So I had this video for a while and was ready to blast it until Universal asked me to hold back since MySpace music featured it today. Ah, the politics of exclusive content! In any case, Here it is, the Anthony Mandler directed visual interpretation of “You’re Not My Girl”:
I’m currently at the “Burning Man” festival in Nevada so I have limited internet here in the desert. In the meantime, pass the video on and feel free to ask anything you’d like to know regarding styling location, the girls, etc. and I’ll respond in the comments later.
Aside from the fact that I spent part of it shooting a video with Fabolous, the day captured in this footage is an especially historic one in my career:
Receiving two BET Award nominations (Best Male R&B Artist & Best New Artist) is truly an honor. From the time I started the pursuit of my passion as a young singer/songwriter/producer in college, I have always aspired to create music and art that had value. My parents taught me that I could not expect recognition or rewards without merit. That understanding is what got me into Harvard. My father stressed that he wanted me to deserve my spot in the freshman class by nature of my academic aptitude and performance and not my eligibility for affirmative action. To be recognized in these categories validates the work ethic and commitment to excellence I’ve applied to every aspect of my career.
I named this post “My Time” for two reasons. First, the scene I shot (for one of the records I produced for Fabolous) is an epilogue to his video for “My Time”. I have my friend Helly Nahmad to thank for the Rolls Royce in which I showed up to set. Second, I waited and watched (as their producer) two of my very close friends take their turn as artists before me. I supported and encouraged them as they fought their way through the obstacle course that is the music industry. All the while, I was evaluating what made me deserving of the opportunity that they had been granted. Now that the window has opened for me, I am resolved to make the most of it by staying true to my internal sense of musical integrity and giving all that I can afford to give. As I begin this new album cycle, I believe that now more than ever, it’s my time!
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Fab’s “My Time” video premiered via MTV yesterday so here’s the piece that features yours truly:
As always, I sincerely appreciate your continued support, love and encouragement.
There are only a few big studios left in New York. Sony and the Hit Factory closed a while ago, and Right Track on 38th just closed as well. Though I have my home studio, there’s a certain magic in knowing that there are other creative people in the same building in different rooms making records. “Precious” happened exactly that way. I ran into Jim Jones in the lobby of Chung King one night and minutes later he had ordered some keyboards and a guitar for me to the room in which he was working. We did this over two days. The second day, I came in fresh off the red carpet of a Valentino fashion week event. I believe one of the best aspects of music is its ability to bring people together. Shout out to Damon Dash and Jim Jones for valuing my creativity. You can get the single from iTunes now by clicking here.
When you make music, it’s rewarding when an artist is excited enough about what you’ve created that they want to make an investment in exposure. This includes spending on radio promotion and in the best case, a music video. I introduced my friend Armen to Dame and Jim and I believe he brought a great sensibility to this clip. We shot this as an outro to Jim’s current single “Blow The Bank”. His album drops Tuesday. Special thanks to my girl DW for coming through in the clutch even though her agency restricts her from appearing in music videos. Enjoy:
So much to write about this video. First, I had a concept that I shared with Shiv and the two of us fine tuned it into a treatment. I shopped it to some directors and when they told me how much they expected it to cost ($200K), I decided to direct it myself to give my staff an incredible learning experience. Two weeks into the planning and production process, I ran into Tyson Beckford at the G-star fashion show and invited him to direct the video with me. I could write a book about the production of this video – scripting, rehearsal, styling, filming, editing, sound design, color-correction… Instead, I’d like to focus on three themes:
1. You can do anything you decide to do as long as you have the resources and relationships to do it.
2. Don’t worry about your figure, outward appearance, or financial status with regards to your personal relationships. If someone loves you – they will love you as long as you are a good person on the inside. That goes for friends and lovers alike.
3. When you have something good, it’s inevitable that people will want what you have, and some will even try to (and succeed at) taking something you’ve worked hard to achieve. Your response? Achieve higher heights and greater success.
This is a big one for me. God bless and much love!
“How It Was Supposed To Be” is one of the most personal songs on my album and for my live performances, I arranged this guitar driven version to capture the angst and confusion that I was going through when I recorded it. The response was so crazy at my show in Chicago that we played the song twice in a row to an engaged, enthusiastic audience.
Based on this reaction, I decided to record this version and have Guillaume Doubet visually interpret it. Here is the gritty result with Brent Paschke on guitar, Eric Coomes on bass, and Brad Colton on drums.
This is the edit of the video that premiered on BET’s 106 & Park on Friday, April 4th, 2008. I had a huge vision for this video to feel like a live television performance that gave tribute to a James Brown piece I saw on the Ed Sullivan show.
I saved up my money and had the EXACT same stage built that James performed on. I then hired a band to cut the live version. After that, I worked with everyone on the stage to have that throwback vibe. I paid to shoot the performance on a blue screen with the intention of having the set of the Ed Sullivan show digitally recreated behind me. My label disagreed.
They felt that the live version felt too much like a remix.
They also felt that we needed to rush on the video so the final edit came back without the digital stage – just changed the blue to black and added some lights, and cutaway graphics of diamonds.
My original treatment called for the video to be set in the late 60’s just like James Brown’s performance. I wanted to have families huddled around the television watching this performance like they used to back then.
When I got to LA to shoot, the entire set was modern and a piece of me died. My vision was compromised. Rather than be an ungrateful artist, I stayed and gave my best performance.
The video that’s airing is really only a partial representation of my artistic vision.
Here are a few of the audio edits I’ve made that are featured in the vid that you’re seeing:
* First, I had someone come to the studio and say the following dialogue in French:
“Ryan. Wait for me. I’m not even ready! I can’t believe you’re gonna leave me here…You’re driving me crazy – I can’t do this anymore. Ryan – if you leave – we’re finished! YOU SPENT $3000 ON A DRESS – don’t you wanna see me in it?? Oh..ok – fine… GO! Amuse yourself with the girls at your show!! And if you think I’ll be here when you get back – THINK AGAIN!!”
* Second, I convinced Evan to do the voice-over of my manager.
* Third, I re-cut my dialogue from the beginning and added the sound of running water to enhance the vibe of our bathroom conversation.
* Fourth, I added the sound of the door opening before the video starts.
* Added a few horn stabs to parts of the performance when I’m gesturing to the band to “hit me”.
* Put some applause at the end of the performance scene.
* Added the sound of screaming girls, running feet, more screaming girls and the car door closing.
The lesson I learned here is that when you have a strong creative vision – do everything in your power to see it through. I am very thankful that I have a video on TV. Many artists are still striving for that milestone. Regardless, this experience encouraged me to shoot another video as well as an 11 minute short film based on “Diamond Girl”.
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