Every artist, young or older, knows there’s no plausible way they can expect to sell records on a national scale if their own hometown isn’t on board for the ride.
Luckily for YG, the city of Compton knows his name and the journey the 23-year-old has endured to get to the point leading up dropping a major label debut. Since signing to Jeezy’s CTE imprint, his visibility and work ethic has noticeably picked up steam. March 2014 will also see the release of My Krazy Life as it looks to let the rest of the world know what his backyard already does.
Yesterday afternoon, December 23, YG and his DJ/producer DJ Mustard, invited the entire city out for a L.A. party for their “Left, Right” video shoot at Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles located on 5006 W Pico Blvd.
The club-ready record serves as the second single for My Krazy Life with “My N***a” being the first. If the crowd’s behavior was indicative to the song’s potential, then YG and Mustard definitely steered their course in the right direction. Hip-Hop Wired was on hand for the festivities and the enthusiasm level was surprisingly through the roof, considering there wasn’t one standing outside of Roscoe’s. YG shot most of his scenes on top of the building’s roof, overlooking his adoring public, similar to how Snoop did when he burst out the gate with “Who Am I? (What’s My Name?).”
It’s a little known secret that rap videos aren’t as glamorous to create as they appear in their finalized version. Even with the tediousness of hearing “Left, Right” several times over, the populated gaggle which consisted of Crips, Bloods, random onlookers, beautiful women and babies, never failed to rock with their local hero everytime assistant director Big Riff requested a playback. YG also co-directed the video alongside Alex Nazari.
It didn’t hurt that the cameos in the video were also recognizable to the audience. Dom Kennedy and Nipsey Hussle, both friends and collaborators of YG posted up on the roof to fill in the background, as did the captain of the entire organization, Jeezy. Telling the crowd, “I’m here for you!,” the CTE boss allowed his young lieutenant to do his thing as he passed out Tequila Avion to all his rapping homies.
Hip-Hop isn’t supposed to have nice things nor is there supposed to be a loosely organized event without someone getting injured or worst.
YG, Def Jam, Cashmere Agency and most importantly the people of Los Angeles proved all the critics wrong with this one. Hit the gallery to see all the exclusive pictures of the shoot.
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Photo: TC
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