WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: Chris Robinson Part 1 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:09.800 Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. Ladies and gentlemen. 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:13.560 Guess what time it is? That's right, your favorite podcast, 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:18.960 the award winning Quest Love Supreme. I got it right. Fine, 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:23.120 we are the award winning or what Supreme? Yeah? Here 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:26.320 we're Teine Supreme Quest Love. You know what time it is? Tigolo? 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:27.200 What's up? Brother? 0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:28.000 What's up? Man? 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:30.640 What's happening? What's happening? We're in the daytime. When's the 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:31.720 last time we did the daytime? 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:34.159 John? It's been a min It's been a good minute. 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:36.320 I just woke up. Yeah, like he hits a little 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:37.160 different than the daylight. 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:40.040 Oh you like that a good thing? 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:45.240 I don't know? Isot that was? 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:46.360 Get back from the other night? 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:51.559 No? No, look like yo, can we talk about that night? 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:53.240 Can we really quick? 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:53.440 Guess? 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:54.880 I would really like to talk about that night? 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:56.040 Which night? 0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:58.400 So, Amir had an experience? 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:00.400 Would you like to tell everybody about your experience? 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:03.760 You know, it's random? I mean, you know, uh, you know, 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:06.839 I was in I was in La you know, I'm Philly. 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:09.600 I'm Philly to the boom and just happened to have 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:13.640 a night off when Miss Jill Scott finally got around 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:18.600 to after, you know, a pandemic, a false pandemic start, 0:01:18.959 --> 0:01:22.920 you know, celebrating the one year anniversary of her landmark. 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:26.119 Who is Jill Scott Tore did it from beginning to end? 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:30.400 It was just that from outside eyes, I could see 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:36.959 how random and weird and motley that crew looked walking in. 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:39.400 You were sitting with the crew that you walked in with. 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:43.240 Yeah, well you know, I'm Philly, Me, me and Quinta 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:44.720 are really really good friends. 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:47.400 You know, allegedly we don't know according to this podcast 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:49.240 because all your friends, well no, your friends don't come 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:49.840 on this podcast. 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:52.840 She is a good friend, yes. 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:57.560 Right, she's notoriously shy. But I'll say the random party, No, 0:01:57.680 --> 0:01:59.920 I was just I was hanging with my crew and 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:04.920 Quinna having to roll with us and just out of 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:11.079 nowhere and layah, correctly, you're you're very correct, and thank 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:14.440 you for your pre warning. You know, there's there's some 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:18.519 people who's you know, like James Brown. Won't let you 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:20.760 call him James or James Brown. You have to call 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:24.440 mister James Brown. H We already have our own. We 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:29.120 we have Miss Lauren Hill. Yes, so just randomly, at 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:33.920 the last minute, my boy Silvert who is Jill's tour 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:37.280 manager and sometimes roots tour manager. Said hey, you know, 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:40.800 I got to stick somebody in your section. I came 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:42.919 back and basically it was Lisa Ray. 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:44.000 Oh. 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:45.800 I had to let him know. 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:49.320 Basically, Amir didn't know that Lisa Ray is always Lisa Ray. 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:50.160 She's never Lisa. 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:52.200 So when Amira said that she was going to be 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:54.120 showing up, I said, well, you just make sure you 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:55.239 don't never slip. 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:58.400 And call her Lisa. Her name is Lisa Ray, right. 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:01.760 And so I warned everybody that we are to addresser 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:05.080 as Lisa Ray and not hey Lisa or whatever. And 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:08.040 you know, by then our treats had already kicked in, 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:12.360 so it was really hard explaining that to people. So 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:14.840 I think we overdid it. In every three seconds we 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:18.320 were just like, hey, Lisa Ray, would you like someone, Hey, 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:20.560 Lisa Ray, would you like a blanket? Lisa Ray? Can 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:24.040 you see Lisa Ray? Like literally, I would also. 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:25.600 Like the world to know that this was quest Laf's 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:28.040 first time sitting in the audience of the Hollywood Bowl 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:31.119 at the blackest Hollywood Bowl event probably of the year, 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:32.799 one of the blackest ones outside. 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:35.240 Of jut I've never sat in the audience before at 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:37.280 the Hollywood Bowl. I didn't know that you could bring 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:39.880 your own food. No, it was for those that are 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:43.640 regular Hollywood Bowl attendees, like, it was nothing like I. 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:45.200 You know, I didn't know that you were supposed to 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:47.680 bring your own bottle and whatever. So let's just say 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:51.160 a lot. Laya was getting a kick out of watching. 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:53.440 Me, watching you go to the stand by you a blanket, 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:55.160 do all the things you ain't bring your own. 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:58.760 Blanke a civilian, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed being a 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:02.080 civilian anyway, unpaid Bill, what's up, bro? 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:04.040 I don't know, man, I feel like my day is 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:05.880 all fucking weird because we're doing it in the middle 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:07.560 of the day, and I don't know, I'm great though. 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:09.440 I just feel like this usually ends the day. Now 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:10.400 is the beginning of the day. 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:15.800 You usually so you want a day drink? No? 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:17.919 Not today? 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:22.680 All right, sugar Steve? Hey, everybody, do I hit differently 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:26.479 in the daytime as well? Quest? Yes, we can see 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:29.800 your face now. You normally have the darkest room out 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:33.960 of all of us, so you know, no, we're good. Yeah, anyway, 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:38.000 all right, so this episode definitely long time coming. I 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:41.520 will say that our guest, along with his brother Rich, 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:48.320 is a founding member of the rock group The Black Crows. 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:54.960 About that let Me Rewind, Let me Rewind? No, Actually, 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:59.279 for the last thirty seven years are our guest today 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:05.000 has been beloved patriarch Jack Hamilton on The Ball and 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:08.640 the Beautiful and also the voice of and also the 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:11.840 voice of Vicks Formula forty four for the last forty 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:15.039 seven years. No, no, no, no, let me try this 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:15.640 one more time. 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:16.880 How many are there? 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:21.960 Yoh wait? Look, first of all, I will say on 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:25.120 video directing credits alone, I know that we've elevated to 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:31.360 movies and to production and whatnot, but I will probably 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:35.279 say that I think that our guest today that his 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:41.120 canon of music videos has really, in my opinion, saved 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:46.800 and somewhat defined the best moments of be et and MTV. 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:51.159 I mean literally, like, dude, I didn't even know that 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:55.359 you directed the Dodoo Brown video. Oh yeah, can we 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:59.400 just start there? Can we start like. 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:02.919 Brothers than a which, But. 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:07.799 Our our introduction to Alicia Keys came through his lens, 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:11.640 you know, dude, like a Marie. Like we can go 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:16.600 on just literally Alicia Keys a Marie uh directed uh 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:20.640 name it while for the Night Lord Lord all the 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:23.280 miracles that he's done with outcasts, we can't even go there. 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:26.400 But dude, my favorite Brandy videos full mood. I didn't 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:29.520 know that you did that. I know what you want. 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:32.280 How did you handle the entire Flip Mode squad? I 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:35.400 want to see the entire treatment. I just want to 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:37.839 know how from one to ten. What was the headache 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:41.440 level of advil you had to take for that entire 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:45.599 Buster Mariah Flip Mode video experience. And by the way 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:48.200 that you're staring at me, I can tell that that 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:51.799 day was very heady for you. But no, literally, you've 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:59.200 directed some of these crazy innovative videos. Dude, so anxious. Also, 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:04.599 I'm just saying, just name it, like from Jay he's 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:08.960 literally directed. If we named his entire cannon, the episode 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:10.440 would be over by no, yes. 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:16.000 This whole episode just on the New Edition story, just alone. 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:15.920 Just that. 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:18.240 But yeah, I'm about to say between a New Edition 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:19.480 story between. 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:22.920 Star shooting stars. Yeah, man, you've. 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:26.440 Done various Wu Tang saga like you you are. I 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:27.440 feel like he. 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:31.160 Did Mama, I made it. Bonn was on our show too, 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:32.880 Like it's just all of the things. 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.840 It's and that's the episode. So thank you very much 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:39.040 Chris for joining us. Now pladon John and Chris Robinson 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:48.640 is joining the are Chris Robinson. Yeah, I gotta admit 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:53.640 there was a slight who's on first situation when Brittany 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:56.680 and cousin Jake brought you up. It's like, yo, Chris 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:00.800 Robinson wants to do the show. And I was like, oh, okay, 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:04.800 so I went to a Bruce Springsteen concert. You already 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:06.520 know where this shit's going. I went to a Bruce 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:11.760 Springsteen concert like a month and a half ago, and 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:16.680 I saw Black Crows Chris Robinson and kind of had 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:19.400 a who's on first conversation the elevator. I was like, yeah, 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:21.880 so I hear you're about to do the show with us, 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:23.520 and I think he thought I was talking about the 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:27.720 tonight show, right, So just cut to like just ten 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:31.960 minutes of going in Circle before I realized, yeah, I 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:33.600 don't think he's coming on Quest Love Supreme. 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:36.920 So Chris Robin, oh that shit, I got it, okay 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:37.600 right right? 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:39.040 You know I got a story with him. 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:41.360 You got a story with Chris Robinson. 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:45.600 Chris Robinson Atlanta, Georgia at the Four Seasons in the 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:50.360 lobby somebody's calling for Chris Robinson. I show up and 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:52.560 he shows up. It should have been like a Dave 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:53.320 Chappelle's skit. 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:56.600 And then he goes. He goes, do you know everybody 0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:58.560 thinks I'm a video director? And I said, do you 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:01.040 know everybody thinks that I play rock and roll? We 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:01.920 had a conversation. 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:06.840 All it takes is you got to direct a Black 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:09.720 Crose video and then the circles complete. 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:12.640 Let's set that up. 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:16.920 You know what, yo, not knowing your everyday life is 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:22.560 but one of the strangest nights in rock star kind 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:25.959 of existence I've ever had. You were a part of it. 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:28.800 I don't even know if you remember it. Do you 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:32.680 remember the night that I came to Atlanta? I don't 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:34.679 even think you took me. I think you just happened 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:38.600 to be there and you became like my you know, 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:42.360 like whoever whoever the your your your guide is on 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:45.080 the first day of kindergarten, or whoever your guide is 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:48.720 on your first day in prison, it's almost the same 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:54.400 thing equivalent. I went to. It wasn't what's Atlanta's most 0:09:54.600 --> 0:10:00.880 popular gentleman's uh, it wasn't a magic city. It was 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:02.040 a magic city though. 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:04.520 It was nis a gentleman's club, it was. 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:05.640 It was someone on that level. 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:08.640 But I remember, I remember, yeah, I forgot where we were. 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:10.480 We were somewhere that was like. 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:16.280 Legitimately, if you are from Atlanta, you freak with this spot. 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:16.720 Right. 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:19.280 Someone told me, like, you know, to go to Magic 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:22.560 City is almost like some tourist shit, like, right, don't 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.120 go to Magic City and you're only going to go 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:28.959 to what's what's the uh, the one that's that has 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:32.360 the letter see in it that's my lounge, yeah, or 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:37.040 the Claremont Clairemont for novelty purposes only, right, Oh, I 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:41.200 never heard of it. But the actual natives and locals go 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:43.679 to the spot that I went to. I forget the 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:48.520 name of it. And I've never seen like I thought, 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:51.400 I've you know, like we'll go to the spot in 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:54.440 Vegas or something like that. I've never seen no shit 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:58.559 like this in my life. Where twenty minutes into the experience, 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:02.760 I realized that the whole purpose of that of that 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:08.320 establishment wasn't It wasn't even the women like they just 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:13.240 happened to be there dancing. It was about breakfast. No, 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:17.320 it's about to find the laws of gravity and how 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:20.080 much muscle power do you have to grab a stack, 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:23.360 throw it up in the air and keep it up 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:25.600 in the air before the last dollar drops. And I 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:29.160 believe that they had like a counter on the wall 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:32.200 like people breaking records, like who who can make it 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:37.719 rain their dollars in the air the longest? And I've 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:41.760 never seen a spot with its own banking system like 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:46.560 so a very much well loved ball player that's near 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:51.560 and dear to my hometown, I will say at that 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:56.559 point he was a young startup in the atl They 0:11:56.559 --> 0:11:59.920 were basically having a who's dick is bigger contest on 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:02.720 whose dollars could stay up in the air more and literally, 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:08.240 like at one point said ballplayer threw up maybe twenty thousand. 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:10.840 And this is when I was my afro was out 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:13.360 and I was rocking a that was in my uh 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:18.720 what do you call it? Freedom fighter for slaves? Not 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:22.200 that turner that Frederick Douglas, Yes, Frederick Douglas. I was 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:27.720 about to say, Frede run Barry, I'm sorry, okay yo. 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:31.560 And I remember two hundred dollars had landed in the 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:35.880 part of my afro, and naturally I was just going 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:38.160 to grab the ship and Chris like don't do that, 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:40.120 They'll come and get it. And I was like huh 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:43.520 and literally I was about to do that and security 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:47.800 is like no, like I couldn't. You couldn't touch the money. 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:50.440 I've never seen no shit like that in my life? 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:50.880 Is that? 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:55.000 Is that night just indicative of what the strip club 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:58.199 experience is because we weren't even like at the tables, 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:01.199 We were just by the bar chilling watching it. 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:03.480 You know what, brother? That is? 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:06.960 Uh, when the money goes up, you can't touch it 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:10.920 on its way down because that's it. Like I've seen 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:13.760 situations where guys have reached for the money on the 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:16.679 floor and it ain't good. So you know, I could 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:18.720 not have my brother reaching for any. 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:21.559 You saved my life. And literally I just wanted to 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:24.559 take it out my hair to give it to like who. 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:27.040 But you can't do that because you ain't throw it. 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:28.960 So you can't act like you're giving it to somebody 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:30.160 because somebody else do it. 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:32.760 Not that that just it was on my person, you know, 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:35.960 there it is. It wasn't possession was nine tenths of 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:40.440 the law you know or whatever. I don't know. Very surreal. 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:42.320 Are you still in Atlanta right now as we speak? 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:45.480 I am not. I'm in Los Angeles. You know what's funny. 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:49.160 People think I'm from Atlanta, but I'm actually from Maryland. 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:49.920 I do. 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:52.079 I thought you were from Atlanta. 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:55.440 Yeah, and I live in LA now, so I still 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:57.160 go back and forth to Maryland. But I think I 0:13:57.200 --> 0:13:59.959 just did so many videos and I did ata. 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:03.560 How the people think that I'm from Atlanta. I love Atlanta. 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:04.320 Shout out Atlanta. 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:08.199 All there, there you go. So normally, you know, we 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:14.120 have mostly musicians on the show. But for you, what's 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:16.520 your beginning step to becoming a lenement? 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:16.839 Like? 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:19.400 How does this? How does this happen? 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:23.880 Well? Like like many other people, and when you're young. 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:25.920 In the beginning, I just knew I was going to 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:29.400 be in the NFL, like you know. Then I realized 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:32.360 when I went to college that I was slow and 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:38.960 short and weak to be in the NFL. One nose 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:46.160 guard Yeah, oh really? Oh well you for real your careal. 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:48.600 Now play some nose enough in high school too, that 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:50.520 was I love those man, it was in the trenches. 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:52.960 I loved it. I'm gonna pretend I know what the 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:53.560 NewsGuard is. 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:56.840 I don't think I know what that means. 0:14:56.840 --> 0:14:58.560 I saw, I saw his face and I'm like, yeah, 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:00.840 it's safe to ask this question. What do you think 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:05.240 a those guard? Yeah, you want to pine in the 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:09.240 face moment this early in the day. Bill, Now I'm good. 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:11.920 Moving on. Nose guard. Are you in the center? Is 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:14.200 that a defensive position? Is that an offensive position? 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.160 Guard is offensive? Is a defensive position. So the center 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:19.800 is the one that snaps the ball to the quarterback. 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:23.080 That's the offensive position. The nose guard is like generally 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:25.000 right in front of the center, Like you're right in 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:26.800 the middle, you know what I mean. On the defense, 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:29.120 So you're trying to penetrate the old line get to 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:29.560 the QB. 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:31.200 You know what that means? 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:33.960 Like, yeah, you penetrate the offensive line to get to 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:34.560 the quarterback. 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:36.120 Came man, Yeah, come on. 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.840 And basically, if you just plug up the hole, which 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:43.200 means you know, three dudes you know, hit you in 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:45.720 the back and the ribs and the chest, then you 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:46.880 did you did your job. 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:50.680 Just just clog it up, you know, running backs and 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:55.880 got up clag it up. But so you know, that 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:58.720 went quick. But in that but when I went to college, 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:00.440 I discovered making. 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:03.960 I went to you know, just took film one oh 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:07.760 one and it I was like this is interesting. 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:09.600 And then I read Spike Lee's. 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:11.720 Book, She's Got to Have It, and it was like 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:17.200 he wrote this specifically to me and blew my mind. 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:20.280 And then at that point, you know, I was off 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:20.760 and running. 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:24.480 So what were you? What were your first steps into 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:25.040 that world? 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:25.320 Like? 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:28.520 Are you most filmmakers I know that either went to 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:30.600 n YU or that sort of thing, Like, what was 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:31.680 your first steps into it? 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:35.720 No, it was more it was more you know, independent 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:37.200 figuring it out. You know. 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:41.280 I went to school in Cali, went back home, took 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:42.480 all kinds of odd jobs. 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:45.400 But I used to put flyers in the record store. 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:47.880 Need a video, call me. 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:53.480 Fly yeah, man, all every now Here's here's the tough part, 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:55.480 because you know, you from Philly, you know, like. 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:59.480 It was so much like club music in Baltimore versus 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:03.680 hip hop. Right, So it was hip hop. 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:06.760 Artists were few and far between, but the hip hop 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:09.439 artists that were there, everybody went through this one record 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:11.720 store and so I got. 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:13.000 A couple joints. 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:16.919 You know, I was learning about getting ten thousand dollars 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:20.119 in a brown paper bag, you know, from some cats 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:24.560 doing their video. And Frank Ski you mentioned earlier, Dude 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:28.840 Brown Brown was a DJ, and then they got in 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:33.040 touch with me and we did two different Dodo Browns. 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:37.520 One of the dude his boy Stanley Evans. He lived 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:40.040 close to me, so he was at a rival high 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:43.879 school back in the day. So and you know Frank was, 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:47.800 he was. He was the guy in boutour like he 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:48.879 ran everything. 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:53.560 So were the radio personalities, Yes, Frank was. Yeah, Frank 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:55.240 Ski ever come to Philly. 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:57.720 Frank went to Atlanta. Remember Frank went to Atlanta and 0:17:57.760 --> 0:17:59.639 was in Atlanta for like twenty years and then he 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:00.080 came back. 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:00.840 Now he's in DC. 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:03.160 So that's probably why you confused, because when you were 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:05.080 in visiting Atlanta you may hear him. 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:08.960 Okay, I know, I know that voice like the early odds. Okay, cool. 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:12.000 But question because you mentioned Baltimore. That means like you 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:13.720 came up in a time of Frank Ski and like 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:16.800 miss Tony right, like can you can you talk about that? 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:19.200 Because come on, people don't talk about Baltimore. 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:22.159 Come on please, So since the beginning of what we 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:25.440 call Baltimore House, yeah okay. 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:27.960 Yeah, I mean listen, it was always around because I know, 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.160 I'll tell you I'm from Baltimore. But every Friday night 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:33.280 they you turn on the radio when it was just 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:36.720 house and I hated it, you know, so I would 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:40.080 go over to Morgan State's station because they would play 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:41.280 hip hop late at night. 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:45.920 So being at home doing those videos, meeting Frank doing 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:50.760 Dude Brown. And then there was a contest. This is 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:53.520 gonna blow your mind. There was a contest on a 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:54.880 show called Pump It Up. 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:55.800 Yeah. 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:04.359 Yes, So the contest was to remake ll Cool Jay's 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:09.159 Booming System. I got my brother, we borrowed somebody's jeep, 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:11.640 I got all my cousins, I got. 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:14.879 Some friends and we shot it in back of Morgan State. 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:19.080 And you know, it was syndicated show, so it was national. 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:23.320 So we send it in a VHS tape and we won, 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:27.600 and it was crazy. We were like what excuse me? 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:31.200 We won? So the prize was you get to go 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:34.560 to New York. It was when Mama said, knock you out, 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:36.679 came out. You got to go to New York and 0:19:36.720 --> 0:19:41.520 have dinner with l L and his grandmother and his 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:45.920 and all the executives. You know what I mean at depth, jam, 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:50.520 you know what I'm saying. So it was it was dope. 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:51.639 Do tell us about it? 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:52.680 Because then what. 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:57.159 Well, yes, it did because it's it's some of the 0:19:57.200 --> 0:20:02.680 best advice I ever got in the busines. So there, 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:08.200 oh no, but I met Paris Barkley later. Okay, right, 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:09.920 so I'm set. 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:16.000 Well l and we are nineteen twenty maybe, and so 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:21.240 I'm going, yo, son, I'm gonna rhyme against hell. LL 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:25.320 have the camera red. I got to tell you, I 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:29.040 always also thought I was gonna be a rapper, like, 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:33.880 oh boy, you know what I'm saying. These are over 0:20:34.080 --> 0:20:38.760 young boy aspirations. You know, every single thing you can 0:20:38.800 --> 0:20:42.480 do in the hood, from a barber to a NFL 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:46.679 to rap, ended up in film. But so we have 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:49.760 a beautiful dinner. Man, I get to meet his mom, 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:54.520 ll the whole thing, and you know, at one point 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:57.760 I give my boy the camera and I go, okay, yo, man, 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:03.119 let's battle and he elder kind of smiles. It's a slight. 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:08.639 Chuckle and he goes, listen, brother, you're very talented. What 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:12.200 you should do is get the number of every one 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:16.440 of these people here, because you know, there were interns 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:19.880 and assistants and people who would like they at Deaf 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:22.920 Jam who were who were given the job to deal 0:21:22.960 --> 0:21:26.960 with this contest and this you know, crazy kid from Baltimore, 0:21:27.400 --> 0:21:30.520 and he said, because you need to have your industry contacts, 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:33.360 so he wouldn't rob against me, thank god, because then 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:35.520 that that would be somewhere out of the universe. 0:21:35.880 --> 0:21:36.560 About now. 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:40.800 But all those people I was with turned into presidents 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:44.240 and executives of the highest. 0:21:44.040 --> 0:21:49.160 Level, and I work with them my whole career. Told you, yeah, man. 0:21:49.520 --> 0:21:55.919 Damn see Tomorrow's intern is is the future president? Was 0:21:55.960 --> 0:21:59.520 he always that presidential? Yes? 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:05.760 He Listen, man, he has always been. He's you know, 0:22:05.880 --> 0:22:09.119 like there's a there's a there's a fabric that is 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:12.840 for the camera and then there's something behind it. He's 0:22:12.880 --> 0:22:16.320 always been the same from me. I've been on one 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:18.159 hundred and twenty fifth Street and he rolls up in 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:20.400 a Bentley and rolls down the window and goes, hey, Chris, 0:22:20.440 --> 0:22:22.760 how you doing and pulls off, and it's. 0:22:22.600 --> 0:22:27.160 Like wow, commercial exactly. 0:22:26.680 --> 0:22:28.720 Like super Solid. 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:32.640 I worked with him on a project during COVID where 0:22:33.480 --> 0:22:34.440 we did. 0:22:34.280 --> 0:22:37.879 These performances like in the in the in the most 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:42.000 storied places because it was COVID, right, and we did 0:22:42.000 --> 0:22:46.440 the Trooper Door with him and just you know, connecting 0:22:46.440 --> 0:22:49.360 with him and having the pre pro calls. It's it's 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:52.800 straight business, but it's love and he keeps it moving. 0:22:52.880 --> 0:22:55.560 He's a bad dude. 0:22:58.560 --> 0:23:02.840 You know. I assume that by this time, Lionel Martin 0:23:04.160 --> 0:23:08.480 is the gatekeeper. So in your eyes, is it like 0:23:09.520 --> 0:23:12.439 I gotta get to Lionel C. Martin level? Like I 0:23:12.480 --> 0:23:15.920 gotta he's the guy. Like I know that Hype Williams 0:23:16.000 --> 0:23:18.520 High Williams told me that he used to sweep the 0:23:18.520 --> 0:23:22.120 floorist with Lionel Martin, and I know that uh Paul 0:23:22.200 --> 0:23:24.639 Hunter did the same thing for Hype. So it's almost 0:23:24.680 --> 0:23:29.399 like a a thing like, so, did you have to 0:23:29.400 --> 0:23:33.399 be an apprentice for an established video director before you 0:23:33.480 --> 0:23:36.639 were truly allowed to run your own thing or you 0:23:36.720 --> 0:23:38.680 just came in the door as a video director. 0:23:39.560 --> 0:23:41.879 As I was going through this process, I also like 0:23:42.680 --> 0:23:45.719 worked in the promo department at Fox forty five News 0:23:45.760 --> 0:23:49.520 in Baltimore, and any movie that came through, I was 0:23:49.520 --> 0:23:52.000 a pa on media man. 0:23:53.000 --> 0:23:59.439 Robert Oh okay, wow, yeah, yeah, yes, you learned. Yeah, 0:23:59.720 --> 0:24:00.800 this is what I learned. 0:24:01.280 --> 0:24:04.200 This might not sound good for the kids. I was like, 0:24:04.440 --> 0:24:08.399 I was like a ham, No, I'm directed. 0:24:08.200 --> 0:24:13.040 Like I'm young, super young, But I go it's I'll 0:24:13.040 --> 0:24:17.120 put it to you this day after working there for weeks. 0:24:17.880 --> 0:24:19.639 You know, as a PA, most of the time you're 0:24:19.680 --> 0:24:22.280 not able to go on the set. You're not able 0:24:22.320 --> 0:24:26.120 to participate. You're doing the dirty work, you know. Same 0:24:26.480 --> 0:24:28.640 and I put my son through the same torture. 0:24:28.720 --> 0:24:31.840 So for our listeners out there, what does that entail? 0:24:32.800 --> 0:24:36.359 It is picking up trash, it's cleaning out toilets and 0:24:36.480 --> 0:24:40.480 win a bay go, it's going to get coffee. It's 0:24:40.640 --> 0:24:44.840 if an artist needs medicine or medicine, you go get 0:24:44.880 --> 0:24:45.639 it and whatever. 0:24:45.720 --> 0:24:47.320 Running never do it. You're the runner. 0:24:47.920 --> 0:24:51.840 So one night we were working overnight, so call time 0:24:52.080 --> 0:24:55.720 was five pm and we'd work until seven am. We're 0:24:55.720 --> 0:24:58.879 in Baltimore, humid to one hundred some degrees as the 0:24:58.920 --> 0:25:02.040 sun starts to come up, and there was a scene 0:25:02.040 --> 0:25:04.639 where all the neighbors on each side of the block 0:25:04.800 --> 0:25:06.840 threw things out the window with medium men. 0:25:07.640 --> 0:25:10.919 And so the AD came to us, our PA. 0:25:10.760 --> 0:25:15.800 Group, and said, okay, you see each square on the sidewalk, 0:25:16.000 --> 0:25:18.000 I want you to go to that square, take a 0:25:18.040 --> 0:25:21.119 photograph and then a polaroid. 0:25:21.119 --> 0:25:23.000 Then I want you to take a box and put 0:25:23.040 --> 0:25:25.320 each thing in that box. 0:25:25.320 --> 0:25:28.400 So when we picked this up later tonight, we can 0:25:28.480 --> 0:25:33.959 place everything in the exact as we looked at that 0:25:34.480 --> 0:25:38.720 three block radius and everybody said, okay, well, we're gonna 0:25:38.720 --> 0:25:39.800 be here another five hours. 0:25:39.800 --> 0:25:42.080 After working for twelve hours, I was like. 0:25:42.240 --> 0:25:45.520 This shall be my last day as a PA, and 0:25:45.560 --> 0:25:47.600 I'm gonna tell and I'm gonna tough it out. 0:25:48.160 --> 0:25:51.919 So that day I left the set, I was like, 0:25:52.400 --> 0:25:54.440 I don't even care if you pay me, I'm out. 0:25:54.840 --> 0:25:57.159 And I dipped And I told Robert this story. I 0:25:57.200 --> 0:25:59.880 saw him recently and as the first time he knew 0:25:59.880 --> 0:26:02.120 that I worked as a PA on his on this thing. 0:26:02.240 --> 0:26:04.959 But I think what it did is that it really 0:26:05.080 --> 0:26:08.440 motivated me, man Like it had me going to New 0:26:08.520 --> 0:26:12.080 York on the M track with fifteen dollars in my pocket, 0:26:12.400 --> 0:26:14.640 going to set in the lobby. I just wanted anybody 0:26:14.680 --> 0:26:17.439 to have my demo tape, you know, which wasn't that 0:26:17.520 --> 0:26:20.399 good to take you down down that I know, but 0:26:20.440 --> 0:26:24.200 I would bug I bugged somebody, you know. Fred Felman 0:26:24.800 --> 0:26:27.960 was a guy profiled, but I called him every day, 0:26:28.000 --> 0:26:29.840 so he was the only guy in the office. Because 0:26:29.840 --> 0:26:31.680 I met him later and he was telling me about it. 0:26:32.040 --> 0:26:34.040 He goes Yo used to call me every day, but 0:26:34.280 --> 0:26:36.680 nobody was in the office. We had like went bankrupt 0:26:36.720 --> 0:26:39.040 or something, but we had a They were kind of 0:26:39.720 --> 0:26:42.800 going from the run DMC era to this new era 0:26:43.560 --> 0:26:47.280 and in these new artists. So finally he hit me 0:26:47.359 --> 0:26:50.479 up and said, yo, I got an artist and Smoothed 0:26:50.480 --> 0:26:51.000 the Hustler. 0:26:51.640 --> 0:26:54.040 And so you did Smooth the Hustler, the Broken Language 0:26:54.280 --> 0:26:55.040 that I did. 0:26:55.240 --> 0:26:58.560 Yeah, before that, I did Smooth's joint. It was just him. 0:26:58.680 --> 0:27:02.000 Then his brother trick him and Trigger got and they 0:27:02.040 --> 0:27:05.560 did Broken Language. But I ended up doing like four 0:27:05.640 --> 0:27:08.200 or five joints for them. They would come to Maryland, 0:27:08.320 --> 0:27:11.879 we would have a barbecue, we would like make posters 0:27:11.960 --> 0:27:15.280 and like have our own release parties. It just was 0:27:15.520 --> 0:27:17.960 it was never about the money because because you know, 0:27:18.520 --> 0:27:20.760 my idea of success was if I could get a 0:27:20.800 --> 0:27:21.679 pair of times. 0:27:21.760 --> 0:27:24.359 I was good, you know, after doing the video. 0:27:25.000 --> 0:27:28.160 From Baltimore, you know Baltimore. 0:27:27.680 --> 0:27:30.600 They weren't black Black Air Force ones though they was, 0:27:30.640 --> 0:27:32.840 buterton I would get. 0:27:33.119 --> 0:27:35.560 If I could get tims, that was it. And that's 0:27:35.760 --> 0:27:39.560 that's how the love part, you know, of doing it began. 0:27:40.080 --> 0:27:42.159 How did you back then when you first started, what 0:27:42.240 --> 0:27:44.760 was your method for creating, Like did you have to 0:27:44.800 --> 0:27:46.600 get with the artists first, or did you just present 0:27:46.640 --> 0:27:50.040 the artists with your idea, like, I guess what's move. 0:27:50.440 --> 0:27:52.960 Oh yeah, we you know, I'd go up meet them. 0:27:53.160 --> 0:27:55.800 You know what's funny is is I think back I 0:27:55.960 --> 0:28:00.800 was so naive that I just thought everybody was friends, 0:28:01.080 --> 0:28:03.640 everybody was cool, Like it was just somebody you would 0:28:03.640 --> 0:28:05.639 meet and I would go up and I'd go straight 0:28:05.720 --> 0:28:07.639 to the heart of Brooklyn and I was meeting M O. 0:28:07.760 --> 0:28:10.880 P and dr period, and I was meeting all these 0:28:10.960 --> 0:28:14.080 dudes who were still in the street and I'd be 0:28:14.119 --> 0:28:15.080 sitting on their stuked. 0:28:15.119 --> 0:28:16.800 Okay, guys, so here's the treat I. 0:28:16.800 --> 0:28:20.000 Would break out the break out the treatment and just 0:28:20.119 --> 0:28:22.440 kind of you know. So there was some storyboards connected 0:28:22.480 --> 0:28:24.720 to it, and I think, you know, they were like. 0:28:24.800 --> 0:28:26.880 Yo, this kid is serious. 0:28:26.960 --> 0:28:30.040 So there was a certain trust that we that we 0:28:30.119 --> 0:28:32.320 got and I you know, we would always just try 0:28:32.359 --> 0:28:33.280 to shoot everything. 0:28:33.680 --> 0:28:36.760 But back then it was like, you know, their mother would. 0:28:36.560 --> 0:28:39.160 Cook for us when we were in Brooklyn shooting and 0:28:39.200 --> 0:28:42.280 we would go to Carolina Kitchen around the corner over 0:28:42.280 --> 0:28:46.080 there in Brooklyn, and it was just that was the start. 0:28:46.240 --> 0:28:49.360 And I think it's funny because just along with technology 0:28:49.400 --> 0:28:52.800 and how things changed. This word would spread. Then I'd 0:28:52.800 --> 0:28:55.400 get a call from this artist. Then I would get 0:28:55.440 --> 0:29:00.000 a call from Fat Joe, and then that relationship started. 0:29:00.160 --> 0:29:02.320 That turned into then I get a call from Fuck, 0:29:02.880 --> 0:29:04.120 then I get a call from Jay. 0:29:04.440 --> 0:29:08.600 It was very much a smaller community, and you would 0:29:08.920 --> 0:29:11.680 it wasn't a phone call or zoom. You went up 0:29:11.720 --> 0:29:14.360 to the office and you sat there and you had 0:29:14.360 --> 0:29:18.120 the conversation before you really did any work. So there 0:29:18.160 --> 0:29:20.680 was a certain you know, you had to be vetted 0:29:21.320 --> 0:29:22.000 by the person. 0:29:22.840 --> 0:29:25.200 All right, let me let me ask a question. As 0:29:25.400 --> 0:29:29.880 a person who especially in the prime of their career, 0:29:30.720 --> 0:29:35.000 you know, I'm the person that would micro manage album credits, 0:29:35.440 --> 0:29:39.720 the engineering of a song, the photographer for like the 0:29:39.840 --> 0:29:45.320 art direction of our album call. But I hated the 0:29:45.440 --> 0:29:49.360 process of video making, even with the whole what they 0:29:49.400 --> 0:29:55.920 do situation, Like I literally had no clue that we 0:29:55.920 --> 0:29:59.080 were referencing one more chance, because that's how indifferent I was, 0:29:59.480 --> 0:30:01.800 Like I was now happened we were. I was snapping 0:30:01.840 --> 0:30:03.680 in the trailer, like I only came when it was 0:30:03.680 --> 0:30:06.239 my time to do a scene. And even when we 0:30:06.360 --> 0:30:11.200 watched watch the credits or whatever, I don't know. I 0:30:11.280 --> 0:30:14.480 just felt like maybe it was the deprecation thing, like I, 0:30:14.520 --> 0:30:17.360 we're so motley looking, like this ain't getting on television. 0:30:17.720 --> 0:30:19.000 So it's almost like. 0:30:19.240 --> 0:30:21.480 You weren't thinking as a director back then, and even 0:30:21.520 --> 0:30:23.000 though you tell these many stories. 0:30:23.080 --> 0:30:25.760 Yeah, it's the It's the equivalent of like a kid 0:30:25.760 --> 0:30:27.960 with a bad report card that waits till like six 0:30:28.000 --> 0:30:29.680 in the morning and ask their parents to sign the 0:30:29.680 --> 0:30:32.760 shit like mom, dad, haaven's real quick, or this permission 0:30:32.760 --> 0:30:35.160 slip like when you're asleep at six in the morning. 0:30:35.200 --> 0:30:38.600 That sort of thing. That's so for me. What I 0:30:38.720 --> 0:30:44.880 what I learned though, what I learned was I think 0:30:45.760 --> 0:30:49.880 especially when record labels, you know, there's certain artists that 0:30:49.920 --> 0:30:54.120 will get an unlimited budget. You know, they have a 0:30:54.120 --> 0:30:56.680 little wigger room for creativity. But how do you deal 0:30:56.720 --> 0:31:02.240 with an artist that has high expectation for their video 0:31:02.280 --> 0:31:04.160 but not the video budget. 0:31:04.400 --> 0:31:05.840 You know what I think? 0:31:06.240 --> 0:31:08.520 I was so close, you know when we were there, 0:31:08.640 --> 0:31:10.760 it is like I was like, yeah, let's go, Like 0:31:10.840 --> 0:31:13.200 I never said no to anything. 0:31:13.640 --> 0:31:17.200 Now. My producer was you know, having a stuff. 0:31:17.000 --> 0:31:21.760 Produces the bad guy. Who's your producer. 0:31:22.960 --> 0:31:26.040 My producer for the last twenty years has been Roseanne 0:31:26.040 --> 0:31:28.520 cunning In. You know, as soon as we opened robot 0:31:28.640 --> 0:31:30.960 like we've been we stuck together this whole time. 0:31:31.560 --> 0:31:33.600 That's dope. So she was the bad cop to your 0:31:33.600 --> 0:31:34.040 good cop. 0:31:34.480 --> 0:31:37.120 Yeah she was. She wasn't only the bad cop cop 0:31:37.280 --> 0:31:39.040 to the label. She'd be the bad cop to me. 0:31:39.720 --> 0:31:42.360 You know. She'd be like, Chris, we're shutting these lights off. 0:31:42.760 --> 0:31:47.000 And you know, back then, you know, which is a 0:31:47.080 --> 0:31:50.960 youthful mistake, I'd go, well, take part of my fee. 0:31:51.520 --> 0:31:54.760 I was always throwing my fee in for extra lights 0:31:54.880 --> 0:31:57.680 or an extra an hour, just because you know, she 0:31:57.840 --> 0:32:01.000 was trying to make sure I didn't bankrupt our company, 0:32:01.320 --> 0:32:04.520 you know, because that's that's you just you just wanted 0:32:04.520 --> 0:32:07.800 it to be because I always you know, I always 0:32:07.800 --> 0:32:10.840 say like it's funny because back then we were all 0:32:10.880 --> 0:32:15.040 fighting for like maybe one hundred slots in the country. 0:32:15.120 --> 0:32:18.640 Right There was TRL but that didn't play a lot 0:32:18.640 --> 0:32:21.400 of hip hop. There was one oh six in Park 0:32:22.040 --> 0:32:24.920 and then you know, of course Ralph McDaniel's and and 0:32:25.120 --> 0:32:29.640 but there wasn't you know where where there's where there's 0:32:29.680 --> 0:32:35.320 a million slots every hour now because you go to YouTube, 0:32:35.400 --> 0:32:38.920 there was a certain amount. So when hip hop got serious, 0:32:38.920 --> 0:32:41.760 it became a business that was generating money. You know, 0:32:42.440 --> 0:32:46.840 those big budgets were a reaction to let's win the slot. 0:32:47.600 --> 0:32:51.200 You know, how does this competition? Hype Williams is doing this? 0:32:51.360 --> 0:32:53.320 Like how do we get there? Like how do we 0:32:53.720 --> 0:32:54.480 how do we create? 0:32:54.520 --> 0:32:57.840 And there was a lot of creativity put into it. 0:32:57.320 --> 0:33:00.360 And so me, I would always go, yes, let's let's 0:33:00.400 --> 0:33:03.479 try to achieve beyond what the number is. 0:33:04.200 --> 0:33:07.080 You know, so you would aim high for a lower 0:33:07.080 --> 0:33:10.200 budget instead of like aiming for good lower, you would 0:33:10.240 --> 0:33:10.920 just aim higher. 0:33:10.960 --> 0:33:14.840 Anyway, I didn't even know what aiming good lower was. 0:33:15.480 --> 0:33:17.920 I mean, just to be real, now I do. Now 0:33:17.960 --> 0:33:20.200 I know what makes sense as a filmmaker to go, okay, 0:33:20.240 --> 0:33:23.320 let's do this really well because we have this amount 0:33:23.320 --> 0:33:26.600 of money in this amount of resources, or let's change 0:33:26.600 --> 0:33:29.080 our idea. Like once that treatment was written and they 0:33:29.680 --> 0:33:32.200 chose it, I really kind of took it on myself 0:33:32.240 --> 0:33:33.600 to like, we got to make it work. 0:33:34.000 --> 0:33:34.200 You know. 0:33:34.520 --> 0:33:37.680 I also came from a world where you know, at 0:33:37.720 --> 0:33:41.640 Geffen Records, they would always throw on my face, hey man, 0:33:42.920 --> 0:33:46.040 we shot smells like teen Spirit for ninety thousand dollars, 0:33:46.680 --> 0:33:51.000 like a gymnasium of two cameras. So yeah, they would 0:33:51.040 --> 0:33:53.680 always say to me, like it's in the song, it's 0:33:53.720 --> 0:33:56.440 in the spirit of the performance. It's not you know, 0:33:56.880 --> 0:33:59.240 we don't need this car or this mansion or I 0:33:59.280 --> 0:34:01.200 mean not like we want in the car mansion. But 0:34:01.880 --> 0:34:04.680 you know, I at least like my thing was, I 0:34:05.160 --> 0:34:07.840 would always fight for like Spikes Jones, like because I 0:34:07.880 --> 0:34:11.720 want to just do crazy, off kilter things right, and 0:34:13.040 --> 0:34:16.960 you know, we were just always always under budget. So 0:34:17.200 --> 0:34:20.239 I mean, after dude, Brown, what do you feel like 0:34:20.360 --> 0:34:23.920 your first video was that really established you? As in like, 0:34:24.840 --> 0:34:27.719 all right, flag planning. There's a new sheriff in town. 0:34:27.760 --> 0:34:28.840 His name is Chris Robinson. 0:34:29.760 --> 0:34:35.080 I would say, Peter Gunns and Lord tie uptown, all. 0:34:35.040 --> 0:34:37.120 Right, So how did you pull off that Yankee shot? 0:34:37.440 --> 0:34:39.200 This is the first time I'm telling this story. 0:34:39.960 --> 0:34:42.160 Yeah, of course we. 0:34:42.160 --> 0:34:42.880 Want to be uptown. 0:34:42.920 --> 0:34:45.560 We want to be in Yankee Stadium, and this is 0:34:45.600 --> 0:34:47.480 the beauty of that era. 0:34:48.040 --> 0:34:53.040 And we and music videos, my producers got all the 0:34:53.120 --> 0:34:57.000 way up to George Steinbrent right like we were. 0:34:57.160 --> 0:35:03.160 We were coming bringing hip hop Yankee Stadium. And at 0:35:03.160 --> 0:35:06.399 the end of the day he said no, and we 0:35:06.400 --> 0:35:11.799 were devastated. And then me, this may be sacrilegious for. 0:35:11.760 --> 0:35:14.120 All of New York people don't say Mets. 0:35:14.520 --> 0:35:16.799 We went to the Mets stadium. 0:35:19.960 --> 0:35:23.920 We went to Queens and and I was like, how 0:35:23.920 --> 0:35:25.800 do we make this look like Yankee Stadium? 0:35:26.440 --> 0:35:29.839 And we did our best, But see, you didn't know, 0:35:30.000 --> 0:35:31.640 but I'm telling I'm telling you said, how did you 0:35:31.719 --> 0:35:32.760 do the Yankee shot? 0:35:33.160 --> 0:35:36.080 And why did y'all think it was the Yankees? Then 0:35:36.080 --> 0:35:38.080 how did y'all think it was? Because I'm sitting here looking. 0:35:38.080 --> 0:35:42.440 Like uptown man, like I just assumed, okay, but they 0:35:42.440 --> 0:35:44.719 were also wearing like Yankee shit? How did you pull 0:35:44.800 --> 0:35:45.280 that off? 0:35:45.760 --> 0:35:49.600 Exactly? That's that was that's the director has to go, 0:35:49.719 --> 0:35:51.920 how do you draw the eye? 0:35:52.400 --> 0:35:55.799 Everybody had on Yankee jackets, but then you also had 0:35:55.800 --> 0:35:57.760 everybody from the Bronx, pun Joe. 0:35:58.280 --> 0:36:01.200 All these cats were in the audio we did. 0:36:01.360 --> 0:36:03.760 We had like instead of them having beer and hot dogs, 0:36:03.800 --> 0:36:06.719 there was like champagne bottles that the guy walking around with. 0:36:07.320 --> 0:36:09.359 And we got to get on the field, we got 0:36:09.400 --> 0:36:12.399 to see the you know, the scoreboard and how. 0:36:12.320 --> 0:36:14.000 Did you Yeah, how did you look that up? Though? 0:36:14.080 --> 0:36:18.240 So that listen we went on. That's that's how serious 0:36:18.320 --> 0:36:21.440 it became. Like we would we would move like a 0:36:21.440 --> 0:36:22.120 feature film. 0:36:22.640 --> 0:36:25.480 But did the Mets know what you were doing directly? 0:36:26.040 --> 0:36:26.759 I don't think so. 0:36:26.880 --> 0:36:31.759 I don't think it's very much stadium though. 0:36:31.800 --> 0:36:35.399 Man, now that I know that's what it's like, that 0:36:35.800 --> 0:36:36.440 is so different. 0:36:36.600 --> 0:36:40.319 Yeah, exactly, But that was a beautiful day. 0:36:41.160 --> 0:36:44.880 Wow. I also know that as a director, second nature 0:36:44.920 --> 0:36:50.160 for you has to be Jedi mind tricking. And I 0:36:50.200 --> 0:36:52.560 know again, like your producer has to be the bad 0:36:52.640 --> 0:36:56.160 guy or the shield. You know, your producer has to 0:36:56.200 --> 0:37:02.200 know if you're singing with a a a certain chantu 0:37:02.280 --> 0:37:06.840 is a certain singer that there might be three hundred 0:37:06.920 --> 0:37:08.480 seconds in her minute. 0:37:08.719 --> 0:37:08.920 You know. 0:37:09.600 --> 0:37:13.200 So you might have to tell people like, okay, this 0:37:13.680 --> 0:37:15.560 the shoots at four o'clock and then they show up 0:37:15.560 --> 0:37:18.479 at nine o'clock or whatever, which is what you wanted 0:37:18.480 --> 0:37:20.600 them to do in the first place, or whatever. But like, 0:37:20.680 --> 0:37:24.160 how do you how do you immediately know that you're 0:37:24.200 --> 0:37:30.040 dealing with like that level of uh, Jedi mind tricking 0:37:30.640 --> 0:37:31.799 with your artists. 0:37:32.120 --> 0:37:35.319 You can only Jedi mind trick so much, right, And 0:37:35.360 --> 0:37:39.680 that's that's in your schedule, right, But it's planned b 0:37:39.960 --> 0:37:43.279 that's the most important part, right, Like when you set 0:37:43.320 --> 0:37:47.520 your day up, be prepared to shoot all the other 0:37:47.600 --> 0:37:51.680 stuff you need in case somebody comes six hours late 0:37:52.280 --> 0:37:53.400 and six hours. 0:37:53.120 --> 0:37:55.400 Late, so you do your b shots first. 0:37:55.960 --> 0:37:57.880 Oh yeah, oh yeah. 0:37:58.040 --> 0:38:00.120 Is that is that general for you? Or is that 0:38:00.480 --> 0:38:02.000 is that video making one on one? 0:38:02.800 --> 0:38:07.400 I think it's I think it's a learned behavior, you 0:38:07.440 --> 0:38:08.040 know what I'm saying. 0:38:08.480 --> 0:38:10.680 Like, you know, I started off like you know, once 0:38:10.680 --> 0:38:12.560 you set everything up and you set the first shot 0:38:12.560 --> 0:38:15.040 and you set the lights and we were sitting there waiting, 0:38:15.080 --> 0:38:18.960 sitting on apple boxes, you just learn because the artist 0:38:19.120 --> 0:38:22.400 eventually shows up. It's their money, it's their music video. 0:38:22.880 --> 0:38:25.759 But you may not get your whole creative off like 0:38:25.880 --> 0:38:28.359 you wanted it. The video might not be as dope 0:38:28.400 --> 0:38:30.080 as you want it to be. So you figure out 0:38:30.120 --> 0:38:35.319 ways just to get the video to your vision. And 0:38:35.840 --> 0:38:39.120 you know, when you get repeat business, you know you 0:38:39.160 --> 0:38:43.200 would learn like, oh, Nor's gonna be three hours late. 0:38:43.480 --> 0:38:45.359 You know, there was a there was a tweaking of 0:38:45.480 --> 0:38:49.040 like some people were twenty minutes late, some people were early, 0:38:49.320 --> 0:38:51.600 and you better show up and be there on time. 0:38:51.680 --> 0:38:54.720 And so once you kind of got that repeat business, 0:38:54.719 --> 0:38:56.160 you kind of understand who did what. 0:38:56.640 --> 0:38:57.279 Did you have? 0:38:57.480 --> 0:38:59.680 We talked about you reading the Spike Lee book, but 0:38:59.760 --> 0:39:02.200 like did you have a mentor in this game? And 0:39:02.560 --> 0:39:06.680 along with that question, what other influences are a part. 0:39:06.560 --> 0:39:08.160 Of your work that we may not know when it 0:39:08.160 --> 0:39:08.920 comes to direction. 0:39:10.400 --> 0:39:13.720 No, no mentor, no real mentor. 0:39:14.360 --> 0:39:16.600 It was you are the roots of directing. 0:39:17.520 --> 0:39:23.000 No, there you go, you walk like okay, this, yeah, 0:39:23.239 --> 0:39:25.840 that's that's kind of what it was. And because of 0:39:25.880 --> 0:39:31.239 all of the times in Baltimore, nothing scared me, right, 0:39:31.520 --> 0:39:33.960 you know, because I was already dealing with all of 0:39:34.000 --> 0:39:37.080 these guys who's who how can you say it? The 0:39:37.120 --> 0:39:40.280 stakes were very high, right, you had to get this 0:39:40.280 --> 0:39:44.239 this right. So I was like in a playground. 0:39:44.280 --> 0:39:46.400 Man. I just was like going and I was like, 0:39:46.400 --> 0:39:47.799 oh my god, they're gonna let me do this. 0:39:48.239 --> 0:39:50.279 And then you take the next step, Oh we got 0:39:50.280 --> 0:39:52.680 another phone call. I think I will quit my job, 0:39:52.800 --> 0:39:55.359 and you know, it just it just builds from there. 0:39:55.840 --> 0:40:00.120 But yeah, no, no real mentor. And that scene I 0:40:00.160 --> 0:40:02.040 was looking for that early, you. 0:40:02.000 --> 0:40:04.799 Know, along with you know, doing Judie Ground and all that. 0:40:04.920 --> 0:40:07.000 Like there'd be movies that came. 0:40:06.840 --> 0:40:12.879 Through Baltimore or TV shows and you nobody when you're 0:40:12.920 --> 0:40:15.680 in that zone of the PA, nobody really has time 0:40:15.680 --> 0:40:18.839 for you, right, And most of them aren't you know, 0:40:19.360 --> 0:40:22.279 aren't like your people. So that's what happened in the 0:40:22.560 --> 0:40:26.919 video is I was embraced by people like me who 0:40:27.000 --> 0:40:30.759 just happened to be the big star or the big executive. 0:40:31.040 --> 0:40:32.440 Kevin Lowles is from Baltimore. 0:40:32.520 --> 0:40:36.879 Yeah, I about to ask you, so, did you guys 0:40:36.880 --> 0:40:38.680 know each other? Early on when he was. 0:40:38.920 --> 0:40:42.320 I know, I knew Kevin Lyles. I knew of Kevin Lyles. 0:40:42.320 --> 0:40:45.120 He was like a legend because he had a song 0:40:45.160 --> 0:40:48.160 in Baltimore and he was an artist first, so all 0:40:48.200 --> 0:40:52.839 of us in Baltimore like exactly the new Marks, and 0:40:52.880 --> 0:40:54.600 we were just yeah, he was a legend, and then 0:40:54.640 --> 0:40:56.200 he was a death jam and we were like, oh 0:40:56.200 --> 0:40:59.440 my god, every single I can't imagine how many. 0:40:59.280 --> 0:41:01.360 People from baltim More called Kevin Lyns because he was 0:41:01.360 --> 0:41:04.759 our one guy in the music business. So I think 0:41:04.800 --> 0:41:07.040 everybody was you. 0:41:07.160 --> 0:41:09.279 Was from Baltimore. Though there was a moment when when 0:41:09.280 --> 0:41:10.680 he went, oh shit. 0:41:11.160 --> 0:41:15.440 Okay, I can't I can't remember. I can't remember. I 0:41:15.480 --> 0:41:19.319 know he he is funny. I've seen Russell Simmons more 0:41:19.360 --> 0:41:22.839 than I've seen Kevin wow, right, because he. 0:41:22.880 --> 0:41:26.280 Was those white people also think that Kevin is Russell 0:41:26.280 --> 0:41:40.880 Simmons Also, I just automatically assumed, especially because black directors 0:41:40.920 --> 0:41:45.600 that finally get let past the develvet rope, that you 0:41:45.760 --> 0:41:49.200 guys automatically know each other and hang with each other. 0:41:50.800 --> 0:41:56.600 I mean, let me ask, like, is it territorial pissing? 0:41:56.719 --> 0:42:02.400 Like like once you're established, are you were you phone 0:42:02.440 --> 0:42:06.240 buddies with in your beginning, like with a Linel or 0:42:06.280 --> 0:42:09.920 a Hype or a Sangie or. 0:42:11.760 --> 0:42:11.920 More. 0:42:12.640 --> 0:42:14.840 People pretty much very competitive and just kept in. 0:42:14.840 --> 0:42:22.759 Themselves absolutely competitive, right because we were all signed to companies, right, 0:42:22.800 --> 0:42:25.839 so they it's really interesting they knew what they were doing. 0:42:26.280 --> 0:42:30.120 The companies really understood like, oh wow, we're getting five 0:42:30.160 --> 0:42:32.919 hundred thousand dollars. You know, we're breaking the director off 0:42:33.239 --> 0:42:37.640 you know a percentage of that. But we the more 0:42:37.719 --> 0:42:40.080 this business of hip hop grows, the more of these 0:42:40.160 --> 0:42:42.319 guys we want. So some of us ended up at 0:42:42.320 --> 0:42:46.600 the same companies. And but to answer your question, competitive 0:42:46.840 --> 0:42:51.840 all day. For me, Lionel Martin was like a north 0:42:51.840 --> 0:42:56.279 Star like his work, his creativity, his his just what 0:42:56.480 --> 0:43:00.000 he was able to bring. But then when you met 0:43:00.080 --> 0:43:03.320 all the other people who were like his line producer, 0:43:03.440 --> 0:43:05.640 his art director, like just being in New York and 0:43:05.680 --> 0:43:08.920 working on things. There was a cross pollination because all 0:43:08.960 --> 0:43:12.960 those people that are below the line, which is a 0:43:13.080 --> 0:43:16.160 whack term, but you know the people who the craftsman, 0:43:16.840 --> 0:43:20.719 they're working on everybody stuff, so they may even go, hey, man, Line, 0:43:20.840 --> 0:43:22.560 I just worked with this kid Chris. So I just 0:43:22.600 --> 0:43:26.080 worked with this kid X and. 0:43:25.160 --> 0:43:25.959 You get known. 0:43:26.440 --> 0:43:32.480 But I think for us Hype in line. First it 0:43:32.560 --> 0:43:35.120 was Linel of course, but then Heype was like a 0:43:35.239 --> 0:43:36.160 super north Star. 0:43:36.680 --> 0:43:42.399 And then all of us meet Paul X, Benny, Dave Myers, you. 0:43:42.360 --> 0:43:47.279 Know Benny love Benny, and I think we were all 0:43:47.440 --> 0:43:51.280 in a friendly competition. We were in a friendly competition 0:43:51.360 --> 0:43:54.759 in the most beautiful way because then we'd see each 0:43:54.800 --> 0:43:57.040 other in the oh, we're in the streets to LA, 0:43:57.200 --> 0:43:59.120 or we're at this party or at this thing, and 0:43:59.160 --> 0:44:01.919 then we would I'd be our first opportunity to chop 0:44:01.960 --> 0:44:03.799 it up, first opportunity to talk. 0:44:03.880 --> 0:44:08.040 Then you found like, oh, his brother's cool or you 0:44:08.080 --> 0:44:08.640 know whatever. 0:44:08.760 --> 0:44:12.080 So and then as we've grown, we've been like cheering 0:44:12.080 --> 0:44:15.120 for each other. It was so hard to break into TV, right, 0:44:15.360 --> 0:44:16.560 so if I was did. 0:44:16.440 --> 0:44:19.080 Something in TV, I'd get a call from Benny or whatever, 0:44:19.200 --> 0:44:21.640 like yo, how did you? You know, how did you 0:44:21.680 --> 0:44:23.440 get over that hump? And I'm trying to you know, 0:44:23.480 --> 0:44:25.400 I remember when Benny was trying to get his first 0:44:25.480 --> 0:44:26.680 TV episode. 0:44:27.239 --> 0:44:29.279 You know, same thing with me. You know, I had 0:44:29.280 --> 0:44:31.880 to be brought in by that. So I think the 0:44:31.920 --> 0:44:34.480 same thing happened with us as we grew. I remember 0:44:34.480 --> 0:44:36.640 the first time, I'll give. 0:44:36.480 --> 0:44:41.080 You a little little who we got? Who is? Benny 0:44:41.840 --> 0:44:47.359 was Hype's first A d okay? Right then Benny. 0:44:49.000 --> 0:44:52.040 The first big video he got a Puffy called me 0:44:52.840 --> 0:44:54.839 and did he now? 0:44:54.920 --> 0:44:56.759 So did? He called me and he was like, Chris, 0:44:56.760 --> 0:44:58.239 I want you to do this video. I think it 0:44:58.280 --> 0:44:59.000 was genuine. 0:45:01.280 --> 0:45:02.160 I don't want to know. 0:45:03.520 --> 0:45:04.400 I did it. I don't want to know. 0:45:04.440 --> 0:45:05.880 That's right, I did. 0:45:06.520 --> 0:45:08.000 But this was like there on a bridge. 0:45:08.040 --> 0:45:11.319 It was dope, dope video, and me and Puff had 0:45:11.360 --> 0:45:13.520 been working a lot by then. You know, Puff is 0:45:14.640 --> 0:45:21.359 extremely demanding executive. So yeah, the budget was low, right, 0:45:21.760 --> 0:45:25.640 So I said the budget was, I mean, we'll see, 0:45:25.640 --> 0:45:28.799 it's all perspective because I think it back then it 0:45:28.880 --> 0:45:32.160 was like one seventy five, which today for the movies 0:45:32.239 --> 0:45:36.720 that was directed exactly. But he had been spending north 0:45:36.760 --> 0:45:41.040 of four hundred thousand and still being unsatisfied if you 0:45:41.160 --> 0:45:44.839 didn't get to the to the thing right. So I said, look, man, 0:45:44.960 --> 0:45:47.720 you're going to be out there yelling and screaming and mad. 0:45:48.239 --> 0:45:50.160 Why don't you just raise the budget a little bit. 0:45:50.520 --> 0:45:52.480 So He's like, I can't raise the budget. This song 0:45:52.480 --> 0:45:53.240 ain't charging. 0:45:53.040 --> 0:45:56.200 No, no, no, And so I was going to do it, 0:45:56.800 --> 0:46:00.760 but I but he moved on and he gave Benny 0:46:00.800 --> 0:46:04.880 the job, and that video blew Benny up, and Puff 0:46:04.960 --> 0:46:07.960 called me after that was like, hey, yeah, you're up 0:46:07.960 --> 0:46:09.839 on the hill at the House on the Hill. Now 0:46:10.120 --> 0:46:15.960 you ain't trying to grind no more. Now He like 0:46:16.160 --> 0:46:19.799 dug it in. But you know, like yeah, but. 0:46:19.760 --> 0:46:22.960 That was dope because that was Benny's opportunity. And then 0:46:23.000 --> 0:46:27.440 the other part of that is that Melina was Benny's assistant. 0:46:27.640 --> 0:46:32.000 Wow, yeah, Benny. She was Benny's assistant. 0:46:32.400 --> 0:46:34.840 And then I remember there was a video for Ludacris 0:46:34.880 --> 0:46:38.680 that he didn't do that she did, and then that 0:46:38.719 --> 0:46:41.359 blew her up. So there, So I think the thing 0:46:41.400 --> 0:46:45.920 that I appreciate about our era in our community is 0:46:45.960 --> 0:46:50.759 that all those pieces like connected in some kind of 0:46:50.760 --> 0:46:53.839 way to push us where we are. 0:46:53.880 --> 0:46:55.320 We got to just keep going. 0:46:55.680 --> 0:47:01.400 So, okay, when you are putting flyers in the record stores, right, 0:47:01.880 --> 0:47:07.439 I'll do your video and you start making traction. At 0:47:07.480 --> 0:47:11.880 what point do you realize that there's a pivot to 0:47:11.960 --> 0:47:17.640 this and that maybe you want to start doing something 0:47:17.680 --> 0:47:20.440 more like maybe the next step up is epk's and 0:47:20.480 --> 0:47:23.160 then the next step is commercials. Then the next step 0:47:23.200 --> 0:47:28.640 of is episodes production company. So for you, what was 0:47:28.680 --> 0:47:33.719 your first pivot too, Hey, there's something more I can 0:47:33.760 --> 0:47:36.440 do besides the music video. 0:47:36.960 --> 0:47:40.800 Yeah, I wish that I could be like Yo, And 0:47:40.480 --> 0:47:43.560 then I saw the light, you know, but I was 0:47:43.680 --> 0:47:48.839 so dug into music videos that I didn't see anything else. 0:47:48.920 --> 0:47:54.120 Like the start was music videos were never a dream. 0:47:55.080 --> 0:47:57.960 It was making movies, you know, after reading She's got 0:47:57.960 --> 0:47:59.200 to have it right, So. 0:47:59.120 --> 0:48:02.480 You wanted to make movies from the gate gate from 0:48:02.560 --> 0:48:06.040 the gate, I wrote, Okay, I wrote a feature I 0:48:06.040 --> 0:48:08.760 wrote a feature script, you know, when I was twenty. 0:48:09.120 --> 0:48:11.560 Of course, it's like every twenty year old script. That 0:48:11.719 --> 0:48:13.520 was a story about me, about a kid who went 0:48:13.560 --> 0:48:15.359 to college and then the old thing. 0:48:15.480 --> 0:48:16.000 Right. 0:48:16.200 --> 0:48:20.600 So, but then as I was trying to work within 0:48:20.680 --> 0:48:25.200 the business, because I did all those warehouse jobs and 0:48:25.239 --> 0:48:27.680 those you know, janitorial. 0:48:27.040 --> 0:48:29.799 Jobs, and I was like, I gotta figure out how 0:48:29.800 --> 0:48:34.080 to stay in the in the game. Music videos became 0:48:34.400 --> 0:48:37.480 a way to make two hundred dollars. Then it just 0:48:37.560 --> 0:48:40.600 grew and the business I just timing was right, and 0:48:40.680 --> 0:48:43.520 the business grew, and I was like, I'm never going 0:48:43.600 --> 0:48:46.120 back because I had a couple of dollars and I 0:48:46.200 --> 0:48:47.360 just was like, I'm never. 0:48:47.200 --> 0:48:50.040 Going back to how that felt, you know, being in 0:48:50.080 --> 0:48:52.879 a guard shack as a security guard with a rat 0:48:52.960 --> 0:48:55.120 running under the you know what I mean, in Baltimore. 0:48:55.280 --> 0:48:58.160 So I just tried to get better and better and 0:48:58.239 --> 0:49:01.799 better and better and there and I was embedded in 0:49:01.840 --> 0:49:02.440 the culture. 0:49:03.200 --> 0:49:07.280 And you know, when I went to a bigger company, 0:49:07.320 --> 0:49:11.279 which was Michelle Gandri's company, part of the you know, 0:49:11.360 --> 0:49:14.239 there was an executive there who was like, man, you 0:49:14.360 --> 0:49:17.320 need to shoot commercials, and it was so funny. 0:49:17.920 --> 0:49:21.200 I had my one experience. I did Maya in Common 0:49:21.280 --> 0:49:22.160 for Coca Cold. 0:49:22.920 --> 0:49:24.480 You shot that, Oh. 0:49:26.840 --> 0:49:27.439 Yeah, I didn't. 0:49:27.440 --> 0:49:29.400 I didn't know you directed that joint. I wasn't on 0:49:29.440 --> 0:49:31.480 the set, but I did the music to that. 0:49:31.600 --> 0:49:35.799 Of course you did exactly so, but. 0:49:35.480 --> 0:49:39.160 But I that experience. Once I did it, it didn't 0:49:39.160 --> 0:49:42.640 feel good. To me because when you do a commercial, 0:49:44.120 --> 0:49:47.080 every time you do a take, you stop. You have 0:49:47.120 --> 0:49:50.040 to look back at the agency, and the agency is 0:49:50.080 --> 0:49:53.839 huddled around the TV. And then then they tell you 0:49:54.440 --> 0:49:57.520 if you can move on, even if you can move 0:49:57.520 --> 0:49:59.759 to the medium shot. And so I've had a few 0:49:59.840 --> 0:50:02.440 years is now and of being like the record company 0:50:02.560 --> 0:50:06.399 just having trust and going Okay, man, thanks, we're gonna 0:50:06.440 --> 0:50:08.759 we're gonna go to lunch while you guys do this. 0:50:08.800 --> 0:50:11.600 We'll be back later, and just having kind of that 0:50:11.760 --> 0:50:19.560 full creative power. And what I didn't realize is that, man, 0:50:20.200 --> 0:50:23.840 you should you should really make these relationships like l 0:50:24.160 --> 0:50:28.040 to me back in the day, like advertising is a 0:50:28.160 --> 0:50:31.920 thing you can bring your talent to this world. And 0:50:32.000 --> 0:50:34.560 because of that executive, I did a. 0:50:34.480 --> 0:50:37.879 Lot of stuff. I did Nike and Gatorading. I got 0:50:37.880 --> 0:50:40.560 to do a lot, but I never enjoyed it. I 0:50:40.600 --> 0:50:44.040 just wanted to get back to, you know, dealing with 0:50:44.280 --> 0:50:44.560 you know. 0:50:45.800 --> 0:50:48.040 What I knew I was going to use this moment 0:50:48.080 --> 0:50:51.840 to ask, was that the executive was that Ron Fair 0:50:53.680 --> 0:50:56.200 micromanaging you. 0:50:56.640 --> 0:51:00.000 Ron Fair. Ron Fair didn't mess with me too much. Cool. 0:51:01.440 --> 0:51:03.120 He's probably the reason why I didn't want to go 0:51:03.160 --> 0:51:06.160 to a commercial suit like he. I mean at the time, 0:51:06.200 --> 0:51:10.400 I was like regularly producing Common so I thought, okay, 0:51:10.880 --> 0:51:12.880 really I thought, okay, this is gonna be my audition 0:51:12.960 --> 0:51:15.440 to start working with Maya. But I didn't realize that 0:51:15.560 --> 0:51:18.960 Ron Fair was being brought in to make sure that 0:51:19.120 --> 0:51:23.200 like basically he just kud A Todd the whole thing, 0:51:23.239 --> 0:51:24.120 and like, is he. 0:51:24.120 --> 0:51:26.080 What the advertising company or is he what the. 0:51:26.840 --> 0:51:29.439 Ron Fair is the guy who famously told the Black 0:51:29.480 --> 0:51:32.920 Eyed Peas, look, guys, you could either be a success 0:51:33.120 --> 0:51:34.759 or you could be the roots. Which one you want 0:51:34.760 --> 0:51:43.000 to be? Like Ron Fair was Jimmy I Bean's right 0:51:43.000 --> 0:51:43.480 hand man. 0:51:43.840 --> 0:51:46.080 That's why we gotta have will on ou know what 0:51:46.160 --> 0:51:48.680 you know? If he made. 0:51:48.200 --> 0:51:52.480 So, you're still my buddy. 0:51:52.640 --> 0:51:54.960 But yeah, I remember Ron Fair used to come with 0:51:55.040 --> 0:52:00.600 his Dora and he just right, he was come through. 0:52:02.920 --> 0:52:05.759 He didn't bother me too much like he But it's 0:52:05.800 --> 0:52:07.560 just weird, you know when you think back, Like my 0:52:07.719 --> 0:52:12.400 focus was so on the work, you know, and until 0:52:12.480 --> 0:52:14.600 the ad who you know, we had worked together so 0:52:14.640 --> 0:52:17.480 many times shout out Moni Greenley. 0:52:18.000 --> 0:52:21.120 He was like, okay, I'd be going on to the 0:52:21.120 --> 0:52:23.640 next shot to go Chris, Okay, we gotta stop, we 0:52:23.719 --> 0:52:28.360 gotta have this conversation with these eighteen people, so that 0:52:28.719 --> 0:52:33.919 pivot didn't really happen, you know, like like I thought 0:52:33.960 --> 0:52:36.480 about it and did the pivot. It happened because there 0:52:36.520 --> 0:52:39.160 was an executive who recognized. 0:52:39.080 --> 0:52:41.359 This is gonna sound real random. But as you're talking, 0:52:41.440 --> 0:52:43.880 it just made me think. So, did did the Wire 0:52:44.000 --> 0:52:46.880 have any effect on you in a way as a director? 0:52:47.960 --> 0:52:50.799 No, just I was I was in I was. I 0:52:50.800 --> 0:52:53.600 remember I used to watch The Wire in the edit 0:52:53.680 --> 0:52:58.280 facility while I was in La Wow. The only effect 0:52:58.440 --> 0:53:00.239 that it had on me was everybody going, is it 0:53:00.280 --> 0:53:01.360 really like that in Baltimore? 0:53:02.680 --> 0:53:04.640 I start as a director and being from Baltimore, and 0:53:04.760 --> 0:53:06.680 it made you to go like, maybe there is something 0:53:06.680 --> 0:53:09.400 else for me outside of these commercials in this video 0:53:09.719 --> 0:53:12.040 and you know, I didn't know that made you feel like. 0:53:12.640 --> 0:53:15.920 Well, by the time the Wire came, yeah, I was. 0:53:15.960 --> 0:53:20.560 I was pretty pretty deep in it. So I definitely 0:53:20.640 --> 0:53:23.600 wanted to shoot the Wire and I had. One of 0:53:23.600 --> 0:53:27.520 the things that I regret to this day is I 0:53:27.560 --> 0:53:30.640 got a call from Bob Colesberg, who was one of 0:53:30.640 --> 0:53:33.680 the creators of Wire, and Bob Colesbery said, hey, man, 0:53:33.680 --> 0:53:35.799 we heard you from Baltimore. I saw your work. Would 0:53:35.840 --> 0:53:39.680 you come and do an episode? Hell? Yeah, I'm coming. 0:53:40.120 --> 0:53:41.359 All right? So this is this. 0:53:41.320 --> 0:53:43.680 Is this is how you you know, this is what 0:53:43.760 --> 0:53:48.480 you learned about agents and everything, right, Okay, So Listen 0:53:48.480 --> 0:53:54.000 invited me to come and direct. And when I talked later, 0:53:54.080 --> 0:53:56.560 there's some guys who were on there like it just Elba. 0:53:57.000 --> 0:53:59.879 They had told the actors like, yo, Chris Roberts is coming, 0:54:00.080 --> 0:54:01.840 were like, Yo, don't you know, We're gonna get this 0:54:01.880 --> 0:54:04.759 brother to come through. So I had done atl and 0:54:04.840 --> 0:54:07.800 I was in post. I mean I was almost done. 0:54:08.280 --> 0:54:11.160 I think we were like just doing the sound. And 0:54:11.600 --> 0:54:14.960 my agent was like, well, Chris, you probably shouldn't do 0:54:15.040 --> 0:54:17.839 that because maybe Warner Brothers might feel. 0:54:17.560 --> 0:54:20.560 Away, and you know, I'm new. You know, I'm new 0:54:20.719 --> 0:54:24.280 as far as like working with us. It's my first movie. 0:54:25.000 --> 0:54:28.920 And I listened to him and that was a mistake. 0:54:29.680 --> 0:54:34.759 But then how God works, I got another call and 0:54:34.840 --> 0:54:38.279 I was working on What was I working on? I 0:54:38.320 --> 0:54:42.279 was working on some big, big opportunity, but it was 0:54:42.280 --> 0:54:44.000 the same thing. Like I was in post and they 0:54:44.040 --> 0:54:48.120 offered it to me again, and I didn't do it. 0:54:48.320 --> 0:54:49.680 I couldn't do it. I was in the middle of 0:54:49.680 --> 0:54:50.759 you know what it was. I was in the middle 0:54:50.760 --> 0:54:54.239 of a movie that never happened, right. You know, you 0:54:54.320 --> 0:54:57.360 do a movie like they don't pay you, you're on 0:54:57.440 --> 0:54:58.360 it for a year. 0:54:58.480 --> 0:55:00.399 And then if it pops, you go. 0:55:00.880 --> 0:55:03.319 So I was in the middle of this and once 0:55:03.360 --> 0:55:07.000 again I got that advice and didn't do it. 0:55:07.080 --> 0:55:08.960 So will you be on a movie for a year 0:55:09.000 --> 0:55:09.919 and they don't pay you? 0:55:10.000 --> 0:55:10.680 What is this? 0:55:10.760 --> 0:55:11.800 What is this movie? 0:55:11.920 --> 0:55:12.200 Magic? 0:55:13.120 --> 0:55:16.480 No, y'all gotta let me tell you something. 0:55:17.440 --> 0:55:19.399 Y'all better tell these people the real story of how 0:55:19.400 --> 0:55:21.759 this shit happens. Because people just think the money is 0:55:21.760 --> 0:55:24.160 thrown in the beginning. They make a deal and you're 0:55:24.280 --> 0:55:26.000 rich throughout the making of it to the end, and 0:55:26.000 --> 0:55:26.879 didn't you get stuff on. 0:55:26.800 --> 0:55:27.359 The back end. 0:55:27.600 --> 0:55:31.759 To make a movie is difficult, as question of to 0:55:31.840 --> 0:55:39.200 make a mediocre movie is difficult. It is brutal to 0:55:39.280 --> 0:55:40.560 think of all these things. 0:55:40.440 --> 0:55:41.920 That are in your head and how you have to 0:55:41.960 --> 0:55:45.239 work with a crew of people to make all this 0:55:45.320 --> 0:55:48.920 stuff work, the personalities, the actors. 0:55:48.960 --> 0:55:51.239 It's difficult. Right to make a great movie. 0:55:52.280 --> 0:55:59.239 That director is like miracle genius genius level, right, a 0:55:59.280 --> 0:56:03.680 miracle worker. I always look at these guys when you 0:56:03.760 --> 0:56:05.760 when you watch a movie and you are just thoroughly 0:56:05.800 --> 0:56:06.600 satisfied and. 0:56:06.560 --> 0:56:10.239 Go, what did he go through to make this? To 0:56:10.280 --> 0:56:14.160 make this thing happen? And having the experience now it's 0:56:14.239 --> 0:56:19.680 it's it's difficult. But every movie you see, there's this 0:56:19.760 --> 0:56:22.680 last movie I did with you know, Shooting Stars. 0:56:24.000 --> 0:56:26.400 I'm on that movie for three and a half years, 0:56:26.880 --> 0:56:31.520 because there's there's the prep and then there's oh, we're 0:56:31.520 --> 0:56:32.480 gonna go Oh. 0:56:32.440 --> 0:56:34.839 Actually the studio is going to push it till next year, 0:56:35.440 --> 0:56:37.879 like you know, that's just the that's just the way 0:56:37.880 --> 0:56:42.479 it ends. And the book. The producer got the rights 0:56:42.480 --> 0:56:46.319 to the book thirteen years ago. So when you you 0:56:46.360 --> 0:56:47.920 would think, oh it's Lebron. 0:56:47.760 --> 0:56:50.600 James, this is a layup, this movie is gonna get 0:56:50.640 --> 0:56:54.719 made quickly, it took thirteen years for that movie to 0:56:54.760 --> 0:56:56.279 be made, and I was on it for three and 0:56:56.280 --> 0:57:00.200 a half. So it's it's a it has to you 0:57:00.280 --> 0:57:01.920 have to love it. It's got to be a labor 0:57:01.960 --> 0:57:05.879 of love. And that's just what it is. 0:57:06.239 --> 0:57:06.920 What takes so. 0:57:07.000 --> 0:57:10.239 Long for a movie about the biggest basketball start in 0:57:10.320 --> 0:57:12.840 the world to be made, well. 0:57:12.840 --> 0:57:18.040 I think from the perspective of the studio, the studio 0:57:18.160 --> 0:57:25.000 right they're going, Okay, well does this work in our slate? 0:57:25.360 --> 0:57:27.000 Because they got all these other movies. 0:57:27.200 --> 0:57:29.880 They're making a big giant I'm not saying I don't 0:57:29.920 --> 0:57:34.280 think Universal does Marvel, but whatever those big movies are, right, 0:57:34.480 --> 0:57:37.040 then there's a lot of they're going for awards or 0:57:37.240 --> 0:57:40.040 other movies, just whatever their slate is, Where does it 0:57:40.080 --> 0:57:43.360 fit in? Once it's there, when do we put that 0:57:43.440 --> 0:57:46.000 movie out when's most advantageous. 0:57:46.000 --> 0:57:49.040 So they're dealing with the business aspect. We're dealing with 0:57:49.080 --> 0:57:53.040 the creative aspect. How do you tell this story? 0:57:53.200 --> 0:57:56.760 Because there's been a book, there's been a documentary, now 0:57:56.800 --> 0:57:57.760 here's a feature film. 0:57:58.040 --> 0:58:00.680 What's the tone? How do you tell this? Why people care? 0:58:01.160 --> 0:58:04.720 Who can play Lebron James? Let's do that for you. 0:58:04.840 --> 0:58:07.080 Yeah, I was going to say, isn't isn't timing of 0:58:07.120 --> 0:58:10.280 the essence? Because if you're telling the not a cradle 0:58:10.280 --> 0:58:14.560 of the grave, but a childhood to adult story, like 0:58:14.640 --> 0:58:17.320 the likelihood of your target that you're working with. 0:58:17.320 --> 0:58:20.120 Might get older and then be the past age of. 0:58:20.040 --> 0:58:22.680 What you need him for. Like, isn't that also a problem? 0:58:23.160 --> 0:58:26.160 Well, I think if the person was in it right. 0:58:26.760 --> 0:58:31.520 So when we finally found Mookie Cook to play Lebron. 0:58:32.120 --> 0:58:36.040 You know he's seventeen, you know, so we once that 0:58:36.200 --> 0:58:39.960 was really the button pusher, like can you find Lebron? 0:58:40.000 --> 0:58:42.520 Like it's a needle in the haystack, Like no, we didn't. 0:58:42.560 --> 0:58:46.320 Nobody believe a lot of people just were like, how 0:58:46.400 --> 0:58:47.400 is this ever going to happen? 0:58:48.000 --> 0:58:51.800 You know, a lot of people had no idea. Caleb 0:58:51.920 --> 0:58:55.400 McLaughlin could who you know there needed to be for 0:58:55.480 --> 0:59:00.640 this particular movie. There needed to be an athletic skill 0:59:00.720 --> 0:59:03.640 level and they needed to be acting skill level. 0:59:04.120 --> 0:59:06.320 And I'd worked with Caleb on. 0:59:06.400 --> 0:59:09.200 The New Edition story, so I knew, and he'd been 0:59:09.280 --> 0:59:12.680 lying king on Broadway. His kid's pretty amazing, right, so 0:59:12.720 --> 0:59:15.040 I learned. I watched him learn to dance like. 0:59:15.200 --> 0:59:17.160 Stranger things for everybody else who doesn't even know what 0:59:17.160 --> 0:59:17.760 we talking about. 0:59:18.040 --> 0:59:19.120 Yeah, yeah, Caleb. 0:59:19.360 --> 0:59:22.960 And but then when he came to the audition, he 0:59:23.040 --> 0:59:26.000 had handled he was balling. I pulled him aside. I 0:59:26.040 --> 0:59:28.120 was like, hey man, what you been doing since I saw. 0:59:28.000 --> 0:59:30.680 You three years ago? Like he could ball for real? 0:59:31.040 --> 0:59:33.960 And that was a godsend because he's such an amazing actor. 0:59:34.640 --> 0:59:37.240 But but just to answer your question, like those things, 0:59:37.600 --> 0:59:41.600 that's real time like we found. We didn't do a 0:59:41.680 --> 0:59:46.040 traditional casting. We did some traditional with Kim Coleman, who 0:59:46.120 --> 0:59:48.120 was amazing. She does all the big movies. 0:59:48.480 --> 0:59:51.280 But we we actually got in a car and went 0:59:51.440 --> 0:59:53.680 up and down the East Coast, Me and my boy 0:59:53.840 --> 0:59:55.480 Yer own hips and. 0:59:57.520 --> 0:59:59.720 Yeah, Jay, yes, I. 0:59:59.680 --> 1:00:01.320 Didn't know he was that involved. 1:00:01.360 --> 1:00:03.800 Gracious he ended up coming in and being one of 1:00:03.800 --> 1:00:07.919 our basketball consultants because he's so into that and it's. 1:00:10.240 --> 1:00:10.680 Just the man. 1:00:11.120 --> 1:00:12.960 And we went up and down the East Coast to 1:00:13.040 --> 1:00:18.880 AAU tournaments and found Mookie and found Scoot. Wow, here's 1:00:18.920 --> 1:00:21.200 a good way that. Here's a good story about how 1:00:21.360 --> 1:00:26.560 videos connect. We met Scoot's dad. Now, Scoot just went 1:00:26.640 --> 1:00:29.200 number three in the draft to Portland Trailblazers. 1:00:29.400 --> 1:00:30.880 What wait, hold on. 1:00:32.040 --> 1:00:35.920 He plays Romeo in the movie. Okay, okay, so he 1:00:36.200 --> 1:00:39.600 just draft night. He went number three to the Portland Trailblazer. Wow. 1:00:39.720 --> 1:00:42.920 He was really good too. It's something else in there. 1:00:42.920 --> 1:00:44.080 I was like, oh, it's more story. 1:00:44.120 --> 1:00:47.680 Okay, yes, yeah, so we meet his dad. 1:00:48.440 --> 1:00:52.560 Now, think we're at an AAU tournament going, excuse me, sir, 1:00:52.920 --> 1:00:56.160 we're making a movie about Lebron James, and like it's 1:00:56.200 --> 1:00:59.160 just me and himps, it's no official anybody else with us, 1:00:59.480 --> 1:01:01.840 and the dad is kinda and his son's gonna go 1:01:01.960 --> 1:01:03.680 his son's already in the G League and his son's 1:01:03.720 --> 1:01:04.280 gonna go pro. 1:01:04.600 --> 1:01:06.840 He was there with his other kids. He's got other 1:01:06.920 --> 1:01:10.920 kids who were in a tournament. But hips knew of 1:01:11.080 --> 1:01:14.600 his dad. So we're talking to his dad and and 1:01:15.280 --> 1:01:16.600 we do our pitch and then you know, I have 1:01:16.680 --> 1:01:17.080 to pitch. 1:01:17.080 --> 1:01:19.520 How there's a little silence, and these were just stand 1:01:19.520 --> 1:01:22.280 there looking at each other, and he goes, didn't you 1:01:22.320 --> 1:01:22.959 do one mic? 1:01:24.120 --> 1:01:27.040 And I was like, yes, yes. 1:01:27.760 --> 1:01:31.640 That legitimized me to him to have this conversation about 1:01:31.640 --> 1:01:35.640 his son being in the movie and that that dad. 1:01:35.560 --> 1:01:38.560 As hip hop heads. I wish I knew the feeling man, 1:01:40.560 --> 1:01:41.080 the feeling. 1:01:41.320 --> 1:01:43.800 Chris, I want to ask you about Erica is the 1:01:43.800 --> 1:01:45.960 Honey video? You did that under an alias? 1:01:46.160 --> 1:01:51.720 What was the yeah? Was that your Alan Smithey like no, no, no, 1:01:51.840 --> 1:01:55.160 or were you trying to just establish your company different? Yeah? 1:01:56.360 --> 1:01:59.240 Okay, all right, Uh. 1:01:59.080 --> 1:02:00.600 This sounds like what it was. 1:02:02.880 --> 1:02:07.040 Erica and I had worked before. Now I'm gonna tell 1:02:07.120 --> 1:02:08.880 let me start this off by saying how much I 1:02:08.960 --> 1:02:13.360 love Erica, but she she is not only a wonderful, 1:02:13.400 --> 1:02:17.280 amazing artist, but she is a icun. 1:02:17.760 --> 1:02:22.440 So we worked together and on the first one with 1:02:22.720 --> 1:02:25.440 common love of my life. But what I didn't know 1:02:25.560 --> 1:02:30.919 is like Erica's very involved. Like Erica wants to make 1:02:31.000 --> 1:02:34.320 the outfit, she wants to cook the lunch, she wants 1:02:34.360 --> 1:02:38.480 to look at every shot. And we did it and 1:02:40.480 --> 1:02:45.080 it wasn't it's not. So then we worked again on this, 1:02:45.520 --> 1:02:47.720 so like we had the connection right, she wanted to 1:02:47.720 --> 1:02:48.320 work together again. 1:02:48.440 --> 1:02:51.040 Were together again, and I. 1:02:51.000 --> 1:02:55.080 Had, you know, my company's role by film company, my 1:02:55.200 --> 1:03:00.440 Instagram handles mister Roberto director. So now I think this 1:03:00.480 --> 1:03:03.560 is before Instagram or anything else, but I had, you know, 1:03:03.640 --> 1:03:06.120 people would call me mister Robot and mister Rabato. 1:03:06.840 --> 1:03:11.439 So we did it again and it was the same thing. 1:03:12.080 --> 1:03:12.600 But she. 1:03:14.160 --> 1:03:18.360 This is the first time she wanted a director's credit. Now, 1:03:18.680 --> 1:03:22.680 in the video world, there is a thing where certain 1:03:22.800 --> 1:03:26.400 artists will want a video a director's credit. 1:03:26.400 --> 1:03:28.720 And I took that thing seriously, like. 1:03:28.640 --> 1:03:31.800 I'm like, okay, if we're gonna co direct this cool, 1:03:32.480 --> 1:03:36.200 But like certain artists would just go, I'm the artist, 1:03:36.320 --> 1:03:37.560 just put my name on it. 1:03:38.520 --> 1:03:42.560 And so me and Erica worked together. It was beautiful. 1:03:42.600 --> 1:03:44.320 It was the most beautiful. 1:03:44.680 --> 1:03:46.760 We had known each other, so we knew how to 1:03:46.800 --> 1:03:49.840 work together, and I think we pulled out another good 1:03:49.920 --> 1:03:52.800 one because she's she's a genius, especially choosing all those 1:03:53.040 --> 1:03:54.240 names for the album covers. 1:03:55.680 --> 1:03:59.640 So then I get a note from the label later 1:04:00.280 --> 1:04:06.280 that said Erica wants her director's credit on this, and 1:04:07.040 --> 1:04:11.400 you know, I was like, what so because I take 1:04:11.440 --> 1:04:15.919 it so seriously, So I was like, well, I mean, 1:04:16.080 --> 1:04:19.880 if she's gonna get her get the director's credit, that's cool. 1:04:20.120 --> 1:04:22.240 I'm just in my artist ship and now go, I'm 1:04:22.240 --> 1:04:26.840 gonna put mister Rabato, right, because that's that's my aliens. 1:04:27.200 --> 1:04:34.000 So I put mister Rabato and then we won the damn. 1:04:34.160 --> 1:04:40.400 MTV Award, My my MTV Award Best Director. 1:04:41.000 --> 1:04:43.120 Mister not have my name on it. 1:04:49.320 --> 1:04:54.320 Less just to be clear on this amazing podcast, Erica Baddud, 1:04:54.920 --> 1:04:56.520 I have so much love for you. 1:04:56.640 --> 1:04:57.480 We've worked together. 1:04:57.480 --> 1:05:01.520 I've shot her and a different you know shows, and 1:05:01.560 --> 1:05:04.840 we always have talked about doing a movie together. But 1:05:04.960 --> 1:05:09.320 I just think that's this, this mister Roboto represents. 1:05:10.120 --> 1:05:12.200 I'm an artist and I'm sensitive about my. 1:05:14.440 --> 1:05:16.120 Understandable understandable. 1:05:16.600 --> 1:05:18.680 You did really well with that explanation. 1:05:20.720 --> 1:05:23.280 Hey QLs listeners, this is unpaid billed right. Here's where 1:05:23.280 --> 1:05:25.439 we're going to pause this interview. Check back next week. 1:05:25.440 --> 1:05:28.400 You're looking your podcast being for part two. In that conversation, 1:05:28.520 --> 1:05:31.080 Chris Robinson reveals more inf and outs from the iconic 1:05:31.160 --> 1:05:33.720 music videos and it's pivot to filmmaking. Make sure you 1:05:33.800 --> 1:05:36.720 check out Chris Robinson's latest creation, Shooting Stars, where he 1:05:36.760 --> 1:05:38.760 tells the story of teenage Lebron James. 1:05:39.520 --> 1:05:44.400 What's Love Supreme is a production of iHeart Radio. For 1:05:44.520 --> 1:05:47.640 more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 1:05:47.840 --> 1:05:50.880 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.