It’s not often that someone can make both their directorial debut and their artist debut in the same video, and then have that video premiere on a major YouTube channel like Three/21 Media, but that’s exactly what happened with Shawn Collins and his video for “Jews & Blacks.” Although it was shot while home for Christmas, without much planning, and essentially without any help, the video was good enough to catch the attention of Rik Cordero and was the first video featured on Three/21 Media in 2013. We talked to Shawn about how the video got premiered on Three/21, why his grandma thinks he’s a transvestite, and Swenson's.

Doug: How did this music video come to be, with you as the artist and as the director?

Shawn: Music is sort of like a hobby to me. I’m just not going to allow myself to feel like I need to work for it. I allow it to work for me. If I feel inspired to write something or record something, I’ll write it and record it and then put it out. I’m not going to fight or try to force the issue. I’m not going to dress differently or rap differently or talk about different things - that’s not my path anymore. My path is filmmaking, so the music is very liberating to be yourself and do things that really come from you. In the past with my music, I was very serious and everything was calculated and methodical. None of that exists anymore. I went home to Ohio for the holidays. Before I left, my grandma called me and said, “Hey, can you bring that new camera you got and take some pictures of the family?” I really wasn’t interested in bringing this whole thing, my camera is brand new. I got mad backpacks and stuff, and I just dropped $7,000 on it and I didn’t want to transport it on the airplane. In my head I’m like, “It’s not even for photography. I’m going to take zero pictures with it - it’s going to be all video." But in real life I said, “Yes, absolutely.” I have a heavy duty tripod in my apartment and didn't want to bring all that, but I thought maybe they’re going to want me to be in the picture so I should get some kind of tripod. I bought a super cheap tripod and had it shipped to Ohio. I went to the airport and I had my backpack and I actually met Trinidad James at the airport. I had my camera gear and everything. He’s getting off the plane, I’m getting on. I shook hands with him. I was like, “OK, this is going to be a good trip. We’re starting off on the right note.”

I get to Ohio. I have my camera. I’m just getting antsy. I’m sitting at my grandparents house in Akron. I’m just like, “Man, I really want to shoot something. I want to start directing and I want to start doing videos for people but I need a reel. I need to show people that I can do something. I just can’t walk around and tell them." It just hit me. I was like, “Dude, I have a phone full of rap songs that I made. Why don’t I just shoot myself? What’s stopping me? I need no budget, I’m going to shoot it myself." I called up a couple friends. I said, “Hey. You want to help me shoot this video?” They’re long time friends so they were like, “Of course.” It was completely impromptu. I didn’t write any treatments. No premeditated game plan. I just called my friends and I said, “Hey, when do you think is the best time to shoot at Swenson's parking lot?” They’re like, “Aw man, Swenson's is always hopping, you’re never going to be able to shoot there.” I was like, “Well, how early do you guys want to wake up?”

Doug: Why did you pick Swenson's?

Shawn: Dude, it’s so good. It’s amazing. If you’re in Akron, it's the spot. The Black Keys use Swenson's sometimes in their art work. It’s the greatest hometown burger place. I really wanted to kind of just pay tribute to that because absence makes the heart grow fonder. Now that I’m in New York and I can’t have Swenson's all the time, it’s constantly on my mind. I said, “Yo, I’m going to shoot at Swenson's.” My firends were like, “Swenson's opens at like 11. There’s no way you can shoot there with the parking lots going to be crazy. It’s like a nightclub." We had to wake up at 6 to get there before the cooks got there and stuff. We had no permits or anything so we just showed up. I was super nervous because the cops kept going by. It looked very, very nefarious because we’re the only car in Swenson's parking lot and I’m shooting a lot of B-roll of Swenson's. Before I’m rapping, I’m walking around with the 5D and I’m shooting in their windows. It looks like I’m casing the joint like I’m going to rob Swenson's. The police keep roaming by. There’s mad takes of me where I’m rapping at the camera and then I stop to make sure that the cops aren’t pulling in.

Doug: Where did you get the clothes and costumes for the video come from?

Shawn: I literally went into my granddad’s basement because I didn’t want it to be serious at all. I wanted it to be as silly as possible. I went into my granddad’s basement and he’s a gun collector. He collects all this civil war memorabilia and just crazy antique stuff. I literally just went and was picking things out that I’m going to wear and interact with in the video. I grabbed an old Army jacket he had that says Collins on it. He has a raccoon hat. I’m like, “Alright, I’m going to put that on. Rappers won’t do that." I want to be different, just do what I want. Fuck what anyone else thinks. I put on this crazy shit and I was like, “Let’s go rap in Swenson's parking lot.” I think it’s very funny that rappers have all these face tattoos. To me that’s silly, it looks comical. I know that they’re trying to look hard, or look very serious, or intimidating. But to me, it’s very funny looking. Imagine Birdman from Cash Money - he was affected by Katrina and lost a bunch of homes and stuff. Imagine him talking to an insurance claims adjustor with all that stuff all over his face. How could you be on the other end?

Doug: What did you use to make the tattoos?

Shawn: I went to my grandma and I said, “Hey, do you have anything I can draw on my face with?” She’s like, “What the hell are you talking about?” I was like, “I just wanted to put fake tattoos on my face.” My grandparents are very conservative, suburban people. They’re like, “What? Why do you want to draw on your face?” "It’s for a music video." My grandma was like, “Yes, I guess there’s an eyebrow pencil or something over there. Knock yourself out.” I go and grab her eyebrow pencil and I’m drawing this shit on my face like tears and stuff. I’m like, “Oh, that’s funny.” I walk out and she’s sitting in the living room and I’m like, “OK, so now I need something to wear. Do you have any clothes?” She’s like, “What are you, a transvestite?” I told her that a rapper is very exaggerated and wears very gaudy fashion and that I wanted to dress in that. She’s like, “The closet’s yours.” I go into my grandma’s closet and I found this blouse. It has these big obnoxious gold buttons and this floral print with shoulder pads in it. I put that on and I got these gold rings and chains from her jewelry drawer. Everything in that video that I’m wearing is stuff from my grandparent’s closet - except for the batman pinky ring, that’s mine. 

Doug: It's funny that you say Trinidad James at the airport because in "All Gold Everything," he’s essentially wearing your grandma’s shirt.

Shawn: Yes. 100% I think that meeting him right before I shot that definitely influenced me. I didn’t really think about that until you just said it. When I met him he had a bunch of shit on his face. I don’t know if he had tattoos, but he had lots of gold.

Doug: Especially on his teeth, as did you in this video. What did you use to make those?  

Shawn: For Christmas, my fiancé’s family bought a honey baked ham, which comes in a gold wrapper. I was looking at it. I said to my fiancé, “Do you think you would steal some of that wrapper for me?” She takes a sliver of it and I put it in my pocket. I’m trying to be very secretive.

Doug: Ham in your pocket.

Shawn: Yes. I get home and I take the gold wrapper from the ham and stuck it to my teeth. I just thought this stuff is cool because you don’t see this. I guess you do see it - but you don’t see it like very pasty white kids. It's an arresting visual in my opinion to see someone who looks like me with all that shit on their face and gold teeth. If I saw that I would stop and watch.

Doug: The video premiered on the Three/21 Media YouTube channel, which obviously is full of other hip-hop videos that do take themselves seriously. A lot of stuff that in some ways is what’s being parodied a little bit in your video. How were you able to then kind of take that video and get it on to the channel?

Shawn: I shot everything in Ohio. I took it back to New York. I got back here and I edited it just on a desktop computer in my apartment. I was like really, really excited about the video because I felt like it was very fun. My intentions were never malicious. Everything that I was doing, all of my intentions were just to smile and have fun. Anything I do in the video, I would also do if Birdman was standing right there. I would do that right in front of him. I would rap to him with fake tattoos on and gold teeth. There was nothing I was ashamed of or that, and there was no malintent. Everything was very like, “Oh, this is fun. This is cool. This is a cool visual.” There’s really no meditated message. It was very impromptu. "Oh, that looks cool. Let’s put those teeth it. Oh, my grandma’s blouse. Why not?" Let me be the butt of a joke. Laugh at me. Let’s laugh together. The whole intention of shooting that video was to create a reel sort so that I could show people. "Hey, I’ll shoot your video, this is what I’m capable of."

Doug: How supportive is Three/21 and Rik of your ventures? I know you write for him, but it seems he's got your back across the board. 

Shawn: He’s always said, “Yo, your music’s really good.” Which is very cool to hear that. He had no idea I was shooting this or anything. To him, I’m still the writer. I’m writing behind the scenes. I’m working on his film sets. When I shot it and edited this video together, in my opinion this is very good. This could serve as proof of concept. Proof that "hey, I’m able to all on my own." I could do that for someone else, so hire me. I sent it to Rik just to get his opinion. To just say, “Hey, professionally, let me know what you think of this because you’re a professional and you know what the hell you’re doing. I’m just starting and I need you to teach me. I need you to tell me hey, that’s no good. That’s a bad look. You needed this lens.” I sent it to him. He wrote back, “Dude, I love this.” Immediately I realized that he got it. Rik’s a very smart guy. Very, very intelligent. I think that we share some similar perspectives on what’s funny in hip-hop. Obviously, Action Bronson is a guy who’s very comical and very cartoonish visual character. Rik does all Action Bronson’s stuff. I think Rik gets the idea of being able to have fun with rap without making fun of rap. I’m not making fun of rap. I listen to rap in my apartment every morning. I made a living running a rap studio. I made rap music. I’m not making fun of it. I’m having fun with it. I think that there’s a big difference. Someone who’s making fun of rap music may not truly enjoy it or may not have a respect for it and I do. I have a great admiration, a great respect for it. I’m just liberating myself and having fun with it and not subscribing to the ideology of the people that are there. 

Doug: So, how did the video ultimately end up on the channel?

Shawn: Rik loved it and said, “This would be a really good look to put on the Three/21 channel. Do you care if I do that?” "Do I care? Thank you!" I’m thanking the heavens. Rik Cordero respects what I’m doing. That’s really what it was about. It was about trying to gain Rik’s respect of "Yo, I can shoot." Tell me I’m good, big brother. Pat me on the back - and he did. I’m so thankful for that. He’s just an amazing person and I have no idea what I did to gain his favor but I have the upmost respect and admiration. Really, I know where I’m going to be in ten years, or where I want to be in ten years and I’m going to owe the majority of that to Rik’s support. I’m never going to forget him. He’s a great friend and a true champion of my creative endeavors.

Doug: Qucikly going back to the video itself, I’m just kind of curious when it comes to on camera presence in a music video, is it difficult to kind of maintain yourself and stay being yourself when the camera is rolling? Do you fight off the tendency to have an on-camera persona? 

Shawn: I feel like it’s very important, at least for me as a director, to know what it’s like to be on the camera. A lot of the people that I work with and a lot of my colleagues, they don’t really have any outlet that allows them to be on camera. I feel like maybe there’s something lost in that translation between the director and the artist, the director and the subject. Where if that director has been in front of the camera, you maybe know how it feels. You know what insecurities come along with that, and you know on a very basic level what it feels like to stand there for two hours performing the same song over and over and over again. I think it’s important to know that and to have that information. I think that when I’m behind the camera, I’m less self-conscious. Being a director is very freeing because nobody’s looking at you, they’re looking at the talent. When you’re the talent everyone’s looking at you. I think in the spirit of the song, and the spirit of the project, it was just about having fun. There wasn’t a lot of pressure or a lot of need to be act out or sort of overcompensate, or behave in a way that I wouldn’t naturally behave. I was really being myself. If I was to rap for you right now, I would be silly. There wasn’t a lot of putting on for the camera. Certainly in choosing what I was going to wear in the basement, there was a lot of consciousness there. Once the camera was rolling, I don’t feel like there’s much of a persona that’s very distant from me. There’s nothing I would be ashamed of that I’m doing that oh, my grandma saw, I would be like, “Oh, that’s not me.” I mean all of it is very silly but she wiped my butt when I was a baby. She knows all of the silly parts of me. It’s very, very true to who I am and very fun. There’s not a lot of posing or posture in it. It’s me having fun.

Check out Shawn's latest video "It Sucks Being Broke" by Skipp Whitman.

Doug Klinger is the co-founder/content director of IMVDb and watches more music videos than anyone on earth. You can find him on twitter at @doug_klinger.