Yerrdig: Offical Blog of PHZ-Sicks

*This was written on November 21, 2011*

What up, world?!? It’s PHZ-Sicks and yesterday, I finally finished the shoot for the “Success/Failure” (off of The Laws of PHZ-Sicks) video. Co-directing the video with me was The Sweatshop, who also did “Point Em Out” video and will feature Young Scolla and a cameo from fellow DMV artist, Lyriciss.

This was my first real video (“Point Em Out” was something built out of a moment in the studio but was never planned). When I came up with the concept of the song, I already have the video established in my head. I knew how I wanted to shoot it, how I wanted it to look, and what I wanted to happen. With any song I create, I have in mind the cinematic visuals of what I want, which is honed from years of being a film buff, and the performance of it live. If you ever wonder how I pick what people hear and what makes the album, that’s how, but I’m getting off track. Once I figured out what I wanted. the video from there was a journey of misadventures and greatness that’s end destination led to what you’ll see.

The Process 

“The Laws of PHZ-Sicks” mixtape dropped in January and I was adamant that I wanted to shoot videos for this project. I always feel that if people could see what I try to get across with my music, it would open up more doors of opportunity for me. From there, I needed to find a director that could suit what I wanted to do. This happened around April and constant delays and non-communication led me to a place of anger and no video. Summertime had passed and now I was on a deadline before I was royally fucked and won’t be able to shoot the video and I be damned if I would be. I’m always asked about new music but I’m stuck in my ways about the videos I want to shoot. Until the third one is in the process, I can’t even think about putting a great album together. All I can say is thank God for global warming. It gave me a small window to finish this project, but as small as it was, the view I was looking at was immaculate.

Shooting 

After racking my brain, I reached out to The Sweatshop Life. Ryan and Malkolm (The Sweatshop Life) have been supporters of the music and always reliable when it came to projects I’ve seen them involved with. I sent them the treatment I had in mind and they were down. From here, the journey began.

Filming first took place during my performance at Sonar for the ANMLHSE X PedX Baltimore show. Other than one scene we shot, I was pretty much hands off here. The Sweatshop Life has a way of telling stories during their editing so I knew my performance footage was in good hands. It got tricky from here.

From the beginning, I had people in mind for roles in this video. Scolla was a given since he is featured on the song, but due to grind as an independent artist, we had to make sure our schedules connected. Sandra G., I always had in mind to do the makeup for a scene. through her, I wanted a friend of hers to portray the woman I talked about during the second verse. Schedules didn’t match up and I had two days to find somebody to replace her or reschedule. By luck, an acquaintance I knew from school that modeled, Rachel B., had moved to Maryland over the last few years and upon hearing the song was down.

The shoot was a clusterfuck. Only I would pick the day and a spot where the Marine Corps Marathon was happening. We had to relocate the shoot cause nobody was able to get to where I wanted it to originally shoot. We ended up shooting outside of the Kennedy Center. I was kind of mad that I wasn’t able to shoot in my original location but the fact that our shooting area was free of bystanders helped a lot. Through the cold as weather, we marched on. Sandra killed it on the makeup and Rachel was a trooper and did her thing. Even during the shoot, we got lucky with having a limo pull to where we were shooting and allowed us to use it. That day could’ve been a shitstorm but we got the shots we needed…or did we?

Ryan hit me up after and told me that he didn’t like what he shot. Now, I remember seeing the footage after we shot it and thought what he was good, but I understood his concerns. We aimed to shoot it over but once again, scheduling came in to place and we still had other pivotal scenes to shoot. I didn’t want to scratch it so I had to use another idea that I had in mind for a video I would shoot for a song I haven’t even made yet (10 steps ahead of niggas). Editing this in my head with what we shot gave me confidence that it would work. I found a location I haven’t seen used in any video from the area. I shot this yesterday and it went as smooth as anything could go. The most pivotal scene in the video was far from that.

Being a somewhat known artist has its benefits but it has so many barriers that if you’re sensitive to any of it, your career will be cut short. This especially goes for depending on people. The first time we tried to shoot it, people flaked out day off, so it had to be rescheduled. The second time, I couldn’t get people together. If I was just a little bit bigger, this would have been a breeze. Three times a charm or is it? Earlier last week, I had the right amount of people coming for the shoot. My wishes were coming true, but by the end of the week people started dropping like flies. The day of, a person forgot about the shoot even though we spoke about it the day before. One person came through, which was Ciara. She stayed throughout the whole shoot and I thank her for that. I was missing one piece and at this point, I would’ve asked a bum to do it. So, I found one, ha. Just kidding, I hit up fellow artist Lyriciss and drove to MD to get him and drove back. From there, the shoot had its kinks but we had a great time shooting it and got shots greater than I could have imagined.

The End 

Shooting a video isn’t a joke, especially if you want to do it write. I’m happy I was surrounded by the right people throughout the video. The mental and physical fatigue (my shoulder!!!), I went through was all worth it. Next up is the editing process and figuring out a dropping date.

I look forward to releasing this video unto the interwebs and for you to see it. All I can hope for is that you enjoy it and see every ounce of creativity and sweat I put in it.

Until then,

Peace!