What would a rapper and a comedian do if you gave them $5,000 and told them to make a music video? If you think the answer would be to get pizza with Childish Gambino, dress up like a chicken, and buy some shiny suits, you would be exactly right because that is just what Chance The Rapper and comedian Hannibal Buress did in the video for "NaNa" when the YouTube comedy network Jash gave them $5,000 and told them to make a music video. Despite the simplicity of the concept, the video is a lot of fun and does a great job showcasing Chances personality, which isnt always easy to do on a $5,000 budget. Chance, whose new mixtape Acid Rap is one of our favorite tapes of the year, also brought along Austin Vesely to co-direct the video with Hannibal, as well as to shoot and edit the footage. We talked to Austin and Hannibal about video, about working with Jash, and about how spending $5,000 in a day isnt as easy as youd think.
Doug: The video comes as a part of the Jash $5K series, where a comedian an a rapper get together with $5,000 and make a music video with that. How did you get involved with Jash and how did this $5K video series work out?
Hannibal: Well I know Jensen, who works with Jash, and he knew that I was a fan of Chance and so I think he linked it up. I dont know if Chance recommended me, but he asked me if I wanted to direct a video. I said "You know, Ive never done that before, are you sure that you all want me to do that?" Then Jensen came up with the idea that we would just spend the $5,000. It was getting down to the wire when we needed a shoot, we came up with some concepts, but then we came up with this one and we went out and kind of did it. I had a few plans for shots and we got out there and did it.
Doug: And so Austin, how did you get involved with it?
Austin: Chance came to me just a couple weeks before the shoot. Because of the concept and everything was going to be so bare-bones, he came to me because I think Im just sort of used to shooting under those conditions - doing a little bit of almost that pseudo documentary-style stuff where we go out and just get what we can get. Chance came to me, and I was excited about the opportunity to work with Hannibal, and with Jash, too. Its a really cool little program where they make funny stuff for the internet without some of the restrictions that you get from television.
Doug: As far as you guys know, are they going to do more of these $5K videos or is this going to be like a one-off kind of thing?
Austin: When I went to pick up the check with Chance they said, "Dont fuck it up because other people wont get to do it."
Doug: Hannibal you mentioned that you guys had some other concepts in mind but basically the one you landed on was to just spend $5,000 on crazy and ridiculous items. Is that basically what the idea was?
Hannibal: Yeah, it was just to have fun and spend money. Chance had some ideas, he wanted to go to the pizza joint so we bought pizza, and then there was a couple ideas that we had about going on Hollywood Blvd and shoot the people in the costumes, then to go to the $.99 store. But some of it was just on the fly where we went on Hollywood Blvd. I saw one of the double-decker tour buses, I said "That would be a fun shot, lets get on that." And then while we were on the tour bus, we went past the Laugh Factory. I said, "Lets see if we can try to go in the Laugh Factory and shoot in there." We had some stuff that we definitely wanted to do, but then a lot of the stuff that really made the video was just us being out and about and thinking of stuff on the fly.
Doug: Do you guys have a list of some of the ridiculous items that you ended up with? Did you guys actually purchase those suits?
Austin: The suits were one of the biggest parts of the budget, which is funny. At first we thought it going to be gone in a few hours, then we realized it was harder to spend $5,000 then we thought it would be for some reason. Pretty much what we spent it on is what you see in the video. Theres very little that we cut out. We went out to a hookah bar and bought some stranger's wine, that stuff didnt make the cut but it, but most of the stuff ended up in the video.
Doug: With Jash being a comedy YouTube network, do you think they were looking for a rapper with sense of humor? Do you guys think Chance is a funny guy in addition to being a really awesome rapper?
Austin: Hes a pretty funny dude and kind of a cartoonish guy. Hes just very animated and thats always made it really easy to work with him on the video front because you dont have to do a lot. You want to make the videos good, but if you put him in front of a camera youre going to get something pretty good.
Doug: How did it break between the two of you. You guys are kind of credited as co-directors. How does that technically break down between you guys?
Hannibal: Austin was doing the shooting and he editing, and I basically said, "Shoot at stuff." Austin picked a lot of shots too, we were all collaborating.
Doug: At the beginning of the video, Hannibal, you and Chance are talking at the camera, kind of explaining whats going down, and I notice that you get subtitles and Chance doesnt. Did somebody complain that they couldnt understand what you were saying, or am I asking you to explain a joke right now?
Hannibal: Maybe it was because I do talk low sometimes, so maybe when they were showing it to people somebody couldnt hear me so they put subtitles.
Austin: That must have been, because I didnt see it until the video dropped and I thought that was weird. I didnt put them in.
Doug: And where did that shot take place, is that in a breezeway of a bank or something?
Austin: Yeah, we tried to shoot in a couple banks and we were getting shut down. I think its probably hard to shoot at any bank, but something we started realizing too was that just being out and about with the camera in LA, people are either going to be really open to it because theyre used to it, or theyre going to be really jaded to it because they are used to it, and the banks were just not having it, and neither were the people there.
