WEBVTT - #212 - Edgar Esteves 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.040 Boutleg Head podcast. We got a special guest in here, 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:05.640 the homie Edgar is here from Blank Square Productions. I 0:00:05.640 --> 0:00:08.440 do these guys. I'm gonna let you kind of introduce 0:00:08.480 --> 0:00:12.200 yourself in just tell everybody what you do. Man man 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:16.360 Venezuela and American director. Just having fun and fucking shut 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:19.520 up right now. Yeah, you're like one of the I mean, 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:22.079 I would say the top two or three video directors 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:25.079 in the game right now. I appreciate that you've done. 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:30.120 I mean, you did the box video. I mean, you've 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:32.199 done so many videos, So like what are like the 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:34.159 bigger like just kind of run down some of your 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:36.120 Obviously you guys started with Russ. We'll get into that, 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:37.760 but like give me some of your highlights of the 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:42.760 last couple of years. Honestly. So that's a lot confusion. 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:45.360 I'm a production company and I'm also a director. So 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:49.159 your company is Blank Square. Yeah, so Blank Square And 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:51.960 so basically I have twelve directors on my company and 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:54.680 then I'll including myself, So then I direct projects and 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:57.080 they also do projects. I like to be involved in 0:00:57.080 --> 0:00:58.760 a little bit of everything, just kind of like just 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:00.520 about the culture and just show up people how to 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:03.280 get things and how to treat artists. But yeah, it 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:05.880 comes into a situation where I think a lot of 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:08.400 the people always like, damn, your videos are everywhere. It's like, no, 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.720 my company's everywhere, So what about your company? What are 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:14.160 the bigger videos of the last few years that Blank 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:16.480 Squares handled? Ah? Man, you know, we just did the 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:20.000 Hansomer remix video with Tiffany Hattich. Cool. That one was dope. 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:21.800 It was like a little mini movie. Yeah, one hundred percent. 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:23.039 I was just trying to bring back that like that 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:25.920 old Chris Robinson, that old you know, like Jesse Terrero 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:31.479 skits type of videos. But other videos though, what else? Yeah, 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:34.840 there's just so many the videos that were about to 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:36.680 come up. Is like, you know, we're shooting Nikki next week, 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:39.479 so that's gonna be cool. I can't say the record yet, 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:41.480 but well I think it's the one she's probably been teasing, right, 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:44.000 the freaking Girl record. You know, just you know, surprise 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:46.120 for everybody, you know what I'm saying. But but yeah, 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:49.160 I'm excited about that. And yeah, man, just so many 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:51.120 videos at this point. Like I was just in Mexico 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:53.840 shooting a big artist out there named Downa Paola, So 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:56.720 and she has a huge following. I was out compared 0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:58.400 to kind of like, you know, she's like that new 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:02.080 girl in Mexico on the and yeah, it's pretty cool, man, 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:04.040 just to try to like just work with different artists 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:07.520 and different levels of their career. Right, there was a 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:09.600 video which video did you do that? Tiana Trump was in? 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:13.720 Oh the throw Baby remix. Yeah, yeah, I'll be forgetting 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:15.520 all the videos that we'd be doing, honestly, but that 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:18.200 was a crazy ass video. Yeah. A lot of people 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:21.800 were talking about it, especially the baby scene where yeah, yeah, 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:24.040 you know, it's funny because me and my friends were honestly, 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:26.400 we're just like smoking weed and we're just like in 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:28.240 my living room and we're just talking about it. I 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:30.360 play the record and we all honestly just came up 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:33.040 with a scene and we were just like having fun 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:34.680 with it and we're like, yo, how nasty can you 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:37.200 get with it? But still like making it in a 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:40.600 cool way. And yeah, one of my friends was like, yo, 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:43.639 what if the baby was a you know, surfering down 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:46.160 a tongue? And then someone else said like, yeah, like this, 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:48.400 and then I was like, yeah, we'll put the goggles 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:50.720 on them. And then like We just started like collaborating 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:52.240 on the idea and then we're like, you know what 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:55.840 we wrote into the treatment and LVRN, who manages BRS Cash, 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:57.880 was like, we love the idea. We want to be 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:02.239 provocative and it worked. Worked. Yeah, what is like for you? 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:07.520 Been the most creatively challenging video to pull off? Man? Definitely? 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:09.920 I shot this video for RUSS. They misunderstood it was 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:12.880 shot on motion control, so basically that camera moves like 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:15.720 this like a robot. And yeah, that was that was 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:17.519 kind of a that was kind of a challenge. I 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:20.800 had one day to do it. The budget wasn't like 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:22.720 where it had to be for that type of video, 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:25.040 but I really pushed it, gave up my rate and 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:27.080 I was like, yo, I really want to make something different. 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:28.880 And at the time, you know, a lot of like 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:32.480 the media was talking about him in XXYZ, and I 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:34.880 was like, I really want to highlight everything in a video, 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:37.560 you know, and just do it in one take and seamlessly. 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:39.840 And I think I did a great job of it. Yeah, 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:43.400 for people who don't know, give me because you came 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:46.480 to America as an immigrant, right, Yeah, I came here 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:49.160 when I was eleven months old. I was born in Valencia, Venezuela. 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:53.160 And would you end up coming to Florida. No, Actually, 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:56.120 I moved to Houston for a year. So me and 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:58.760 my family just immigrant story. You know, we were in 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:01.720 a garage, and about like ten months after we moved 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:04.040 to Houston, we you know, we dipped out to Florida. 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:06.200 But what people don't know, and like this is probably 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:07.640 the first time I'll say it on camera, is like, 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:10.360 I actually came to America because I had like a 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:13.040 you know, like a life threatening surgery in my brain. 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:14.600 Because when I was a kid, I hit my head 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:16.799 on a metal bed. So when I hit my medal, 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:19.560 when I got hit in the head, I basically like 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:22.120 no one knew because it was an internal wound. So 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:25.200 I started having internal bleeding in my brain. So then 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:27.240 my aunt comes home drunk at three in the morning 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:30.040 from a nightclub. Basically here's me crying in the middle 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:32.279 of night, picks me up, and I'm purple. I go 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:34.960 to the hospital and at the time, you know, Venezuela, 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:37.320 the healthcare is not the greatest over there, so they're like, oh, 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:39.840 he's having an allergic reaction. Just give him some antibiotics 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:42.000 and he'll be fine. But then my mom's like, no, 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:43.920 something's wrong, So it took me to a private clinic. 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:46.599 My dad before was going back and forth between the 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:49.400 US and America, so he had an American Express credit card, 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:52.240 so he put the whole operation on American Express and 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:54.320 that was making it made him go bankrupt, and that's 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:56.560 the reason why we came to this country. Shit. Yeah. 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:58.080 So then we moved to Houston because my dad had 0:04:58.080 --> 0:04:59.480 a friend over there. We stayed in hit his garage 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:01.600 for like a ten ti months eleven months, and then 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:04.279 my dad was like, damn, this is this is us. 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:06.120 This is not our vibe. I tried to go to Florida. 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:08.280 There's more spash people there. So that's why we went 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:10.120 to Florida and I moved to Fort Lauderdale, and then 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:12.280 like in my later years in high school, I kind 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:15.279 of like started making my shift to Miami. Damn. Yeah. 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:19.320 So it's almost like I was definitely mega here the 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:22.840 biggest gifting curse situation. Yeah. Yeah, I had a crazy 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:25.039 traumatic surgery. But if it wasn't for that, you probably 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:27.360 wouldn't be here, right, No. Yeah, And then it's nice 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:30.080 because it's like it always gives me perspective of like Damn. 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:31.640 They try to take me out early, you know, and 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.240 I'm still here. So no, that's crazy. So like you 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:38.599 end up kind of getting to Miami. I saw. I 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:41.600 didn't know that you were interning for Lex. Shout to 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:43.599 my guy, Lexum, I just saw it. I was just 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:47.200 with him last week in Miami. Yeah he's a legend. No, 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:50.240 he's the guy. Uh So yeah with Lex you can 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:53.360 still look up my tweets back from like twenty ten. Yeah, 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:55.600 I graduated high school and if people don't know, like 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.960 I came to the country and overstayed my my tourist visa. 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:01.360 So I was on docuitt it for twenty seven years, right, 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:04.480 And so that means when you're undocumented, you can't work, 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:07.120 you can't drive, you can't you know, you can't do anything. 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:11.120 Mostly like that. I'm Americans could So yeah, Lex, I 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:13.400 tweeted him after high school because I wanted to go 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:15.839 to college. I had some scholarships, but I was gonna 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:18.359 go to Virginia Tech for architecture and I couldn't go 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:20.600 because I wasn't a citizen. So then I was like, 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:22.560 all right, cool, what what else can I do? I 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:24.480 used to walk around school with a little camera, just 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:27.320 filming people like little block stuff, and I knew how 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:28.800 to edit, so I'm like, oh, maybe I can get 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:31.680 into like content or something like that. And I met 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:35.039 Lex because I tweeted. I was just tweeting a bunch 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:37.000 of places. I was like, yo, like I didn't even 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:38.760 know like how to submit my remisentry. I was just 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:41.440 like Lex Promotions, I would love to entern for you, 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:44.200 like da da da da. The tweet still up and yeah, 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:45.760 he hit me back. He's like, all right, cool, come 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:47.920 to our office. I came in his office the next 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:49.839 day and then he was like all right, cool, what 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:50.960 do you What do you want to do? And I 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:54.080 was like, honestly anything. And I intern at five companies. 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:58.039 I intern at Hit Factory Mixed Studios, Lex Promotions Mixed 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:02.159 Studios with Jason Jason imaging for all the radio stations. 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:04.920 Yeah yeah, the mixed show, that's what it was called. Yeah. No. 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:09.520 And then and then uh, I interned at two Night 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:12.960 dot Com and also for Poor Boy Music Group under 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:15.920 Freezy for and uh, you know, as a graphic designer 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:18.640 because I learned photoshop in high school, so so I 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:20.320 took like the traits that I knew about editing and 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:22.720 photoshop and like, you know, Lex mixed flyers, So I 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:25.200 started making flyers for them, and then I just started 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:26.600 just you know, how old are you at this point? 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:28.920 I was like fresh high school. Yeah, seventeen, That's when 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:31.640 I graduated, So you were seventeen like helping out with 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:34.920 flyers and yeah, doing nightclub flyers for like Club Dream 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:37.200 and all those that Miami scene at the time. You know, 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:40.200 damn were you at the I know, the dude from 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:42.840 the mixed groups got these take one down to he's 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:45.760 got these, He's got these iron man fucking statues? Did did? 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:49.040 Were you there when he had those? Jason? Maybe? And 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:52.280 maybe I don't know. Yeah, yeah, so how did obviously 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:57.600 you go from that? I know that like, uh, we're 0:07:57.640 --> 0:07:59.560 really kind of helped pop off you as a director 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:02.600 was working is Russ right? Yeah? So Russ was based 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:05.160 in Atlanta. Yeah, he was based in Atlanta. And the 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:08.840 funny story about in Atlanta. Yeah he's still based but yeah, 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:11.760 funny thing about Russ is like, prior to Russ, I 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:13.320 was working with this kid named Jake Miller. He was 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:15.640 a pop Jake Miller. I know Jake Miller. Yeah, he's 0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:17.520 a well my roommates and one of my really good friends. 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:19.280 And really he's an empire now I think, yeah, he 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:24.680 has empire. Yeah and yeah. So then as Russ as 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:27.080 I found Russ, I actually found him and Alicia Car 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:29.520 at the same time. Wow, And I was like, I 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:30.960 was on a and R report dot com and I 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:32.599 saw both of those artists and I was like, I 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:35.120 don't know if that site still exists, but I was like, 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:36.920 like trying to find a new artist to work with. 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:40.320 And yeah, Lisia Carr lived in Toronto, so I was like, oh, 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:42.800 I couldn't travel. So then I was like, oh cool, 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:45.079 let me let me focus on Russ. So I DMed 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:47.400 him and I said, let's shoot everything and hit me back, 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:49.280 and he's like, bro of course. And at that time, 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:51.360 I was already doing videos because you know, I came 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:53.720 you know, under kind of calid earlier before that. So 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:55.840 what were some of like your earlier videos before Russ? 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:59.040 Oh man, you know I really started. I really want 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:00.400 to give a shout out to Kik we be the 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:02.760 best because he connected me with ace Hood, and the 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:05.679 ace Hood connected me with Khalid. Kalid connected me with 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:07.880 like the golden Miami hip hop scene, which was like 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:11.559 Lil Wayne, you know, Drake, Rickey Ross. Like I was 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:14.480 around all of those guys because of DJ Khaled and 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:16.600 before that, like you know, I was dping a lot 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:18.800 for like you know, directors like Drake Films and John 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:21.160 Jay and Miami. So like I was doing like, you know, 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:23.960 tat on my arms and you get me don't panic 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:26.880 with Rick Ross and Miek Millan Yogatti and I was 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:29.560 just kind of like there's I remember the Spiff TV 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:32.960 and the Drake Yeah Films videos. Yeah, I was looking 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:34.679 up to guys like that coming up in Miami, and 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:36.920 I was just like, yo, these guys. I remember there's 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:38.640 a Arts Nam Murph music down there, and I was 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:40.440 just like yo, Like I remember one time I was 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:43.520 watching this video. I was like, yo, Dre's like crazy 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:45.280 out here. He's killing it. And I was like, this 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:47.280 is what I kind of want to do. And he 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:49.120 took me under his wing and just kind of like 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:51.080 let me, you know, because I knew a little bit 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:53.720 more about the cinematography side, right, So he would direct 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:56.040 and I would DP, which is like the director of photography. Yeah, 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:58.480 what is so for people who don't know, because obviously 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:02.600 directing shooting, running, the camera DP. What is it? What 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:04.480 is a DP in the grand scheme of like the 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:06.720 process of a video getting done, I would explain it 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:09.120 the best as a cinematographer. So the guy who you 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:11.000 know does the lighting and you know, talks to the 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:13.079 gene crew, which is the grip and electric to make 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:16.160 sure you know, everything's kind of so set in tone. Yeah, me, 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:18.400 and you're really you're really in charge of the look 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:22.520 of the film or the video. Mmm. So back back 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:27.320 in the day, Yeah, different time. There's before you were 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:30.920 using like dps and grips and all that. I'm assuming 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:32.760 all the early Russ stuff was just done with just 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:34.680 your camera. I think I had heard you tell a 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:37.360 story about the one in the forest. What's that video? Oh? 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:39.640 What they want? What they want? And just like how 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:42.960 you guys just kind of like wing that video a bit? Yeah, 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:47.520 do you feel like because because there's still obviously listen, 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:50.520 there's still great videos that are being done for like 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:53.520 fucking twelve hundred dollars, fifteen hundred dollars. People who have 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:56.400 you know a Sony A seven two with the right 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:58.440 lens that could pull off a good enough video, right, 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:00.200 that would make sense? That was a setup right there. 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:02.040 Oh yeah, the A seven two. I had the A 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:04.640 seven to one and then the ronin and you just 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:08.240 just pull up. Yeah. Yeah. At what point in time 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:10.960 did things start to change for you where you were 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:13.240 able to kind of cause like, obviously things really start 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:15.959 to change when you don't have to handle every aspect 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:18.200 of a video. Yeah, you know, because you've been in 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:19.840 that position where you got to shoot it, you got 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:22.559 to edit it, and you're like it's like damn. And 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:25.559 now you once budgets started opening up, you could probably 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.160 have a lot more, you know, because I know what 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:30.280 it's like, I have artists. It's like, dude, we've got 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:32.480 to keep this shit under this amount of money. Yeah, 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:34.600 so the idea has got to be not as grandy 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:37.480 or well that's what like, you know, when I was 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:40.520 working for ace Hood and Khalid, like I was shooting 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:42.319 videos for them, but they're paying me like fifteen hundred 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:43.760 two thousand, and they're just like, all right, let's just 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:45.800 get a little video. But what I was doing, I 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:48.440 was shooting videos for other artists and locally, and then 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:50.720 I would charge them like twenty five hundred three thousand, 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:52.480 so I would take like half of my rate and 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:54.880 then put it into Kalid's video or Aces video because 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:56.800 I knew they had the eyes. You got me at 0:11:56.840 --> 0:11:59.079 the time World Star was out. You know, I did 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:00.640 a lot of videos on world so you were kind 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:04.280 of like reinvesting your your money into the ship that 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:06.520 you knew people would see. Yeah, because I'm like, I 0:12:06.520 --> 0:12:08.319 believe in like people, not the idea. So I was 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:09.760 just like I knew Ace Hud at the time. He 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:11.920 had hustled out and he was like big in my city. 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:14.160 So I was a great guy too. Yeah. Yeah, and 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:15.560 he just like gave me a chance. He's like, yo, 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:17.680 let's go rock, Let's go shoot videos every week. And 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:19.280 then kl would give him, you know, a few grand 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:21.160 or he'd pay for himself. I'm not sure who had 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:22.960 the money, but and then we would take care of that, 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:25.080 and I ended up leading me to a lot of 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:27.160 features and you know, working with that, guys like Kevin 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:30.520 Cossum who was a songwriter, yeah, who introduced me to 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:32.760 other people and this and that. And I was around 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:35.000 the studio the whole time, so I met like Fat Joe, 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:38.360 Bustera Rohm's, j Cole, all these people early early days 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:40.760 at the we the best studio, so shout out to them. 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:45.800 Would you say, Lincoln with a single specific artist like Russ, 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:48.800 because I do feel like on the music side, yeah, 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:51.960 that helps producers, right, if you're a producer. I always 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:54.240 tell producers like, yo, if you're a producer, find it 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:56.640 an artist that you can come up with, yeah, craft 0:12:56.679 --> 0:13:00.000 a sound with, yeah, and then build with that person. 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:02.079 And would you say you kind of did something similar 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:04.920 on the video side with Russ, Oh, one hundred percent. Yeah. 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:06.840 I said one time, like, you know, instead of trying 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:08.800 to build with like jay Z and Kanye and you know, 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:10.400 the little Wayes of the world, I was like, let 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:13.200 me build with like, you know, the Russes, the little babies, 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:14.880 you know, the roddy Riches of the world, so we 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:16.960 can you know, grow together and take it to the 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:20.319 next level. Because at one point, you know, everyone saw 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:22.319 me as the cameraman and they were like, yo, you're 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:23.920 just a behind the scene guy and you're really good 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:26.000 at that, and we're gonna keep you here. So like 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:27.760 a lot of people were just like they did never 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:29.240 saw me in the light, and they didn't know that 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:31.920 I could do that. That's why I decided, Uh, when 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:33.440 I left call it, I was like I'm gonna go 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:35.559 find another artist, and it was Jake Miller. He was 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:37.360 a kid who lived like fifteen minutes away, and Jake 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:39.400 Miller had a wave. Yeah, he was like it was 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:43.120 like Justin Bieber, Austin Mahome, Jake Miller, Seawn Mendez and 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:45.439 yeah when we were we started working with him, and 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:48.520 uh yeah, things just started slowly, you know, growing, and 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:51.640 then I started realizing that the music was you know, 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:54.000 slowly connecting, but it was really the YouTube videos that 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:56.840 really started blowing them up. And then I was like 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:58.920 and I was, you know, think for my work ethic 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:01.679 and his and his big as an entertainer, and then 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:03.679 we just kind of started working that way. We started 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:06.640 dropping vlogs almost every day and they were about ten minutes, 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:08.800 so I was just cranking them out and he started 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:10.760 blowing up. He went on tour. I was like, yo, 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:13.720 me and my friend John. He started the tour because 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:15.840 I couldn't travel at the time, right, But then like 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:18.199 I think like three weeks later, I got my first 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:20.280 license at twenty four, and then I was able to travel. 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:23.640 And yeah, I ended up chilling with Jake and for 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:26.240 about two three years just building up with him until 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:28.320 you got signed to Warner Brothers and they gave me 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:30.480 my first chance to direct a ten thousand dollars music video. 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:32.280 So that was the first time I ever got a 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:35.400 DP a producer and was able to do something. Finally, 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:39.480 you know, that's fire. What's your turnaround time on a 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:43.720 ten minute vlog for video editors that are watching this, honestly, 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:46.000 because that's the biggest gripe if you hire someone to 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:49.040 edit video, it's the turnaround time. Well for me, you know, 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:52.760 like like I couldn't work legally, right, so like you 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:54.600 got to understand that. Like I was just like I 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:56.800 wanted to make a good impression on everybody, and I 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:58.600 didn't want to lose the job because they were paying 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:00.480 me under the table, right, So it was just like 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:02.960 and this is because of your immigration status. Yeah you 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:04.920 were here. I would do a tenn and video Lily 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:07.760 every day, Like, how long would that take you? I'd 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:09.680 probably it'd probably take me a lot that at the time, 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:11.840 maybe like five six hours to edit it. Yeah, me, 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:13.440 So I'll shoot all day and then at night I 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:15.200 would edit it, and then we do that on tour. 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:17.440 And then that's funny because the stuff that I did 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:20.320 with Jake Miller actually started spilling off into Russ because 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:22.600 I had that work ethic that I was basically when 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:24.360 I when I came to Russ and I started doing 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:26.440 his music videos for free. Then I was like, yo, 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:29.320 I want to go on tour with you. And he's like, bro, 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:30.480 you want to come on tour with me? I'm like 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:32.080 for sure, bro, like I'm here to help you. I 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:33.480 want to see you blow because I think you're going 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:35.600 to be a big artist, right, And he's like all right, cool. 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:37.240 So we went to the did It My Way tour 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:39.720 and you know, he started. I think Chicago was like 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:42.440 seventy five people. It was like very small shows, and 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:44.680 I knew from the Jake experience that I was like, 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:46.920 I could shoot these videos and make seventy five people 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:49.200 look like two hundred in the video and make it 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:51.480 look more amped through the editing. Yeah. Me. And then 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:53.080 that's what happened. And then next you know, the show 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:55.720 started getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger, and 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:57.920 now he's you know, seventeen thousand at the Hollywood Bowl, 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:00.520 so it's craz sort out the Stable Center. Yeah yeah, 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:02.200 And I came out on stage on both of them 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:03.840 and he's like, and he's so dope that he lets 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:05.080 you do that and lets you be a part of 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:07.120 that moment. And that's why I was big up Russ. 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:09.000 And you know, he taught me a lot about just 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:11.080 you know, I knew I was manifesting, but I never 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:13.120 knew what that word meant, and like he kind of 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:15.480 gave it a definition for me, so like it really 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:17.640 inspired me to like, you know, do the stuff that 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:19.360 I do now. And I always give my hats off 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:23.000 to Russ because a loyal guy, trustworthy gives it as 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:27.360 all and you know, very inspiring. I think Russ is 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:30.560 like one of the more inspiring people for me personally, 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:33.320 like the last I don't know, dude, because I'm just like, 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:36.000 there's this dude makes no excuses and I appreciate the 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:41.200 fact that like he's so like most people try to 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:44.440 hold onto the game. Yeah, this guy just openly shares 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:46.480 it with everybody and inspired me to do the same 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:49.200 thing with videos. Yes, it's like, dude, like if you're 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:51.280 not listening to this guy as an artist and like 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:53.240 applying what he's saying to like your own personal shit, 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:56.040