SIC ILL & FACTOR IN MIAMI (DAY26/CASH MONEY/SLIP-N-SLIDE/BENZINO) "Good Read & Pics!"
PHOTOGRAPHY BY "SIC ILL"
YOUTUBE - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPZOxjxeWE8
BACKGROUND: Northwest musician "Sic ill" (Darxiide.com) (Beatmaker, Producer, Rapper, Graphic Designer, Photographer, Videographer, more...) goes to Miami, FL to record behind the scenes footage and photography for FACTOR (of Dirty Gates Entertainment) for the song "CHAMPION" featuring Brian Angel (Of DAY26) & Brisco (Of CASH MONEY/YOUNG MONEY). Instrumental done by Maddteck (of Frontline Entertainent) recording done in Benzino (of SOURCE Magazine) recording studio.
Left to Seatac at 11:00am, changed planes in Denver. Ended up in Ft. Lauderdale, FL at 10:00am, then drove to South Beach.
Went to Benzino's studio in Miami for a couple hours. Factor recorded a couple verses to one of his beats, i describe it as "tropical". Factor killed the track as usual. I got a chance to talk to Benzino too, I introduced myself as "Sic ill" of Darxiide, but Benzino insisted on calling me Darxiide all night.
Benzino (Former owner of "THE SOURCE" Magazine) makes really good beats. He thinks Seattle is going to get a new basketball team in the next few years, he's absolutely sure of it.
He gave advice, said that it might not be good to over-diversify yourself on an album just for the thrill of it, people are going to get confused. Stick to what you do best and go hard with it.
The next morning Brian Angel knocked on my hotel room, asked me if I wanted to accompany him down the strip to get some breakfast. Strange day where anyone could see Brian and Sic ill pacing down the street, meeting people, taking pictures. Couldn't even eat my Salmon breakfast without getting handed flyers and people exchanging contact info. Girls stopped in groups taking pictures 1 by 1 on each of their cameras. Heard some of them posted them on facebook only moments later.
Later we went back to Benzino's studio where Factor and Brian finished up some tracks from the day before. Brisko (a local rap celebrity with a colorful career) from Cash Money/Young Money stopped by to lay the second verse on Factor's track. He is a natural, you could hear the engineers saying they didn't need to do too much adjusting. The finished track sounded really amazing.
We previously recorded the demo version of "Champion" in Maddteck's studio in Tacoma. The new version in Benzino's studio had a lot of clarity and sounded even better. The beat was tracked out in Pro Tools (Not all digital, Benzino does own the newest SSL console board), along with the vocals and the engineer did a marvelous job, even Brian had to comment on it. (Brian and I had a lot of conversations in Tacoma & Miami about DAY26, DIDDY, DANITY KANE, the music industry, ect;...but those are private) Went back to the Hotel to catch a full belly dancing session, done by an amazing dancer.
Woke up on Saturday to do the video shoot on Miami Beach. There were five or more great looking models on the set in bikini's on the beach. There were a couple other notable people Jason Davis Productions (They've done music videos for Rick Ross, Jim Jones Fabolous, etc;..).
The first shot was on the sands of South Beach, the second shot was at the park that surrounds south beach. Third shot was at a spot that gave a good view of South Beach and the Port Of Miami. Last shot was on a speedy yacht in the Atlantic.
I got a chance to talk to Jason on the set. I asked him how he started off doing videos. He said that he got in the game by doing a lot of stuff for free at first. I also asked the crew if film school was a good route to go, or a waste of money. They said as long as I know my shots (close-up, establishing shot, extreme close-up, etc
I should be fine. They're advice is film school is a good choice to make your mistakes and learn from them. He told me I could easily make those same mistakes by making videos for my friends or low budget videos for rappers. Best advice they told me was to watch the really good music videos on BET, MTV and take notes on what they do, make sure I have good lighting, etc; I told them to watch out for upcoming director "Sic ill" and made my way off.
The models came up to me after the video, made sure to get pictures taken of themselves. One models critique of my photography style is I'm alright, not bad though.
The street flyer and pole posting promotion is ridiculous. In just about every neighborhood it was flooded with flyers, posters from local acts and national ones (like Lil Wayne) As well as gigantic political posters colored red, blue or green. Went to Flea Market U.S.A., had bold letters on the outside so you knew it was the #1 Indoor Mall in the World. It reminded me of a much larger B&I, every spot was active. Seemed like every jeweler "with real jewelry" had pictures with celebs that purchased their chains. You could see Fabolous, Rick Ross, Nick Cannon, Paul Wall, more... Factor bought a $5000 chain, I bought a $5.00 eyebrow ring. The customer service is great everywhere is what especially caught me.
Later, Factor wanted to go to the "hood areas" (Miami Beach etc. Even though it was the slums, it was active. Dreaded-out, sketchy looking people everywhere you look...
Talked to "Brisco" from Cash Money/Young Money before he recorded his verse. He was so locked in, sitting in trance, that his blunt ran halfway, stopped by a dull cherry. Saw him record through the see-thru booth, puts his whole body into his adlibs.
The club scene is ridiculous. They have clubs that stay open 24 Hours?!? I went to some places (King of Diamonds...), met a bunch of people....
There were a lot of other things I did as well. Talked to the models on the set. Traveled past Star Island (Saw Sylvester Stallone, Diddy's, more... mansions) Saw Bam Margera from "Jackass" fame, ride down the street in a convertible. Went past the spot they filmed "Scarface", sat in front of Versace's house. Was taken to the spot Jason shot his video for Rick Ross, DJ Khaled. The "Univision" building in Miami, Met an artist that works under Flo-Rida, one Rick Ross's beatmakers, Brisco's camp, and a lot more industry people.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY "SIC ILL"
YOUTUBE - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPZOxjxeWE8
BACKGROUND: Northwest musician "Sic ill" (Darxiide.com) (Beatmaker, Producer, Rapper, Graphic Designer, Photographer, Videographer, more...) goes to Miami, FL to record behind the scenes footage and photography for FACTOR (of Dirty Gates Entertainment) for the song "CHAMPION" featuring Brian Angel (Of DAY26) & Brisco (Of CASH MONEY/YOUNG MONEY). Instrumental done by Maddteck (of Frontline Entertainent) recording done in Benzino (of SOURCE Magazine) recording studio.
Left to Seatac at 11:00am, changed planes in Denver. Ended up in Ft. Lauderdale, FL at 10:00am, then drove to South Beach.
Went to Benzino's studio in Miami for a couple hours. Factor recorded a couple verses to one of his beats, i describe it as "tropical". Factor killed the track as usual. I got a chance to talk to Benzino too, I introduced myself as "Sic ill" of Darxiide, but Benzino insisted on calling me Darxiide all night.
Benzino (Former owner of "THE SOURCE" Magazine) makes really good beats. He thinks Seattle is going to get a new basketball team in the next few years, he's absolutely sure of it.
He gave advice, said that it might not be good to over-diversify yourself on an album just for the thrill of it, people are going to get confused. Stick to what you do best and go hard with it.
The next morning Brian Angel knocked on my hotel room, asked me if I wanted to accompany him down the strip to get some breakfast. Strange day where anyone could see Brian and Sic ill pacing down the street, meeting people, taking pictures. Couldn't even eat my Salmon breakfast without getting handed flyers and people exchanging contact info. Girls stopped in groups taking pictures 1 by 1 on each of their cameras. Heard some of them posted them on facebook only moments later.
Later we went back to Benzino's studio where Factor and Brian finished up some tracks from the day before. Brisko (a local rap celebrity with a colorful career) from Cash Money/Young Money stopped by to lay the second verse on Factor's track. He is a natural, you could hear the engineers saying they didn't need to do too much adjusting. The finished track sounded really amazing.
We previously recorded the demo version of "Champion" in Maddteck's studio in Tacoma. The new version in Benzino's studio had a lot of clarity and sounded even better. The beat was tracked out in Pro Tools (Not all digital, Benzino does own the newest SSL console board), along with the vocals and the engineer did a marvelous job, even Brian had to comment on it. (Brian and I had a lot of conversations in Tacoma & Miami about DAY26, DIDDY, DANITY KANE, the music industry, ect;...but those are private) Went back to the Hotel to catch a full belly dancing session, done by an amazing dancer.
Woke up on Saturday to do the video shoot on Miami Beach. There were five or more great looking models on the set in bikini's on the beach. There were a couple other notable people Jason Davis Productions (They've done music videos for Rick Ross, Jim Jones Fabolous, etc;..).
The first shot was on the sands of South Beach, the second shot was at the park that surrounds south beach. Third shot was at a spot that gave a good view of South Beach and the Port Of Miami. Last shot was on a speedy yacht in the Atlantic.
I got a chance to talk to Jason on the set. I asked him how he started off doing videos. He said that he got in the game by doing a lot of stuff for free at first. I also asked the crew if film school was a good route to go, or a waste of money. They said as long as I know my shots (close-up, establishing shot, extreme close-up, etc
I should be fine. They're advice is film school is a good choice to make your mistakes and learn from them. He told me I could easily make those same mistakes by making videos for my friends or low budget videos for rappers. Best advice they told me was to watch the really good music videos on BET, MTV and take notes on what they do, make sure I have good lighting, etc; I told them to watch out for upcoming director "Sic ill" and made my way off.The models came up to me after the video, made sure to get pictures taken of themselves. One models critique of my photography style is I'm alright, not bad though.
The street flyer and pole posting promotion is ridiculous. In just about every neighborhood it was flooded with flyers, posters from local acts and national ones (like Lil Wayne) As well as gigantic political posters colored red, blue or green. Went to Flea Market U.S.A., had bold letters on the outside so you knew it was the #1 Indoor Mall in the World. It reminded me of a much larger B&I, every spot was active. Seemed like every jeweler "with real jewelry" had pictures with celebs that purchased their chains. You could see Fabolous, Rick Ross, Nick Cannon, Paul Wall, more... Factor bought a $5000 chain, I bought a $5.00 eyebrow ring. The customer service is great everywhere is what especially caught me.
Later, Factor wanted to go to the "hood areas" (Miami Beach etc
. Even though it was the slums, it was active. Dreaded-out, sketchy looking people everywhere you look...
Talked to "Brisco" from Cash Money/Young Money before he recorded his verse. He was so locked in, sitting in trance, that his blunt ran halfway, stopped by a dull cherry. Saw him record through the see-thru booth, puts his whole body into his adlibs.
The club scene is ridiculous. They have clubs that stay open 24 Hours?!? I went to some places (King of Diamonds...), met a bunch of people....
There were a lot of other things I did as well. Talked to the models on the set. Traveled past Star Island (Saw Sylvester Stallone, Diddy's, more... mansions) Saw Bam Margera from "Jackass" fame, ride down the street in a convertible. Went past the spot they filmed "Scarface", sat in front of Versace's house. Was taken to the spot Jason shot his video for Rick Ross, DJ Khaled. The "Univision" building in Miami, Met an artist that works under Flo-Rida, one Rick Ross's beatmakers, Brisco's camp, and a lot more industry people.
