Monday, June 22, 2009

N.E.R.D.'s new website




http://www.n-e-r-d.com
I saw the link on Kanye West's blog and I just had to put it on mine. They have a N.E.R.D. web video game on there. IT IS TOO COOL!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

INSPIRATION Flashback video

I was going through music videos on Youtube while I was working on the "Walking on the Moon" video and I came across this old school video. I just love the look of it. At the time I wasn't really that crazy about the song but the video no doubt is great.

My Trip to Miami






This past weekend was very interesting and exciting all at the same time. It started last Thursday as me and nine models got together for a fifteen hour trip to Miami. I packed all of the girl's bags that were riding with me and all of their bigger bags, i packed on the roof of my truck. We weren't on the road a good 20 minutes before one of the bags popped off of the roof and was swinging from the side of the truck. I immediately pulled over and just took the bags down and put some of them inside the truck and some in the other truck that we were following. 

We met up with LaMescia's Dad in Alabama around 2am at a Wal-mart. While we were taking a break, me and some of the girls went inside Wal-mart. We weren't in there two minutes before dudes were trying to holla at them. I was walking with one of the girls named, Winter and I told her that I would just be paranoid if I were a female and have dudes just coming from nowhere just trying to holla at me. 

We got back on the road about an hour later and was headed for Miami. It wasn't for another 12 hours before we finally got to Miami.

As soon as we got to the hotel, we unpacked and got straight to work. We started poolside and the pics and lighting was oh so on point. I think we finished around mid-night. After a long trip and intense photo shoot, some of the girls decided that they wanted to enjoy a Friday night in Miami. We got dressed and went out only to find out that just about every restaurant was closing. Our only option was to hit up either Mikey D's or some other late night fast food joint.  We ended up hiting up Mikey D's and Taco Bell and headed on back to the hotel. 

We ended up missing our early morning scheduled photo shoot due from staying out all night so we really didn't get started getting up until around 9am. We all packed into my truck as well two other cars and headed to the beach. We hit the beach and hit it hard. Beach side were hot models taking pictures with thongs along side on looking 16 - 40 men. It really bugged me out that these girls were getting all of this attention and they just handed there business just as if it were just out there. 

I think it might have been around four or five in the afternoon before we decided to head to dinner. The place we went to, I can't even remember the name but the food was cool. It almost reminded me of a Picadilli/Taco Bell. After eight hours and a sunburn, off to the hotel it was. We were scheduled to continue shooting in the hotel again but most of the models were worn out and had the craziest sunburn so everybody just figured that it would best to take a load off. 

Me and seven of the models hoped into my truck, (just so if you are wondering, I have a Ford Explorer with third seating). I know what you're thinking, yeah, i was the only dude there. Anyway, getting past all of that. It took us good thirty minutes before we found a good parking spot. We parked and hit the strip. We went to the "Mansion" abd it cost each of us a good $20. I personally liked the club. After about an hour the whole group got a good feel for the club and was working the room. One of my new friends, Winter came up to me and told me that somebody spit in her mouth. I thought that was crazy. She said that she was scared because she didn't know what it was that dude spit. Damn, man.

Later on, not to long after that happened to her, I was working my way around the V.I.P. and I noticed a guy dancing on a girl and there was a girl in front of him and he was bitting on her back. Once he stopped, I tried to make my way between the two of them. Bad mistake. Once i got in front of him, the dude started bitting on me. WTF!!!! I hit the dude with my elbow to get him off of me and when he looked up and noticed that it wasn't the girl he had previously bit, he looked scared out of his mind. He couldn't speak english so the only thing he could do was try to make peace with me by trying to give me a pound. OMG!!! Miami, what is going on down there?!!!

On the way back to the car, I started my car with the remote starter just to get the AC going because it was just as humid down there as it is in Memphis. To our surprise, we thought that the Miami police blocked off the streets after events just like Memphis does but in the this case, there was a murder scene. The even more crazy part about it was that my truck was parked right across the street from the shooting. 

After I asked the police how long the investigation was going to take, they said that it could be up until noon. I didn't have until noon. Here it is 5am and the models and I had to be up at 6:30 to start our next shoot. An hour went by and the police finally let us go. We got back to the hotel after grabbing some Mickey D's again and off to sleep everybody went. 

It was around 10:30am before everybody got up and went to the hotel's pool one last time for our final shoot. 12 noon, it was time to head home. We were out of the hotel by 1pm and on the road. After 16 hours, 3 movies, 10 CDs, unlimited iPod songs, multiple gas and food stops, we finally made it home. To me it was almost the ending of a movie. We all had this wonderful experience with only a handful of people knowing each other from the beginning of the trip to everybody giving each other hugs and well wishes in the end. Just as quickly as it began, it was over. 

Thursday, June 4, 2009

I AM STRONGER


How can I start this off? I really have tried not to let my personal life effect or interfere with my artistic life. I think that life experiences can surely inspire great work from an artist, not doubt, but it doesn't have to control it. As an artist you have the control of what you want for people to see and not to see. You are showing them your world wether it is a fantasy or the truth. 


The reason for this entry is that two nights ago I found out who my real friends are. It sure is funny what real thoughts people have about you when you aren't around (so they think). 


One of my closest friends, (I don't plan on mentioning his name because I'm not as dirty as he is) got on facebook and started to express his feelings about my new released music video to my girlfriend. Little did he know that I was sitting right next to her as he was IMing her. He started telling her that he thought that I was mad at him for the opinions he expressed to me about my video. He later expressed his feelings to her about me as an artist as a whole. His comments were and I quote "He is lost", "Arick is all talk", He is not real",  "He is not true to himself", and "His inspirations are not his own". 


It was kind of embarrassing to see one of my best friends that I have known since 1996 to be down-talking me to my girlfriend, in front of me of all times. To see her almost laughing at him and what he was saying and then questioning me and our friendship, that hurt. Is this what he really thinks about me? And for her to be questioning me as to ask "Is this what your friendship is like?" I was just as shocked as she was. Wow, man.


This IM conversation went on for about an hour and the longer it went on the more I became that much more disappointed in what he was saying. I couldn't believe that this person would even consider calling himself my friend. My definition of a real friend would be somebody that doesn't put you down at all. If you were a REAL friend, you would pull that person to the side and let them know TO THIER FACE and let them know how you feel about them or what they are doing or have done. Not tell other people, especially to the ones that are close to them. How does that make YOU look as a person. I think it makes you look like a coward and a punk. Even if you did pull that person to the side and let them know, that should be the end of it. You don't need to broadcast your opinion to the rest of the world.


Some of the comments that he said about my video was that the styling hurt the video, that the "White boy" was, and I quote "HORRID", the graphics that I do for my job look better than what was in the video, I was being "CHEAP" with the production of the video and that it was no excuse because he shoots in lesser space than me, and the graphics in the background of the performance pieces look like something that was done at the fair. Oh, and he also went on to say that he would get more youtube hits of a video of him pissing than I would for my video. Please, somebody tell me if that doesn't sound like a HATER. How is that supposed help me get better as an artist? I guess if he's not behind the production, it ain't right or can be called art. 


He later went on to touch on certain things about my family that has nothing to do with my art. One of the things he went on to say is that I would prefer that my daughter was fat so that when she got older, little boys wouldn't bother her and distract her from her work. Please tell me, why in the hell would I say something like that? I am the one that takes care of my  kids and I do it by myself!!!!! He went on to tell my girlfriend that, "Its those fat little girls that end up sucking dick to get attention because they have low of a self-esteem." Where did that come from?!!!! 


What I have to say about that is, IF YOU EVER REFER TO MY DAUGHTER SUCKING SOMEBODY'S DICK, I WILL FUCK YOU UP!!!! Don't think I am playing because if I ever see you again, believe me, it will happen!!!  


My friend (so called), you need to watch what you say about people, especially the ones that are close to you and have your back. Making other people feel bad about what they are contributing to this world doesn't make you any better than them, it just makes you that much less of a person. I don't ever remember GOD leaving you in charge to say what is and what isn't.


I would like to conclude and say that from now on, until the day that you die, we are enemies. Don't ever call me again, mention my name, or ask my family or girlfriend about me ever again. You brought this on yourself because I have never put you down or made you feel bad about what you were doing with your art. You have been doing this for years and I am finally done listening to your "I'm better than you mentality". You said that I was "LOST". No man, it's you because you just "LOST" one of your closest friends. With that, I say, FUCK YOU and have a poor and unproductive life. How's that for being "REAL"?