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The Profit: Video Killed the Radio Star

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Music videos.  In today’s hiphop, they’re synonymous with loud images of near-naked girls, expensive cars, and jewelry. So much so, Saturday Night Live featured a spoof about it. Sparks of originality can be found, however, amongst artists with a profound sense of the offbeat.  In this interview, hiphop artist The Profit shares some of the stories behind the music videos he's made. 

What's your approach to making music videos? Are you hands on or do you let the directors do their thing?
It depends. I’ve been remarkably blessed when it comes to music videos, because my brother (Salvatore Fullmore) is an editor and videographer.  He's shot hundreds of videos over the years, and he keeps getting better. I think he uses me to try out new stuff, and that’s perfectly cool with me. I trust his creative instincts. There have been a few times where I have a specific idea but for the most part, I just let the director do his thing.

How many videos have you made so far?
Wow, I’m sure I have at least ten somewhere. With the exception of two videos (“Lottery”, directed by Jamal Dedeux and “4 Saturday”, directed by Robel Kasa), my brother has done all my videos. We may start one and never finish it because he can literally shoot a video and edit in a day or two. We have a short attention span when we link up. So I have a few videos no one has ever seen, but my “official” videos in order would go as follows: “Lottery” by Jamal Dedeux , “4 Saturday” by Robel Kasa and then “PIE”, “Blackopia”, “Lazy” “Afynyaz” “Fly Away” and most recently “I Rock”.  They were all done by Salvatore AKA Lucky Nobels AKA Sal Green AKA Spike Chan. Shout out to his company APE House Media. Now somebody on YouTube made their own video for "Mindenew", not sure if that counts (laughs).  (It’s just footage of homeboy driving around Addis)

Who are the directors that you've enjoyed working with in the past? What was so great about them?
Well I have never worked with a director that wasn’t either my brother or a close personal friend, so it’s always fun and very seldom (if ever) feels like work. I’m convinced Sal is a mad scientist genius, he edits in his head before he shoots. He knows exactly the shots he wants and goes very fast. I’ve learned not to second-guess him. Jamal shot “Lottery” on film and it has this cool cinematic vibe to it. He convinced me to just act a fool and not try to be too cool. I’m running around with goats, he got me playing tennis with big ass tube socks; I’m chasing a three-legged dog. It was bananas. Robel is definitely an artist on major CP time, but the “4 Saturday” video was cool because we shot it with a regular cheap camera and it has this avant-garde style.  It was the first video that had a direct narrative element to it.

What is the best and worst part of making music videos?
The best part of making a video is the hanging out with friends and brainstorming ideas. I like the anticipation of wondering what its going to look like. I enjoy being apart of almost any creative process. The worst part is the repetitiveness. You have to play back the song over and over and over to get more then one angle. And when there are a lot of people and scene changes, sometimes the logistics of getting everyone on the same page can be nerve racking.

Who are some of your favorite music video directors at large? Why?
Seriously, I would have to say my brother, because I have seen him do more with less than anybody I know. In the mainstream, I would still have to give Hype Williams credit because he was the first to make rap videos cinematic. Whoever does Kanye West’s videos also gets props from me, because he always breaks out of the cliché hiphop video mode.

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MUSIC VIDEOS
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Song: “Lottery” featuring B Price / Some ol’ Lyrical ish
Album: Vertical Real-estate (1rst Album)
Director: Jamal Dedeux
Location: Atlanta Georgia, SWATS, 5 Points
Year: 2003
Concept: We went for colorful and cinematic
Inspiration for concept: Spike Lee’s “Clockers” for reverse bleed on colors
Favorite part: The part where I’m chasing the goats, and the train scene at the end.
Backstory:
The scene with the goats was directly in front of my warehouse complex in Atlanta. Why were there goats in the middle of downtown Atlanta? Who knows.

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Song: “4 Saturday” featuring Stahhr & Helina/Break up Song
Album: Black Label 1.5
Director: Robel Kasa
Location: Atlanta (at the crib)
Year: 2004?
Concept: Artsy & Bizarre
Inspiration for concept: Being artsy and bizarre
Favorite part: Tony playing drums with a bag on his head
Backstory:
Robel was crashing at the house with a bunch of our friends and out of the blue suggested we shoot a video. It took him a year to get it back to me (laughs). The song is called “4 Saturday” because we made it for a show we had on a Saturday and that’s what we named the file and it stuck.

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Song: “PIE” featuring Helina/Random
Album: Futuristic African Rap Music
Director: Salvatore Fullmore
Location: Sal’s House
Year: 2005? (you killin' me with the dates)
Concept: Psychedelic spaced out
Inspiration: Pleading the 5th
Favorite part: My brother superimposes Bugs Bunny dancing in his living room
Backstory:
This was my brother’s first music video I think. “We was fresh out of Art school.”

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Song: “Blackopia” / Representing being Blackopian
Album: Blackopia
Director: Salvatore Fullmore
Location: Los Angeles / around the corner from my Aunt’s house
Year: 2006
Concept: Steezed out Blackopian isj
Inspiration for concept: Being a steezed out Blackopian
Favorite part: My little cousin holding a boombox, lip syncing the words
Backstory:
My little cousin Danny had just got here from Ethiopia the day before we shot that video.

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Song: “Lazy” featuring A-Bomb of The Homebodies
Album: Unreleased
Director: Salvatore Fullmore
Location: Atlanta East Side
Year: 2006
Concept: Clowning around being lazy
Inspiration for concept: Pleading the 5th
Favorite part: When A-bomb is skateboarding with a beer in his hands
Backstory:
A-bomb is not a skater



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Song: “Afynyaz” / Life story in a verse
Album: Unreleased / Kush Groove Mixtape
Director: Salvatore Fullmore
Location: My house in Atlanta / Los Angeles circa 1998?
Year: 2006/1998?
Concept: Old News Reel / Family flashbacks
Inspiration for concept: Wanted it to have an oldschool vibe
Favorite part: When the baby starts crying
Backstory:
This video was very meaningful to me because most of the footage was shot by my father way back in the day, when my brother and I were just babies. All the references to family members are represented with actual pictures. The line where I mention my brother, he flashes footage of him as a baby crying. I think this video is dope because it’s like a full circle.

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Song: “Fly Away” / Wanting to be by yourself sometimes
Album: Andromeda “Chronicles of Blackopia”
Director: Salvatore Fullmore
Location: Brooklyn NY (Sal’s Couch)
Year: 2007
Concept: Me alone on the couch
Inspiration for concept: Pleading the 5th
Favorite part: The heart
Backstory:
The camera never moved. We were visiting my brother in NY and our car got towed. So we were stuck for another day. My brother suggested we shoot a video because he had this idea about me rapping the song really slowly and then speeding up the footage. It came out dope.

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Song: “I ROCK” featuring Wayna, B-Sheba, AP / Party Track
Album: Andromeda “Chronicles of Blackopia”
Director: Salvatore Fullmore /co-directed by me
Location: Washington DC
Year: 2008
Concept: Valet guy skipping work to go to a party
Inspiration for concept: Wanted something that habeshas could relate to
Favorite part: When the main character steals the car
Backstory:
The valet manager in the video was a real valet guy. We just ran up on him and told him we were shooting a video and he was cool with it. Then security showed up and started yelling at him for letting us shoot. The valet guy looks at the security guy and says: ”I’m from Africa…we don’t know about cameras.”  The security was so frustrated he just walked away.