JUST IN TIME

Several months back, Coodie and Chike flew down to Dallas to film a video for Erykah Badu’s “Turn Me Away (Get Munny)” with Rick Ross. Motown-Universal had supposedly lined up a budget for Coodie and Chike to shoot the video, but a few hours after they touched down in Dallas, Erykah got word that her label had reneged on the budget munny. For good reason, they might have been biting their nails about going over budget and stirring up controversy. The last time Erykah collaborated with the notorious directorial duo, Window Seat’s racy climax incurred a $500 class C misdemeanor and a healthy dose of attention from “news outlets” like Fox News.

But time spent might as well be spent well, so the guys decided to kick around Dallas for a couple days to put some visuals to Erykah’s “Window Seat Remix” with Rick. The first day, she caught the guys up on a concept for the video. The Bawse was to scoop Ms. Badu at the Grassy Knoll in Dallas, and peel off into a sunny day of window seat riding, rapping and singing. The guys met up with Ross early in the day to wait on Ms. Badu’s call, while she was getting her hair done. They rolled, and rolled, and rolled around Dallas in Ross’ 2010 Porsche Panamera, tightly pursued by a cloud of Swisher smoke.

Erykah’s a busy lady. As the sun set, they had to scrap the Grassy Knoll concept, since the “Window Seat” video ended in broad daylight. Ross spotted a liquor store, and they debarked for a quick performance shot. But across the street, Coodie spotted a storefront bail bondsman; the video concept started to coalesce. Ross would bail Erykah out, and pick her up at the bondsman’s for a spin around her native Dallas streets. Badu called to see where they were, and the idea came to fruition; Rick picked her up, and the duo lounged back in their respective window seats, exchanging song and verse deep into the morning hours.

The next day, Erykah rented out a local theater to shoot an offbeat concept for her “Out My Mind Just In Time” video. She wanted to perform a lyric-less interpretive dance of the ballad. Coodie and Chike set up a soft, yet focused Fresnel spotlight scheme to capture her theatrical performance of the soul-drenched ballad. Erykah pranced, gyrated, and slithered across the stage, and Act 1 was born.

-Ned

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