1: the leaves infrared and then next you know, that's kind
- 24:06Speaker 1: of like what set the video off. Yeah, no, for sure,
- 24:08Speaker 1: the coloring was crazy. I feel like, was that like, uh,
- 24:10Speaker 1: that was that was before that record was technically that
- 24:15Speaker 1: was before he had his his deal, right, Yeah, we
- 24:17Speaker 1: shot the first video we ever show was losing control.
- 24:19Speaker 1: Then it was what they want, then it was due
- 24:21Speaker 1: it myself. Then I was to pull the Trigger, and
- 24:23Speaker 1: I showed the first three videos for free, and then
- 24:25Speaker 1: the fourth video was pull the Trigger, which Russ was
- 24:28Speaker 1: you know, at that point had enough money to you know,
- 24:30Speaker 1: pay me like seven thousand dollars for the video. Shit. Yeah,
- 24:33Speaker 1: that's great. Yeah, that's fucking dope. Man. Now that you're
- 24:38Speaker 1: kind of like in the position that you're in, right,
- 24:40Speaker 1: do you because I don't know how the video game works,
- 24:43Speaker 1: Like obviously there's a lot of people who are doing
- 24:47Speaker 1: what you're doing, but like, are you do you like
- 24:49Speaker 1: pitch for videos, yeah, sometimes or are it's just people
- 24:53Speaker 1: coming to you, Like for example, you said that you
- 24:56Speaker 1: manifested the Nicki Minaj video coming up right, which is
- 24:59Speaker 1: a big deal. How did that one come up? Like
- 25:04Speaker 1: is that somethinghere the label reaches out to you. Yeah,
- 25:06Speaker 1: so it's also featuring someone else as well. That's why
- 25:08Speaker 1: I didn't want to mention the name. And then so yeah,
- 25:10Speaker 1: that person put me in contact and then next you know,
- 25:12Speaker 1: we connected. And nowadays it's more relationships and I barely
- 25:17Speaker 1: pitch only if it's like a really crazy opportunity, like
- 25:20Speaker 1: someone that I really was like damn, Like I don't
- 25:22Speaker 1: have a relationship with that person. But for the newer
- 25:24Speaker 1: generation of artists, like you know, most of them know
- 25:27Speaker 1: me as in my videos. So same thing like with
- 25:28Speaker 1: Wiz when I was shooting Wiz, he just you know,
- 25:31Speaker 1: I reached out to him on a DM and he
- 25:32Speaker 1: hit me back and we started, you know, chopping up
- 25:34Speaker 1: as homies. First you did the eistin necklace and the
- 25:36Speaker 1: Badass Bitches right now, I didn't do style necklace. I
- 25:38Speaker 1: just did that bad Okay, the Badest Bitches video is crazy, Yeah,
- 25:41Speaker 1: thank you, and and yeah, so it's just like building
- 25:44Speaker 1: the relationships with people you got me and really taking
- 25:46Speaker 1: your time to really understand them. Pull up to the studio,
- 25:48Speaker 1: listen to the music, you know, try to just connect
- 25:51Speaker 1: with them first as people and then from there like
- 25:53Speaker 1: be like all right, cool, when the right time and
- 25:55Speaker 1: it's organic, let's make it happen. And that's what happened
- 25:57Speaker 1: with Wiz. You know, I think we kind of skipped
- 25:59Speaker 1: over some of the accolades have though, can we kind
- 26:00Speaker 1: of just do you know, off the top of your head,
- 26:03Speaker 1: you have people full context. You go from being immigrant
- 26:07Speaker 1: who lives in a garage with his parents in Houston
- 26:10Speaker 1: for eleven months to have you know, give me if
- 26:14Speaker 1: you had to give me the top five off the
- 26:15Speaker 1: top of your head. Probably just let's just saying views
- 26:17Speaker 1: on YouTube videos that you have, just so we can
- 26:20Speaker 1: kind of set the table your company. Yeah, ah shit,
- 26:23Speaker 1: Well you know Russ's videos, you know, when Crazy Losing
- 26:26Speaker 1: the Troll. I think is that like I don't know,
- 26:27Speaker 1: three hundred four hundred million views Crazy Shots. That was
- 26:30Speaker 1: the first video shots. So it's very important, you know
- 26:32Speaker 1: for me to say that, Yeah, there's so many videos honestly,
- 26:36Speaker 1: like there's just so many did you do the late
- 26:38Speaker 1: at night video later. No, I didn't know I was
- 26:41Speaker 1: director acts Okay, yeah that was Roddy Rich And now
- 26:43Speaker 1: we didn't do that one. You did the Box, which
- 26:45Speaker 1: is the Yeah, yeah, we produced the Box. It was
- 26:47Speaker 1: directed by king named Christian who was directed at our company. Yeah.
- 26:50Speaker 1: So when you like, when you are in the producer role,
- 26:52Speaker 1: when it's like your and then you have twelve directors.
- 26:54Speaker 1: So you said to work for you, Yeah, as a producer, Like,
- 26:58Speaker 1: how much input do you have on everything? Well? I
- 27:01Speaker 1: think what I do is like I just try to
- 27:02Speaker 1: lead by experience. You get me, because a lot of
- 27:04Speaker 1: directors have the talent. But sometimes, you know, I think,
- 27:07Speaker 1: you know, filmmakers can get a little weird. You get me,
- 27:09Speaker 1: and they're like they're not they're more worried about the
- 27:11Speaker 1: real than the artist's career. And I try to worry
- 27:14Speaker 1: about both. And I think that's what makes my videos
- 27:16Speaker 1: so special. And because you know, before I was even
- 27:19Speaker 1: like doing any video stuff, like I actually like I
- 27:21Speaker 1: used to in high school. I used to like freestyle
- 27:23Speaker 1: battle rap people like, and I was going to school
- 27:25Speaker 1: to school raping and stuff, and I want it and
- 27:27Speaker 1: I wanted to be a rapper, right, And then I
- 27:29Speaker 1: was like and then I started like you kind of
- 27:30Speaker 1: you know, you're growing up your Spanish kid, you know,
- 27:33Speaker 1: like you know, you're like in a predominantly black neighborhood
- 27:35Speaker 1: and you're like, damn, I can't really wrap, you know,
- 27:37Speaker 1: like I don't have that confidence as a seventeen year old.
- 27:40Speaker 1: So I was like, you know what, let me pick
- 27:41Speaker 1: up a camera. Maybe I could just shoot you got me?
- 27:43Speaker 1: And then that's kind of what happened. And yeah, so
- 27:46Speaker 1: like I think like I also am kind of in
- 27:48Speaker 1: a way like some like some deep down part inside me.
- 27:51Speaker 1: I have this music artist's ability in me that just
- 27:53Speaker 1: wants to like understand who artists are and what they're
- 27:56Speaker 1: trying to accomplish. You know. You also have a record label, yes,
- 28:00Speaker 1: Do Everything Records. Yeah, with the homie Jordan from QC. Yes,
- 28:02Speaker 1: one hundred percent. So yeah, I forget the young ladies. Yeah,
- 28:06Speaker 1: I have my record label Do Everything Records, and he
- 28:08Speaker 1: has the Wasted Youth. And we emerged and we did
- 28:10Speaker 1: a partnership with Warner to sign a girl named I
- 28:12Speaker 1: Be four. That's right. Yeah, Yeah, so what's that? I
- 28:15Speaker 1: mean obviously that's that's a whole nother nag of that
- 28:18Speaker 1: was something to prove to myself, just because like you know,
- 28:21Speaker 1: I was working with so many artists and helping them develop,
- 28:23Speaker 1: and I was like, you know what, I want something
- 28:25Speaker 1: that I can like, you know, stamp my name on
- 28:27Speaker 1: and be like yo, you know, I really started from
- 28:29Speaker 1: the ground up and and like you know, without any
- 28:31Speaker 1: confusion and just being like you know, sometimes you're like, oh,
- 28:34Speaker 1: was it me or was it dumb? Or was it us?
- 28:36Speaker 1: And I think it's an US thing, but of course
- 28:38Speaker 1: it should be in us. Yeah, and then unless you're
- 28:40Speaker 1: Russ and then it's like really just you and him.
- 28:42Speaker 1: Take was like managing himself. Yeah. But it was cool
- 28:46Speaker 1: because with Ivy, Yeah, she liked my photo and you know,
- 28:49Speaker 1: she saw Russ and then she saw who shot his
- 28:52Speaker 1: videos and it's so funny how like one thing connects
- 28:54Speaker 1: to the other, right. And then I was looking for
- 28:56Speaker 1: a girl with box braids for a music video for
- 28:58Speaker 1: Atlantic Records and I saw her. I saw her face
- 29:01Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, this would be a perfect model.
- 29:03Speaker 1: I reached out to her and then I was like, yo,
- 29:06Speaker 1: do you want to be in this video? And she's like, well,
- 29:08Speaker 1: I live in New York, but yeah, I'm down. I
- 29:10Speaker 1: was like, yeah, the videos tomorrow, So how soon can
- 29:12Speaker 1: you get here? And she's like, oh, well, the flight's
- 29:14Speaker 1: like eight hundred dollars and I was like music video
- 29:16Speaker 1: budget at the time, I'm like, yeah, I don't got
- 29:17Speaker 1: the money. So she flew herself in still met with me,
- 29:21Speaker 1: and then Yeah, pulled up at me like at two
- 29:23Speaker 1: in the morning and like sang for me. And I
- 29:25Speaker 1: was just like, yo, you know what, give me ninety days,
- 29:28Speaker 1: give me three months, and I'll come back for you.
- 29:30Speaker 1: And I just said that because I was busy doing
- 29:32Speaker 1: some other videos at the time. And literally on the
- 29:34Speaker 1: ninetieth day, I called her back and I said, yo,
- 29:36Speaker 1: I partnered with Jordan, and I'm like, yo, let's do
- 29:38Speaker 1: this together. We all hopped on the phone and we
- 29:41Speaker 1: did that. Within a week, we had a million dollar
- 29:43Speaker 1: offer from Sylvia Rona Epic. Yeah, because in that week
- 29:46Speaker 1: we made five songs and we shot five videos all
- 29:48Speaker 1: in that same week. A guy nam Christopher Andacuonte saw
- 29:52Speaker 1: Ivy and walked us into Epic and he was about
- 29:55Speaker 1: to leave there because he was like the senior or whatever.
- 29:57Speaker 1: A and R and I decided know what, I'm gonna
- 30:01Speaker 1: turn it down and I'm gonna develop this girl. So
- 30:02Speaker 1: we took two and a half years. We also got
- 30:04Speaker 1: a deal from QC at the time, Interscope and a
- 30:06Speaker 1: few other places, and we turned down all the deals
- 30:09Speaker 1: because I knew she wasn't ready. Also, like, I'm sure
- 30:11Speaker 1: the leverage wasn't great, like you had a million dollar advance. Yeah,
- 30:15Speaker 1: but you know, the tone probably weren't the greatest artists
- 30:18Speaker 1: like that. Yeah, So what we did was we waited
- 30:20Speaker 1: two years, two three years, and she was living in
- 30:23Speaker 1: my house. Honestly, I had this really big closet and
- 30:25Speaker 1: she slept in there and made it a bedroom. I
- 30:27Speaker 1: had roommates at the time. I was roommates with Jake
- 30:29Speaker 1: and in this house in Sherman Oaks, And yeah, so
- 30:32Speaker 1: she just, you know, she thugged it out and I said, look,
- 30:34Speaker 1: if you listen to me, you know, you'll be in
- 30:36Speaker 1: a much better position in the next few years. And
- 30:38Speaker 1: that's what happened. And then we ended up doing a
- 30:39Speaker 1: JB partnership with our label and Warner and you know,
- 30:44Speaker 1: benning for her, which she keeps you you know, keeps
- 30:45Speaker 1: her tour rights and things like that, and it was
- 30:48Speaker 1: very It was very important for us to do that,
- 30:49Speaker 1: especially you know, you know, seeing Russ and his deals. Yeah,
- 30:52Speaker 1: Like I saw him sign his first deal with Columbia.
- 30:55Speaker 1: I was there and I filmed it. So it's like
- 30:57Speaker 1: I saw the contract and I knew that. I'm like, yo,
- 30:59Speaker 1: this guy he beat the system, and I was like,
- 31:02Speaker 1: this is I could do this too. And I think
- 31:04Speaker 1: that's what rest is so inspiring because it's like he's
- 31:06Speaker 1: really showing you guys how to get it. Yeah. I mean,
- 31:08Speaker 1: but yeah, most artists will go for that that million
- 31:11Speaker 1: dollars and then be stuck in the deals and then
- 31:13Speaker 1: once they blow through it, they'll be on Instagram complaigning. Yeah.
- 31:15Speaker 1: It's sad because you know, once after taxes and after
- 31:18Speaker 1: you pay your lawyers and after you pay you know,
- 31:20Speaker 1: your manager if you have one at the time, and
- 31:22Speaker 1: like which you probably will, do you have a manager? Yeah?
- 31:25Speaker 1: I have a management. Yeah. So I'm managed by a
- 31:27Speaker 1: company called Uncomments, which is a division of Macro and
- 31:30Speaker 1: they did movies like Judice and The Black Messiah and
- 31:32Speaker 1: like Fences and cool stuff too. But you can just
- 31:34Speaker 1: try to get into producing movies. Oh that's already happening.
- 31:37Speaker 1: So Yeah. We got four projects in development right now,
- 31:39Speaker 1: including a TV series about my life, So I'm excited
- 31:41Speaker 1: about that. Yeah. So you're doing like the TV thing
- 31:44Speaker 1: all that. Yeah, that'll be big man. Yeah, I'm just
- 31:46Speaker 1: trying to bring that same manager I bring the music
- 31:48Speaker 1: videos into the film world. But it's also like, you know,
- 31:50Speaker 1: I was like, I want people to know that I
- 31:51Speaker 1: was a hood director, right, Like I was a guy
- 31:53Speaker 1: who just pulled up to the hood and shooting identity
- 31:55Speaker 1: theft scammers and in Miami just pulling up drug dealers,
- 31:59Speaker 1: whatever I need. All this video is still on YouTube,
- 32:02Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, everyone in North Miami at the time,
- 32:05Speaker 1: you know, from the the j Bucks to the DZ,
- 32:07Speaker 1: the Rappers, the float Kids, the Young Fees to the Icebergs,
- 32:10Speaker 1: you know, all the Lex Promotions gang who introduced me
- 32:13Speaker 1: to so many local artists, Like I started shooting videos
- 32:15Speaker 1: for all of them, and I always thank them because
- 32:17Speaker 1: like those guys really like they didn't care if I
- 32:19Speaker 1: didn't have documentation, they didn't care nothing. They paid me
- 32:21Speaker 1: cash under the table and and it really kept me afloat. Yeah,
- 32:26Speaker 1: it really kept me afloat. And then it was just
- 32:28Speaker 1: it's kind of crazy just to think about it. Honestly
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- 33:52Speaker 1: the link in the description of this video. Let's get
- 33:54Speaker 1: back to the interview. How different is trying to get
- 33:58Speaker 1: into the movie in like a TV game? Oh No,
- 34:00Speaker 1: it's a learning curve because you know, like I didn't
- 34:04Speaker 1: grow up having like you know, like a mentor to
- 34:06Speaker 1: kind of like you know, guide me in the film
- 34:08Speaker 1: world or even in the directing world. So it was
- 34:10Speaker 1: a lot of like first times for me, and it
- 34:12Speaker 1: was a lot of trial and error. But I'm very
- 34:14Speaker 1: grateful I had those experiences because they made me who
- 34:16Speaker 1: I am today. But yeah, the Hollywood system is just
- 34:18Speaker 1: a totally different game, and it's really about, you know,
- 34:21Speaker 1: learning It's not just about, oh, you can make a
- 34:23Speaker 1: visually compelling music video. It's like, can you tell a story? Yeah? Yeah,
- 34:26Speaker 1: I mean can you you know, keep an audience engaged?
- 34:29Speaker 1: And that's kind of what I'm learning now. So I've
- 34:30Speaker 1: been reading a lot of books, you know, like there's
- 34:32Speaker 1: a really good one called, you know, Making Movies by
- 34:34Speaker 1: Sydney Lament that I just finished, and just trying to
- 34:37Speaker 1: connect and you know, surround my circle with more people
- 34:39Speaker 1: who do movies rather than just people who do music.
- 34:42Speaker 1: You know, if you after your first movie, I think
- 34:45Speaker 1: of this movie up here, Belly Hype Williams directed, and
- 34:48Speaker 1: then he stopped directing movies. Well see, but that movie
- 34:51Speaker 1: visually was so fucking crazy. Yeah. Now the storyline was
- 34:54Speaker 1: kind of shit. It's to me the best worst movie ever.
- 34:57Speaker 1: But I just like wish you would have kept going. Yeah,
- 34:59Speaker 1: But sometimes with the Hollywood system, and that's why it's like,
- 35:02Speaker 1: it's so it's so important to always keep going and
- 35:05Speaker 1: keep thriving because you know, the first movie, who knows,
- 35:08Speaker 1: you might it might not do good, it might on
- 35:10Speaker 1: paper look bad, but everyone knows, and especially in hip hop,
- 35:13Speaker 1: that belly is a classic. It's a class You got me?
- 35:15Speaker 1: Like how many times in music videos you see the
- 35:16Speaker 1: treatment reference to walking in of DMX and you Got Me,
- 35:20Speaker 1: And it's just like, and I think that movie made
- 35:22Speaker 1: more impact than Noise at the box office, No, for sure,
- 35:25Speaker 1: And I think like it was definitely a DVD win. Yeah,
- 35:27Speaker 1: but they sold so many fucking studios don't see that.
- 35:29Speaker 1: You know they're gonna be like, all right, how much
- 35:31Speaker 1: did you make opening week? Oh it's not We spent
- 35:33Speaker 1: all this money and we didn't make that back or
- 35:36Speaker 1: we only made that back in a little bit. Now,
- 35:38Speaker 1: this don't make no sense. You know, we rather shoot,
- 35:40Speaker 1: We rather do I don't know a bee flying around
- 35:42Speaker 1: the you knows area? Are you to the point now
- 35:44Speaker 1: that Like if you're like, Okay, I want to do
- 35:45Speaker 1: a TV show based on my life, I can just
- 35:47Speaker 1: bankroll that myself and then shop it around to a distributor. Yeah.
- 35:51Speaker 1: And it's funny because I came in that in the
- 35:53Speaker 1: music space, like being that way, like, oh, if I
- 35:56Speaker 1: believe in Russ, I'm gonna put my owney up and
- 35:57Speaker 1: shoot a video for him, Or if I believe in
- 35:59Speaker 1: this artist, I'm gonna put my money up. Or if
- 36:01Speaker 1: little Baby gives me ten K, I'm gonna put an
- 36:02Speaker 1: extra five k to make it even better. You get me.
- 36:05Speaker 1: And that's kind of how I flipped it. But in
- 36:06Speaker 1: the movie world, you start realizing it's not just about
- 36:09Speaker 1: the money. It's also about the partnerships and the distribution
- 36:11Speaker 1: of the people who you're partnering with, and so like
- 36:15Speaker 1: I had a TV series and I was gonna shoot
- 36:17Speaker 1: the pilot and I was like, Yo, I'm gonna spend
- 36:18Speaker 1: my own money. But then you know, I had some
- 36:20Speaker 1: you know, some people, some ogs be like, Yo, you
- 36:23Speaker 1: don't got to do that. We can find money, and
- 36:25Speaker 1: we can find the right partners strategically, so when the
- 36:28Speaker 1: movie comes out, we all bring assets to it, and
- 36:31Speaker 1: it's just not you putting it out on Instagram and
- 36:33Speaker 1: being like, buy my movie, you know, because it'll probably fail.
- 36:36Speaker 1: That's I was gonna say, because I'm not super hip
- 36:39Speaker 1: to that side of the entertainment business. But to me,
- 36:42Speaker 1: it feels a little and I'm probably wrong, but it
- 36:45Speaker 1: feels like a little similar to like if you're an
- 36:47Speaker 1: independent filmmaker, I guess kind of like a record deal. Like,
- 36:52Speaker 1: if you have something that you believe in and you
- 36:54Speaker 1: can produce it yourself, you can't wait. And that's why
- 36:56Speaker 1: I decided to and when my company, and the reason
- 36:59Speaker 1: is called Blaine Square because you know, you really started
- 37:01Speaker 1: at a blank slate and I know that you got
- 37:03Speaker 1: to fill it in yourself. And that's kind of why
- 37:05Speaker 1: I call the company that. And yeah, so I decided
- 37:09Speaker 1: to move my best friends to my production company. I
- 37:12Speaker 1: decided to own my own equipment. So I bought cameras,
- 37:14Speaker 1: you know, Alexas, and lenses and tripods and monitors. I
- 37:19Speaker 1: started my own post house you know that does editing
- 37:21Speaker 1: and color correcting and vfects. And I open up all
- 37:24Speaker 1: these companies simultaneously as my business and production company were growing.
- 37:28Speaker 1: And that's why now I'm able to be self sufficient.
- 37:30Speaker 1: So now if I want to shoot a short film,
- 37:32Speaker 1: all right, maybe I just have to pay the actors
- 37:34Speaker 1: and some crew. You know, I don't have to pay
- 37:36Speaker 1: the camera. I don't have to pay the house. And
- 37:38Speaker 1: I kind of just took it off the tile paramodel.
- 37:40Speaker 1: You know. Back in my twenty and fifteen I think
- 37:42Speaker 1: I saw like an article where he's like he's developing
- 37:45Speaker 1: something in crazy extravagant and I was like, I can
- 37:47Speaker 1: do that too, but at a smaller scale. And I
- 37:49Speaker 1: just started. Instead of taking the money that I made
- 37:51Speaker 1: for music videos and put it in my pocket or
- 37:53Speaker 1: spend out at the club, I was like, let me
- 37:55Speaker 1: buy a camera, let me buy this. And now I
- 37:57Speaker 1: still rent my gear out and it's like a side hustle.
- 37:59Speaker 1: You know, Hey, so not only are you shooting the ship,
- 38:02Speaker 1: but if somebody needs cameras, you're a company will ran
- 38:04Speaker 1: out gear honestly, Like and it's funny like a lot
- 38:07Speaker 1: of directors, you know in the music video world, like
- 38:09Speaker 1: we edit their videos and they don't even know it's
- 38:11Speaker 1: my company. You got me, and it's just like, you know,
- 38:13Speaker 1: it's just like I try to get a bag everywhere
- 38:16Speaker 1: you got I mean, it's all left to everybody. But
- 38:17Speaker 1: it's just funny because you know, I think sometimes as
- 38:20Speaker 1: music video directors, you know, you feel like there's only
- 38:22Speaker 1: one spot, which that's not true. We can all win.
- 38:24Speaker 1: And it's just like and that's kind of why, like,
- 38:26Speaker 1: even I'm being on this platform, I want to say
- 38:28Speaker 1: that because I think what we got to do a
- 38:30Speaker 1: better job of is you know, developing the community because
- 38:33Speaker 1: you know, music video directors it's like different than any
- 38:36Speaker 1: other art form. We get billions of views, but we
- 38:38Speaker 1: don't get a percentage of videos yet me like, we
- 38:41Speaker 1: don't get no part of the YouTube ad. We don't
- 38:43Speaker 1: get none of thing like a photo or like a movie.
- 38:47Speaker 1: So it's like we get a one time fee. And yeah,
- 38:49Speaker 1: as much as it's nice that one time fee, especially
- 38:51Speaker 1: if you're a bigger director, yeah that doesn't that's not
- 38:55Speaker 1: passive income. Thank god. I have other companies that do that,
- 38:58Speaker 1: But this, like, you know, and I think that's what
- 39:00Speaker 1: we have to come together and stick together to make
- 39:02Speaker 1: a change because I feel like, you know, I think
- 39:05Speaker 1: over like as a director, I think I have over
- 39:06Speaker 1: like twenty billion views. That's great, amazing just to think
- 39:09Speaker 1: about that. You know, you know who's a cut shout
- 39:11Speaker 1: out to Larrussell. Larrussell, Yeah him right now. So I'm
- 39:14Speaker 1: gonna say, I know he's been doing a good job
- 39:16Speaker 1: of when he puts music out, puts it out through
- 39:19Speaker 1: distro kid. Yeah, and then he'll he'll give he'll split
- 39:22Speaker 1: everybody in Like if it's a video director, I want
- 39:25Speaker 1: to give a shot out of the Russell because he
- 39:26Speaker 1: actually texted me and he was like, you know what, man,
- 39:28Speaker 1: I'm going to give you a piece of the video.
- 39:30Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. And he's like and he's like, bro,
- 39:32Speaker 1: I want I want to see you win. And I'm
- 39:34Speaker 1: like that selfless energy is something that really inspires me
- 39:37Speaker 1: and like it always reminds me. Same thing with our
- 39:39Speaker 1: directors at my company. I made sure they see the bid.
- 39:42Speaker 1: If there's a few a few thousand dollars left over
- 39:44Speaker 1: in the production, I'll like, yeah, we're gonna cut this evenly.
- 39:46Speaker 1: You got me and showing them that. But I think
- 39:48Speaker 1: a lot of production companies don't do that because it's
- 39:51Speaker 1: just like why would they do that. They could just
- 39:53Speaker 1: pocket the money, and you know, guys like Russ and
- 39:55Speaker 1: you know, thank god to my dad, who's a good
- 39:57Speaker 1: guy just like taught me that character of being like
- 40:00Speaker 1: very selfless and being very open when it comes to business,
- 40:02Speaker 1: so nothing has to be weird later, you know, because
- 40:05Speaker 1: I really really really like depend on my relationships. You
- 40:07Speaker 1: got me, Hey, what year did you actually become a citizen?
- 40:11Speaker 1: Two twenty twenty, So, like did that make just life
- 40:15Speaker 1: much easier for you in terms of just like being
- 40:17Speaker 1: able to move around. Yeah, well think about it, like
- 40:20Speaker 1: you know, when Russ went to Europe, I couldn't go.
- 40:22Speaker 1: When Jake went in Europe, I couldn't go. When he
- 40:24Speaker 1: went to Dubai. I couldn't go when he went to
- 40:26Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia, I couldn't go. Like a lot of life
- 40:28Speaker 1: experiences that could have maybe shaped me or molded me
- 40:31Speaker 1: to see different types of cultures. I missed out on. Yeah,
- 40:35Speaker 1: same thing with you know Ace Hood when he was
- 40:37Speaker 1: going to Europe. I remember, like my best friend, a
- 40:39Speaker 1: kid I grew up with. His name's Ivan Barrio, so
- 40:41Speaker 1: you might know him as a photographer to Jay Cally
- 40:43Speaker 1: and you know, even't let me borrow his first camera.
- 40:45Speaker 1: It was a niecon D sixty at a time. And
- 40:47Speaker 1: I shot my first music video for a guy he
- 40:50Speaker 1: worked with at the at the at the shoe store
- 40:52Speaker 1: with And then I started shooting videos and I started
- 40:55Speaker 1: making money, and then I called Ivan, I'm like, yo, bro,
- 40:57Speaker 1: I just made five hundred dollars off a music video.
- 40:59Speaker 1: You make four ndred dollars in two weeks working at
- 41:01Speaker 1: a shoe store. You want to you want to ride
- 41:03Speaker 1: with me? And I didn't have a car at the time,
- 41:05Speaker 1: so basically I'll pay Ivan half of the video just
- 41:07Speaker 1: to drive me. Wow. Yeah, that's fucking crazy. That shit
- 41:11Speaker 1: is wild. Yeah. And all my childhood best friends, like
- 41:14Speaker 1: uh Joe Andres Marquise, all the kids from my neighborhood,
- 41:17Speaker 1: they actually work for my company. You get me, like
- 41:19Speaker 1: they're the head of production, you know, Joe, So you
- 41:22Speaker 1: just put you kind of help put everybody on. Well,
- 41:24Speaker 1: I'm with you. Yeah. They Well, the thing is they
- 41:25Speaker 1: stuck with me, you know, they were at my lowest. Yeah,
- 41:28Speaker 1: I mean there was times where like I literally like
- 41:29Speaker 1: I used to walk, I used to take three buses
- 41:31Speaker 1: to the Triwell just to get to Miami to get
- 41:32Speaker 1: to LEX office, like shout out to Lex one hundred times,
- 41:35Speaker 1: like it's eleven at night. And I used to literally
- 41:38Speaker 1: miss the Triro live try to figure out how I'm
- 41:40Speaker 1: going to get home. And I don't want to call
- 41:42Speaker 1: my p for people who don't know, but forty minutes away,
- 41:45Speaker 1: thirty five, forty minutes away. Yeah, so and like I
- 41:47Speaker 1: didn't want to call my parents because yeah, I mean,
- 41:50Speaker 1: like you know, you're young, and you're like I don't
- 41:51Speaker 1: want to bother my parents, and if they saw the
- 41:52Speaker 1: places that I was going, they would have been like, not,
- 41:54Speaker 1: what are you doing? They're not going out again. Yeah, man,
- 41:56Speaker 1: I used to be. I used to be in the hoods,
- 41:58Speaker 1: like you know, like shooting hood video with people with
- 42:00Speaker 1: guns in my face. You got me. So it's just
- 42:02Speaker 1: like I show my parents that they're gonna be like,
- 42:04Speaker 1: what are you doing? One time, my mom she was
- 42:06Speaker 1: watching one of my videos and there's an artist named
- 42:09Speaker 1: young Feet, and he was holding up a very big
- 42:11Speaker 1: piece of weed and she didn't know, and she's like,
- 42:13Speaker 1: is that is that chicken? I mean, like, like, you know,
- 42:16Speaker 1: she didn't she like, she's a Spanish woman, so she
- 42:18Speaker 1: doesn't understand. Now I'm like, yeah, mom, and you know,
- 42:20Speaker 1: because they hated weed, and they're very traditional parents because
- 42:23Speaker 1: they come from Spanish countries. So it was just funny
- 42:25Speaker 1: to see all that kind of come together. No, that's crazy.
- 42:28Speaker 1: I mean yeah, I know, it's dope to see just
- 42:29Speaker 1: kind of the start to yeah, you know what you're
- 42:32Speaker 1: doing now and what you got coming? We gotta stop
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- 43:58Speaker 1: All right, let's get back to the interview. What was
- 44:01Speaker 1: the most nervous you've been to shoot a video? Oh? Man, nervous. Honestly, Damn.
- 44:08Speaker 1: I don't want to be that guy and say I'm
- 44:09Speaker 1: never nervous, but man, honestly, when I show Tiffany hatsh
- 44:14Speaker 1: with Russ, I was like, Yo, this is Tiffany has It,
- 44:17Speaker 1: superstar actress. She's a you know, she just dropped the
- 44:19Speaker 1: movie with Nicholas Cage. Great movie. Yeah, And I was like,
- 44:23Speaker 1: I was like, all right, so like like and I'm
- 44:26Speaker 1: directing dialogue and I'm just like, this is like a
- 44:27Speaker 1: surreal moment for me. And I'm like, Edgar, it's time. Yeah,
- 44:30Speaker 1: that's a real moment. I said, it's time to show up,
- 44:32Speaker 1: you know. And the way we got Tiffany is funny
- 44:34Speaker 1: because I got invited to this Macro event and they
- 44:38Speaker 1: throw this big Preoscar parties with all these celebrities, and
- 44:41Speaker 1: I was talking to Russ. I'm like, Yo, we need
- 44:42Speaker 1: to put a superstar in this, like an actress or something.
- 44:46Speaker 1: Someone's gonna give it like notoriety. And Russ wanted to
- 44:49Speaker 1: kind of be a little bit more like funny, and
- 44:51Speaker 1: he's like, everyone takes me too serious. I want to,
- 44:52Speaker 1: you know, loosen up a little bit and kind of
- 44:54Speaker 1: like have some dialogue so I can show people that
- 44:56Speaker 1: I'm actually just this is who I am. And Rat
- 45:00Speaker 1: to spy Oscar's parties and I'm like, yo, Russ, there's
- 45:03Speaker 1: Tiffany Hattish and we walk up to her and that's
- 45:05Speaker 1: when we locked her in for the video. Shout out
- 45:07Speaker 1: to Jerome, shout out to Stephanie for connecting us, but yeah,
- 45:10Speaker 1: we saw her and we're like, yo, we want you
- 45:12Speaker 1: in the video. And she's like she I don't know
- 45:14Speaker 1: if she knew who Russ was or maybe she heard
- 45:16Speaker 1: of him, but she was like, I'm down, and then
- 45:18Speaker 1: she honestly she was down to do it out of
- 45:19Speaker 1: love too. But then Russ was like now I'm gonna
- 45:21Speaker 1: pay you because I respect her time and your energy
- 45:24Speaker 1: and your efforts. So that was really respectful for him.
- 45:26Speaker 1: I do feel like, man, you're kind of like a
- 45:28Speaker 1: perfect example of what it takes to really make it,
- 45:31Speaker 1: because I feel like when I meet young up and
- 45:34Speaker 1: coming artists or whatever you're trying to get into, it
- 45:39Speaker 1: feels like there's a lot of entitlement and a lot
- 45:41Speaker 1: of yeah, just a lot of entitlement, and a lot
- 45:44Speaker 1: of times people just aren't willing to like do the work,
- 45:48Speaker 1: do the work, and also like see the bigger picture, Yeah,
- 45:52Speaker 1: see the longer play as opposed to the short right
- 45:54Speaker 1: away game. Well, shout out to my family. My mom
- 45:57Speaker 1: and dad always told me, like, help people, not because
- 45:59Speaker 1: you want something from them, but just help them if
- 46:00Speaker 1: they're in need. And I just seen artists that were
- 46:03Speaker 1: super talented, and you know, and I just I don't know,
- 46:05Speaker 1: I just believed, you know, when you have that intuition
- 46:07Speaker 1: and that gut feeling like, yo, that person, I don't know,
- 46:08Speaker 1: they have something special. And that's what I saw in
- 46:11Speaker 1: a guy's like Ace Hood, Jake Miller, you know, even
- 46:14Speaker 1: Callid at the time and Russ and all these artists
- 46:17Speaker 1: Little Baby Super early, you know, I show all his
- 46:20Speaker 1: early videos as well south Side and all those ones
- 46:22Speaker 1: in the hood, and it's like I was just like, yo,
- 46:24Speaker 1: these artists are special. And I had like an A
- 46:26Speaker 1: and R ear which ended up, you know, leading to
- 46:28Speaker 1: my record label, and the actually were I think we're
- 46:31Speaker 1: about to sign another artist right now. But it was
- 46:33Speaker 1: just it was just funny, like like your ears and
- 46:36Speaker 1: like just understanding that, like, yo, I think I know
- 46:38Speaker 1: dope shit. And then I kind of took that into
- 46:40Speaker 1: not only like artists, went to products. So I've invested
- 46:44Speaker 1: a lot in you know, you know, a heart Telter company,
- 46:46Speaker 1: an ice cream company, a non GMO flower company. So
- 46:50Speaker 1: it's like and I'm like the I think these parts
- 46:52Speaker 1: are gonna blow up, and things started going crazy and
- 46:54Speaker 1: You're just like all right, cool, I'm ahead of the
- 46:56Speaker 1: curve and I'm very grateful to have that kind of
- 46:58Speaker 1: like eye and talent, you know. Percent do you think, well,
- 47:02Speaker 1: first of all, there's a lot of fucking heart Seltz companies. Yeah,
- 47:04Speaker 1: one hundred percent. Shout out to Lago Best Hot. I
- 47:07Speaker 1: should have brought some. Yeah, how many carbs are in it?
- 47:11Speaker 1: I'm not honestly, I'm not even sure, you know, but
- 47:13Speaker 1: I know it's organic and I know it. It tastes
- 47:15Speaker 1: good and it's very light and refreshing. And the reason
- 47:17Speaker 1: I got into it because shout out to Hanny, who
- 47:20Speaker 1: hit me up about it. We shot this Smino video
- 47:22Speaker 1: and he's like, Yo, Edgar, I think you'd be a
- 47:23Speaker 1: perfect partner. And I was like, all right, cool, tell
- 47:26Speaker 1: a CEO to pull up on me today I'm at
- 47:28Speaker 1: the monitoring hotel and he did, and I'm like, that's
- 47:30Speaker 1: the top of ceo I want to work with. I
- 47:31Speaker 1: don't care what the product is. Do you got me?
- 47:33Speaker 1: You're hustling, you're here. And I made some concert for
- 47:36Speaker 1: him that same day and we're like let's go, and
- 47:37Speaker 1: like that's how I could move. You got me, and
- 47:39Speaker 1: I know it'll get better throughout the product. That's kind
- 47:41Speaker 1: of what happened with you with the artists. You said, Yeah,
- 47:43Speaker 1: that's kind of what I do. I just kind of
- 47:44Speaker 1: get into things and I just go for it. I
- 47:46Speaker 1: don't wait, you know, And I think I'll tell everyone
- 47:48Speaker 1: on camera, like you can't wait on anything. You got
- 47:50Speaker 1: to go get that shit. And like that's kind of
- 47:52Speaker 1: why I keep implementing that energy on my social media
- 47:54Speaker 1: is because a kid in might see and be like,
- 47:56Speaker 1: you know what today, I just I'm decided to go
- 47:58Speaker 1: get it. Yeah, he could change his life. Obviously, you
- 48:00Speaker 1: got the production company, tons of side businesses. Any other
- 48:05Speaker 1: videos coming that you can obviously just just yeah, obviously
- 48:09Speaker 1: the NICKI one's a big one. Yeah, nick is good. Yeah,
- 48:14Speaker 1: yeah I could. I think I could say something potentially
- 48:17Speaker 1: with mi A is coming. Yeah that's cool. Yeah. You
- 48:23Speaker 1: know what I'm really looking forward right now is taking
- 48:25Speaker 1: American artists and taking them outside of America to shoot
- 48:27Speaker 1: their videos. Yeah. Me, because I feel like, you know,
- 48:30Speaker 1: you go to La you go to the same pier
- 48:32Speaker 1: space or gigster, and you see the same every peer.
- 48:34Speaker 1: You go to peerspace dot com and I'm just like, God,
- 48:36Speaker 1: I've seen like thirty videos that fucking place that they
- 48:40Speaker 1: shot the dark knight at with the lights on the ceiling.
- 48:43Speaker 1: Yeah you know what I'm talking about. We've all show videos.
- 48:45Speaker 1: Oh my god, damn, how many videos have it's shot here?
- 48:48Speaker 1: And it's just about and commercials And I'm like, fuck,
- 48:51Speaker 1: it's just about pushing right now, pushing how far we
- 48:54Speaker 1: can do it? Like I just scouted a location and
- 48:56Speaker 1: it was literally I'm shooting out of college. You got me,
- 48:58Speaker 1: And it's totally different than some anything I've ever seen.
- 49:01Speaker 1: So I'm like, I want to shoot there, You got me?
- 49:03Speaker 1: And like, what is like key to like finding a
- 49:04Speaker 1: good location, because that is something that, like you said,
- 49:07Speaker 1: if you go I kind of feel like if you
- 49:10Speaker 1: go about like the super proper way, if you're kind
- 49:13Speaker 1: of like a young independent shooter and you you probably
- 49:16Speaker 1: have a little bit more leeway and just like saying, hey,
- 49:18Speaker 1: I think we can get this shot on like three
- 49:19Speaker 1: minutes without permit. So yeah, and that's the thing. It's
- 49:22Speaker 1: about taking your time right and like you know, really
- 49:25Speaker 1: like I used to shoot videos, like I shot this
- 49:27Speaker 1: video for this band one time, and we traveled to
- 49:29Speaker 1: Red Rocks, then we traveled to Vegas, then we traveled
- 49:33Speaker 1: to Salt Lake City, and in between that there was
- 49:36Speaker 1: like snow somewhere, like a patch of snow. I shot
- 49:39Speaker 1: there too, and I shot this worldly ass video that
- 49:41Speaker 1: you would think that it took like it was like
- 49:43Speaker 1: a national geographic video, but it was really just like
- 49:45Speaker 1: a matter of two days and just traveling and just
- 49:47Speaker 1: stopping and finding these open roads where nobody's at and
- 49:51Speaker 1: putting in that effort. Same thing with Gashi, Like, you know,
- 49:54Speaker 1: I shot a video with Gashi where you know, you know,
- 49:56Speaker 1: we drove all the way to Vegas just to shoot it,
- 49:58Speaker 1: you know, just to get those those scenes. Yeah. I
- 50:00Speaker 1: love Goshi. I saw his first video, Disrespectful that I'm getting. Yeah,
- 50:04Speaker 1: that record was crazy. Yeah, I heard it. He was
- 50:06Speaker 1: actually writing a song for Jake Miller and then the studios.
- 50:09Speaker 1: He was writing songs for a lot of people too.
- 50:11Speaker 1: Yeah to him, he wrote this. He was at the
- 50:12Speaker 1: studio session and then yeah, Jake and him, they were
- 50:15Speaker 1: having a hard time getting a song together. So Jake
- 50:18Speaker 1: left early and then Goshi stayed and he just took
- 50:21Speaker 1: the studio time. And I was like, there's something special
- 50:24Speaker 1: about this guy. And he was talking so abrasive, you
- 50:26Speaker 1: know how Goshi took. She's just very like in your face.
- 50:28Speaker 1: And I was like, I was like, Yo, this guy.
- 50:30Speaker 1: I think I'm yo Jake, I'm gonna stay. And I
- 50:32Speaker 1: stayed and he was like, Yo, let me play you
- 50:33Speaker 1: my album and then he played the song like that.
- 50:37Speaker 1: I ended up shooting five years later with Sting on it. Yeah. Hey,
- 50:40Speaker 1: hey mama, yeah, and then you shot the sting video. Yeah.
- 50:43Speaker 1: And then but he played me that song five years
- 50:45Speaker 1: prior to that moment. Yeah, me and he had that
- 50:48Speaker 1: that's so crazy. And then I was like, Yo, that
- 50:50Speaker 1: song right there is going to be a hit. And
- 50:52Speaker 1: then he also he played disrespectful and I'm like, yo,
- 50:54Speaker 1: we got to shoot that next week. So I didn't
- 50:56Speaker 1: have a card at the time, still on document in
- 50:58Speaker 1: LA and I was living with Jake and shout out
- 51:01Speaker 1: to Jake because if it wasn't for him, I couldn't
- 51:02Speaker 1: sign at least or nothing, And like, I really appreciate
- 51:05Speaker 1: it because I only had to pay a thousand dollars
- 51:07Speaker 1: and shoot one music video for him a month, and
- 51:08Speaker 1: I was like it's fucking great. I was like I
- 51:10Speaker 1: can do that, you know, and I could afford that,
- 51:13Speaker 1: and yeah, man, it just came to a situation where
- 51:15Speaker 1: I saw Goshi and I was like, yo, I believe
- 51:17Speaker 1: in you. And at that time, I'm doing, you know,
- 51:20Speaker 1: fifty seventy thousand dollars music videos. Yeah. His nineteen eighty
- 51:22Speaker 1: five Yeah album was incredible. Yeah, and his new stuff
- 51:26Speaker 1: is crazy too. He's incredible. Yeah. He's one of those
- 51:29Speaker 1: artists that like it's just a matter of like, I mean,
- 51:33Speaker 1: I just somehow, but I'm not going to get into
- 51:35Speaker 1: where he was at private. I feel like he's a superstar.
- 51:38Speaker 1: That's what I meant. And the thing is, one thing
- 51:40Speaker 1: about Gosha I'm gonna say and if anyone has a
- 51:42Speaker 1: misconstrued on him and is like when you call him,
- 51:44Speaker 1: he picks with the phone. You know, he facetimes you.
- 51:47Speaker 1: He asks you how you are and not what you do.
- 51:48Speaker 1: So I really just appreciate that honestly, Like he's a
- 51:51Speaker 1: really good guy, like sometimes maybe misunderstood, but it's that
- 51:55Speaker 1: same misunderstood and the confidence that got him to where
- 51:57Speaker 1: he is today. So one hundred percent. I always think
- 52:00Speaker 1: back to that video him like in the meeting playing
- 52:02Speaker 1: his records and just fucking that's how he is everywhere.
- 52:05Speaker 1: Yeah No, and that's that's why. That's that's the type
- 52:07Speaker 1: of confidence people need to get. Like I had to
- 52:10Speaker 1: go and be like in twenty ten, be like I'm
- 52:12Speaker 1: gonna be the biggest music video director in the world.
- 52:14Speaker 1: Watch you know, next year I'm gonna be directing a
- 52:16Speaker 1: video for Nicki Minaj. And I always post those before
- 52:18Speaker 1: and after. It's just so people can see like where
- 52:20Speaker 1: it stems from, like and I don't like I think
- 52:22Speaker 1: a lot of people see that with Draymond Green. They're like,
- 52:25Speaker 1: why do you so confident? It's like, yo, like to
- 52:27Speaker 1: get to the NBA to win four championships, Like, bro,
- 52:30Speaker 1: it's different. You get me. And it's just like especially
- 52:33Speaker 1: not being the star and stuff like that, and being
- 52:35Speaker 1: told you're not the star every every year. It's like,
- 52:38Speaker 1: and still having that much impact on the team, like
- 52:40Speaker 1: the real ones. Know you know there it is, man,
- 52:42Speaker 1: Well listen, go follow this guy. He's posting hella inspirational
- 52:45Speaker 1: content thing outside of just doing amazing work. What's your ig?
- 52:49Speaker 1: Let everybody know, Yeah, my IG is Edgar Estaviz E
- 52:52Speaker 1: D G A R E S T E V E S.
- 52:55Speaker 1: Follow the company blank Square Productions spelled the way it's
- 52:58Speaker 1: on the hat keV. Just want to give your flowers too.
- 53:01Speaker 1: I appreciate all everything you're doing. I watch every interview,
- 53:04Speaker 1: a lot of these interviews, honestly, like and directors like
- 53:06Speaker 1: you guys before writing a concept for a video, watch
- 53:09Speaker 1: the Wiz interview. You get me. You know what I'm saying, Like,
- 53:12Speaker 1: understand that he was in the studio having streams with him,
- 53:14Speaker 1: like listening the album eight times, you get me. A
- 53:16Speaker 1: lot of people won't do their research on artists. And
- 53:18Speaker 1: if you want to direct videos and hip hop, care
- 53:21Speaker 1: about hip hop artists, you got me. Don't come from
- 53:23Speaker 1: another genre and think you're just gonna come over here,
- 53:25Speaker 1: use them as clout and then spit them back out.
- 53:28Speaker 1: I mean, that's not what I do. That's why I
- 53:29Speaker 1: still work with emerging artists, and that's why I build
- 53:31Speaker 1: a company so my directors can build with them and
- 53:34Speaker 1: grow with them, because it's their time now. Yeah, And
- 53:36Speaker 1: I just I just want to say that, And you
- 53:38Speaker 1: know that's the message I you know, I wanted to
- 53:40Speaker 1: come kind of come here and say so, I appreciate
- 53:42Speaker 1: your brother. Go run it up, man, go watch all
- 53:45Speaker 1: his ship and shout your artists one more time I before,
- 53:48Speaker 1: and shout out to everyone who's just helped me along
- 53:49Speaker 1: my journey, good or bad. I appreciate you. It's a
- 53:51Speaker 1: great journey man. Yeah, there it is Bulllet keV Edgar
- 53:55Speaker 1: who