Imagine young me… full of life and hopefulness on living that Q-Bert dream (scratching from one island to another). Myself and three other compadres had an idea for a turntablist music video. Blue sky thinking and heavily inspired by flashy aerial shot rap dude videos. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a scratch video with the same effects that rappers use in theirs? Fast forward 20 something odd years and here it is.
DJ City and Battle Ave‘s ‘Off the Beat and Path’ had somehow sent in this tiny ship that takes dreams from you while I was asleep at night…. Ok maybe not. Instead of having one DJ on a rooftop questioning and answering with another DJ across the city (that’s mine.. don’t steal it), they brought the dramatics with epic aerial captures at an oceanside cliff. Already being a fan of DJ Manwell and FlipFlop, adding portables into the mix with well composed scratch tracks made it official.
Right after witnessing what I call a tough act to follow, I reached out to FlipFlop and Manwell and asked them some inside scoop about the filming, via Facebook chat because we spent all of our flight budget on gas driving around playing Pokemon Go.
Our chat after the jump.
Paul: Hope all is well fellas. Great work with that ‘Off the Beat and Path’ video! Just want to get some thoughts etc about it.
FlipFlop: Thanks man! I think Manny is on the road right now driving.
Paul: All good… you’re as valid as he is lol. How long was the shoot?
FlipFlop: Um….really not long at all. Hour tops? Shooting that is. Set up and all was a half hour.
Paul: How long did it take to come up with that routine? It’s a hype set.
FlipFlop: I believe like 3-4 good work day hours… meaning…6-8+ plus hours over 3-4 days… to be more specific ha!… each day… anywho ahha! Thanks man!
Paul: Anything you want to add that happened during the shoot that ppl wouldnt know from watching it? Mosquitos.. etc?
FlipFlop: Um….. I believe we almost had a small freak accident of pushing the table off the side of the cliff. Not like the tables literally fell off but someone I forgot who, might have been me? Hit the table and shook all the equipment a bit haha!
Paul: Haha shit… can we mention that?
FlipFlop: I could be exaggerating tho we were all a little skeptical about the cliff side shot at the very beginning.
Paul: All for the dramatics… turned out well tho.
FlipFlop: I’m cool with it.. I don’t wanna speak for Manny but I Don’t believe a small story like that is gonna do anyone any harm but give a little background story of the shoot haha!
Manwell: What up, looks like Kenny covered it. Good looking out Paul.
Introducing “Off the Beat and Path,” a new series from DJcity and Battle Avenue that explores the world of “portablism.” Here is the first episode, which features DJ Manwell and FlipFlop.
Track 1 produced by FlipFlop (https://www.instagram.com/djflipflop/)
Track 2 produced by Manwell (https://www.instagram.com/djmanwell/)
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