© The Wu-Tang Corp.
- 2003-10-08
Six members of State Property, one crazy Wu-Tang member, four videos and three days — those were the circumstances the Diplomats' Jim Jones had to work with late last month when he directed the videos for State Property's "When You Hear That," "Criminal Background," "Want Me Back" and "Temporary Relief."
"Dame [Dash] and [Kareem] 'Biggs' Burke sat me down and said they'd been watching my progression [as a director]," explained Jones. "I only had a week for preparation. In the line of work I'm in, I try to make it happen, 'cause I want a lot of work."
He got just that, shooting on Staten Island one day, Midtown Manhattan the next, and then upstate New York. The first day was for a split video of "Want Me Back" and "When You Hear That." Jones described the day as action-packed. He had the Young Gunz rapping on the highway while being chased by the police for "Want Me Back." Then while filming "When You Hear That," he had to put up with the Dirt McGirt's theatrics.
"It's kind of a funny story with ODB," Jimmy said with a chuckle. "He was supposed to show up at 10 a.m., but he showed up at 10 p.m. I love him! When ODB finally did come up, we bashed in a couple of cop car windows. He's looking crazy, doing his ODB thing. Whether he was late or not, he still did his thing and it was my pleasure [to direct him]."
The next day, Jim took the Philadelphia collective to the Big Apple's Diamond District, where they re-created scenes from Keanu Reeves' "Point Break" for "Criminal Background."
"We did the jewelry heist," Jim said. "You see the dialogue inside the van. They kick open the van doors, they jump out, they got the mask on, they run inside the joint. Chris is the lookout; he spits his verse by the door. I was in there with like $50 million. Each safe had $10 million worth of jewelry. I was bugging out. Peedi [Crakk] did his verse in the safe. He had the George Bush mask."
For Monday's shoot, the whole crew went upstate and shot some pickup scenes for "Want Me Back" but mostly focused on "Temporarily Relief," which will heavily feature Peedi. In the video we'll see Crakk as a baller, living in a mansion stocked with cars, women and a closet full of Nike Airs.
"The production got a little crazy," admitted Jones, but "I'm not tripping. You got some directors who came up catered in the directing game, so when things fold, it's hectic for them. Me, I came from nothing, so I take everything in stride. I'm about my business. I ain't there for nothing else. You the coach and captain of the team, so you have to keep it all intact."
With State Property taken care of, Jim is back in the swing of things with the Dip Set. He's gearing up to shoot a split video for Juelz Santana's "Down" and "Rain Drops." From there he's going to direct the first video from Cam'ron's February LP, Purple Haze. Jones said Cam was still undecided about which song he's going with, but there was no blackout when it came to generating ideas for a video concept.
"Toward the end of the summer, there was something that happened in [New York] City that nobody will ever forget in life. Lets just say that Cam caused that."
Due to his trouble with the law, State Property captain Beanie Sigel was unable to make any of his team's shoots. It's still undecided which video will hit the air first.
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