Photo by Colin Shane
What do you get when you combine flying meat, a woman with a flower head, competitive hotdog eating, some epic hair tossing, and a bunch of goop made of milk, cream, yogurt, and food coloring? You get Ben Fees amazing new video for "Rawks" by K.Flay, of course. The video, which is anything but your standard hip hop video, features K.Flay rapping, head spinning/bumping, and damaging her skin all to benefit the final product. We talked to Ben and K.Flay about the video, the unique characters, and whats going on underneath the sheets.
Doug: How did you guys end up working together on this project?
Ben: Either she found my profile on Redtube, or her manager was told by his friend that K.Flay and I would work well together.
K.Flay: I found him on youporn.
Doug: The style and tone of the video is not like your typical hip hop video. Was it a goal to make something different than your standard hip hop video, or did you guys just want to make something awesome?
Ben: I'd say both... Sort of. Or neither...? Once we met, we just talked and talked about stuff all over the globe and spectrum, most not having anything to do with the video or music. When it came time to make the video, we had a mutual feeling we wanted to convey, as well as some images. There are actually a lot of cool images that lay on the cutting room floor, but we wanted to let the images you see now breathe a bit more. And yeah, we wanted it to be both awesome, and atypical for hip hop. But we wanted to stick to our ideas whether the prior two questions were followed or not. We knew what kind of feelings we wanted to evoke, regardless of the awesome or anti-hiphop factors...
K.Flay: I agree on the conveyance of feeling. I hadn't really done a video that focused primarily on imagery and tone, which is something that appeals to me both as someone who makes things and someone who watches things. And I've never been a straightaway hip hop artist, which makes it easy to do whatever feels right, and not necessarily adhere to any specific aesthetic.
Photo by Ben Fee
Doug: There are some interesting characters in this video, like the flower-head lady, the lunch meat guy, and the hotdog dudes. How did those elements make their way into the video?
Ben: K.Flay and myself squeezed our resources in the Bay area together in order to bring these images to life. They are a combination of people, places, animals, objects, creations, actions, and whateverelse that we felt fit the tone. It was kind of like taking a bunch of ideas and throwing them at a wall. And filming what hit the wall. But we wanted all things to be played pretty straight. No overt emotions.
K.Flay: Ben was such a wonderful combination of spontaneous and intentional on set. Some of the greatest shots were a bit impromptu, but totally in keeping with the spirit of the video. Also, we brainstormed a lot of ideas at Lemonade in venice.
Doug: What direction did you give the people under the sheets, Ben? What's going on under there?
Ben: Funny enough, K.Flay and the Meatface guy are under the sheets, and I asked them to "awkwardly head and neck wrestle with no hands," and "awkward head bump." Odd movements like that make me laugh a lot.
K.Flay: I think what made those scenes so cool is that the people under the sheets were myself and my friend Luke, who I've known for like 14 years. We grew up together, we lived together, and there's a very easy intimacy in the way that we move together. Haha that sounded so SERIOUS. Basically we have been touching each other in nonsexual ways for over a decade so it wasn't that weird to neck wrestle.
Photo by Ben Fee
Doug: I want to talk about the paint scene. What did you guys use for that, and what was that like getting dumped on your head?
Ben: My Production Designer/Props/Style wizardess Margaux Rust, made some amazing concoctions with different combinations of milk, cream, yogurt, and food coloring. All varying viscosities/combos.
K.Flay: It was very cold and it also kind of damaged my skin in a weird way. But it was worth it. Many thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Neutrogena.
Doug: You also do a pretty epic head spin move that makes me dizzy every time I watch it. Did you only have to do a few rotations for that shot? How did that work?
Ben: If you ever see one of her shows (which you SHOULD/MUST) you will notice a majority of it is spent whipping her awesome hair around. This was nothing compared to her live show...
K.Flay: Thank you! My feeling is that if you have long hair, you have an obligation to toss it around. It is incredibly liberating but largely pointless. Which is a killer fucking combo.
