Here at IMVDb, we are such big fans of Brooke Candy that we feel like we know her. We don’t, though. But Spaghetto does! And has for a while now – even before Brooke was everybody’s favorite sexy lady rapper. After being friends for years, the two of them finally teamed up on the “I Wanna Fuck Right Now” video. We talked to Spaghetto about working with Brooke on the video, the challenges of stripping while wearing snakes and platform shoes, the Lil Debbie cameo, and Colt45. (Photos by D'arby Rose.)

Doug: What inspired the concept of this video?

Spaghetto: I had this idea of a futuristic version of a classic diva. Every time there is an interview or an article about Brooke, they always bring up the fact that she used to be a stripper. But now she’s on a lot of fashion websites and magazines and her style is really iconic. My idea for the video was to underline this transition from the stripper world more into the fashion world. I wanted to recreate a fashion show with a catwalk, but at the end we'd have a stripper pole. I once saw her performing and she had this really cool outfit on, similar to the one she’s wearing in the Grimes video. It was this metal, really sexy thing in the front, but from the back she looked totally naked. She might have had a thong, but it was the color of her skin. She had a leather jacket on and under the jacket you could see her naked ass. You couldn't tell from the front so it wasn't really visible when she was on stage. But after her set we went outside. She was outside smoking a joint, hanging out and she was butt naked, like it was nothing. I thought it was awesome. For this video, I wanted to create the same thing. I wanted her to walk down the catwalk, then once she got to the end of it, turn around, revealing her ass. That was the idea. With her stylist, Seth Pratt, we perfected the idea. He created an outfit that is three outfits together and has this skirt that covers the front but is open in the back.

Reference images from Spaghetto's treatment

Doug: I see Brooke is credited as a co-writer. What was her contribution?

Spaghetto: We had a lot of meetings. I wrote the treatment and she added her ideas. She really liked the idea of a fashion show with a stripper pole. I wanted to have a bunch of people sitting along the stage, really like a fashion show, taking notes and watching. But she said no because she wanted to do something more simple. I think that was the right choice because that way we could really focus on her and keep the place dark and play with the lights more. The emptiness of the place made it more mysterious. Also, Lil Debbie wasn’t in the treatment. I wanted someone to walk with Brooke from the dressing room to the stage but I had imagined a guy. Brooke was going to have one of her friends do it, but she called me the morning of the shoot, while I was driving to the location, and said, “Debbie is coming. She’s going to look like a guy. It’s going to be cool.” And I said, “OK, sure.” I'm open when it comes to a music video; it's always a collaboration. That's the fun of it, creative minds that connect. And Brooke and I definitely clicked.

Doug: Does her contribution to the idea also come from how she dances and moved on the stripper pole?

Spaghetto: We wanted to do a video together for a long time and the idea of the pole was there since the beginning. I knew she could do stuff on the pole, but I didn’t know how much. My idea was to have her rapping a verse while upside down on the stripper pole. I wrote it in the treatment and she said she could do it. She was so good at, she did it perfectly. We did it three times, and every time she did it perfectly. And the rest of the moves were her dancing to the song and doing what came natural to her, including that crazy bridge. She’s curving a lot. It was amazing. I didn’t know she was going to do that and she could do that. I was like, “Oh, wow. That is awesome.”

Doug: It seems you were just as surprised as anybody else who’s watched that scene. Does that mean there wasn’t any testing or rehearsing?

Spaghetto: No. I'd never seen her strip before the shoot. I’ve known her for quite a long time now, and I have seen her perform live a few times and I know she’s really good on stage. She has a lot of energy and she can move really well, but I've never seen her on the pole. We were talking about what she could do. She said, “Yes, I can do this. I can do that,” but we didn’t rehearse. That was the first time that I saw her doing stuff. She is really confident and perfectionist, I had no doubt that if she said “I can do it” she could do it - and well.

Doug: Her style looks really different in every video she does, what was your inspiration for her look in this video?

Spaghetto: I wanted her to look sexy but classy. I didn't want the video to be vulgar, I wanted it to be beautiful and contrast with the lyrics of the song. I wanted her to look beautiful, like a classic diva, but with her style - robot/futuristic outfit, platform shoes, etc. I had pictured in my mind the dressing room, and I had researched pictures and attached them to the treatment. With Jenna Pittaway, the producer, we found the location and the mirrors. Justin Potter, the DP, did an amazing job lighting the room and giving the image that classic, warm, Moulin Rouge feeling. It came out exactly how I had it in mind, I was so stoked! Brooke contributed a lot as far as styling. She has a really clear vision of how she wants to look. She’s really a perfectionist which was awesome for me cause I am that way too. She brought her set designer that did an amazing job, and her stylist and her make up-nail-hair people who were really amazing.

Doug: You mention you've known Brooke for a while now. Since you’ve known her, has she always had that same style and that same personality?

Spaghetto: I think she’s evolving a lot in her style. It’s definitely more fashion or elegant or shocking depending on the situation. She has professional people doing her makeup, hair, nails, designers who make clothes for her, so it's different. Everything is on a different level now because she has a public image and she can be as crazy, creative, and provocative as she wants with it. When I met her she wasn’t even rapping at the time, but she always looked particular and really cute, and sexy.

Doug: In her last video, there were some reptiles, like lizards and other cold-blooded animals. In this one, she’s covered in snakes. What that process was like with the snakes. Were there any difficulties?

Spaghetto: No, actually. The snakes were really cool, really mellow. They use those snakes a lot for photo shoots and videos, so they’re used to being around a lot of people. They were really chill. It was harder for Brooke because those snakes are heavy, and she had three on her. We worked a lot of hours and she was really great throughout. I respect her a lot, she is a badass. It wasn’t easy to film that video. She was dancing, doing tricks on the pole, and performing at regular speed and double speed for slow motion - plus had these snakes on, and had to wear a lot of stuff that made if difficult to move around in. I wanted her to wear her platform Adidas because they are part of her image and I've never seen anyone on the pole with those. I thought it was a stronger and weirder image than regular stripper shoes. But real stripper shoes are made to be really, really light. The platform Adidas are very heavy, so it was even harder for her to climb the pole and grip. But she nailed it, she was amazing.

Doug: You mentioned Lil Debbie being in the video and making that cameo. You’ve shot with her in the past, but you said Brooke brought her to the set this time. So that wasn’t a costume that you had, Debbie came to set dressed like that?

Spaghetto: No, she didn't have braids and she was wearing her own clothes when she got there. Seth and her crew did everything. Brooke had her vision about how Debbie was going to look. She explained it to me over the phone and I liked the idea. I liked it even more when I saw the transformation, she looked beautiful and bossy. I think Debbie liked her new look too cause she is has been rocking braids since then.

Doug: At the end of the video, you guys thank Colt45. Is there a particular reason that you guys use Colt45? I’m assuming that’s not a paid product placement.

Spaghetto: No, it is. They actually paid for the video.

Doug: No way. Oh, wow. I was totally kidding. That's awesome.

Spaghetto: It was the perfect match because Brooke likes Colt45, and the beer created an awesome contrast in the video. She looks elegant and classy, and she’s drinking a 40 while rapping “I Wanna Fuck Right Now." Pretty awesome (laughs). I’m really happy we got to collaborate on this with Colt45 and Cashmere Agency. They were really cool. They also made a BTS video.

Doug: There are some moments in this video that when taken out of context might be a bit graphic. And with anything on YouTube, you run the risk of someone hitting that report button. Was there ever any concern that maybe this video would get flagged by YouTube? Or you guys are not really worried about that stuff?

Spaghetto: Not really. I think her last video got flagged, but that just means you have to be over 18 years old to see it. I don't think they flagged this yet. It’s sexy, but she’s wearing stuff. The lyrics are more explicit than the video. For example, I sent it to MTV and they really loved the video, but they said that the song had too many bad words for them.

Doug: I see, so the language was their main concern?

Spaghetto: Right, they didn’t say anything about the nudity. She is technically wearing a bikini so that shouldn't be an issue.

Doug: So going into it, you guys never talked about any repercussions of the content from any perspective?

Spaghetto: No, we didn’t care.

Doug: I feel like I could have guessed that.

Spaghetto: We just wanted to do what we wanted to do. People that like her, and like the video, are going to like it. People that are going to hate regardless, they’re going to hate. I’m sure they are people who are just waiting for her to post something just so they can hate on it. They were going to hate on whatever, even if we dressed her like a nun, they were going to hate. As a director, I don't make videos thinking “I shouldn't do this cause people are going to hate and write bad comments about it." I make videos cause I have the urgency to materialize, to make real and tangible, a vision I have in my mind. I don't expect everyone to get my vision or to like it. I'm just happy that something that was just a thought in my mind now is out of my head and free in the world for people to see. I'm happy I can share it, and I'm happy people are reacting to it. Can't be all love but that's normal. She’s doing something strong right now in the hip-hop world. She’s bringing out, in her personal way, women empowerment and gay empowerment. Hip-hop is really male-dominated and sexist, so it’s not easy for her. You see male artists shooting videos at strip clubs or with naked girls all the time. The only difference is, this time, it’s the girl – a former stripper - that’s being empowered. She is not the object anymore, she is the subject, and this is controversial for a lot of people.

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.