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Prodigy's Video Director Catches P "Committing Murder" On Tape
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DanTheMan has made a name for himself directing videos for rappers like 50 Cent, M.O.P, and AZ. In this SOHH exclusive, the Jersey City native tells us about directing the video for "ABC," the sinister first single off Prodigy's forthcoming album, HNIC2.
The song title may sound harmless enough, but the "ABC" video depicts a "classic revenge plot," in which a dirty cop violates Prodigy's video wife and ultimately gets slain by P himself. Dan, who has directed several highly-acclaimed straight-to-YouTube videos for Prodigy, calls "ABC" the visual continuation of P's "Mac 10 Handle," a tale of isolation and paranoia with a horror movie vibe. [Watch the video for "Mac 10 Handle" here]
"We like to explore the conspiracy theory stuff that he's really into, and the horror genre," Dan told SOHH. "It's a really fun genre to explore."
That meant taking themes from the '80s cult classic They Live, utilizing Night Vision, and involving actor Peter Greene, who some may recognize from movies like The Mask and Pulp Fiction. Prodigy came with the guidelines that he wanted some "real dark, grimy, gangster @#!*" and Dan went to work on the treatments.
"That's why I love doing videos for Prodigy, because first of all he's smart, he knows what he wants, he's a visual person and he loves film," Dan said. "It's kind of a collaborative process when I work with P, and I really love that about him."
The collabo won't be in heavy rotation on BET or MTV, however. Like Prodigy's videos for Return of the Mac, it's a straight-to-YouTube cut.
"It's a completely different ball game," Dan said. "It's the way a video is supposed to be. People talk about crazy stuff in their lyrics and the videos always get shortchanged - you see somebody in a @#*$ing club drinking champagne while they're talking about killing you. Whether you support violent rap or gangster rap or not, I'm sure it would be a lot more engaging to the viewers or the audience if they showed what they talk about."
Regarding the video's graphic violence, Dan, who will be shooting several other videos for Prodigy before the rapper goes to jail on weapons charges, said that "it's not real life, it's movies," and he's more worried about the reaction to the violence than the violence itself.
"Not every video has to be for 12-year-olds," he said. "People are grown and we want to see visuals to our music that also have that maturity level"
"I'm concerned with the fact that people are concerned with (the violence)," he added. "I mean, if you look down 42nd Street and you see a (movie) billboard 40 feet tall of someone holding a gun, are you concerned with that?"
Source: sohh.com