Jake One ft. Brother Ali & Freeway - "The Truth"

Directed by Rik Cordero

Some outtakes from the interview I did with him.

J: Did you go to film school?
R: No.
J: Completely self trained?
R: Ha, yeah. I actually went to New York Institute of Technology for computer graphics. I think growing up I was, I thought I would be like my dad, you know, an architect or doing something with math or engineering. And I think I always just gravitated towards the arts, and as a kid I would steal my Dad's camcorder. And back then it was these big, huge VHS camcorders, they were like three pounds and ridiculous. And I would sneak that out and I made like four movies with my friends. The first thing I made actually, when I was like twelve or thirteen, was a movie called "The Deranged Fan", and it was about these two DJs from New York who get stalked by this fan in Hawaii. This really ridiculous plot, but it was kind of just experimenting with the visual medium and you know, I think I've always gravitated towards that. And I guess my first official project was a feature film in 2004. That was called "Mend". It was about direct consumer drug advertising. I guess everything that I did as a kid, and doing a lot of production work, I went in to a lot of production houses right out of school, doing computer graphics and stuff like that.
J: What makes a film-maker?
R: I think being able to... It's an obsession, like any kind of art form is. For me, it's just dabbling in design and music and everything. It's an education in everything. From lighting, from photography, audio, to psychology, to everything. And it's just a combination of all those things. I find it to be the most challenging art form. It's a collection of everything, and how do you execute all that stuff in just a few hours. I think that's what really talented filmmakers embrace. I once read that the glamor of directing is walking around is walking around feeling like your head is about to explode. That's really it, but it's fun. When you get through it, you're not sure what happened, but something happened. And trusting your instincts and stuff like that, but it's a rush. It's really an incredible feeling. Especially when you're not waiting for money to do something. When it's all in your hands. I've always been interested in just getting those things out.
J: Would you consider yourself a workaholic?
R: Um, yeah. I think there's this idea that you can't stop perpetual energy. There's a work ethic that I definitely adhere to. It's a discipline, it's a lifestyle. There's a lot of things that you have to sacrifice in order to do this. It's not a normal day's living, but once you get used to it, it's all you know. That's the same with anything.
J: Are you a location scout too?
R: I wouldn't go that far, but growing up in New York, you know little places and little nooks that you can shoot something cool in. I'm interested in the places that you would never think to shoot. Especially for New York artists, there are ways to shoot a New York artist in ways that feel New York without having to shoot in front of Times Square or parked in front of the projects. There are so many so many areas. I just love to explore that. Pretty much all you need to see is a red wall or a banister in a brownstone to know that you're in New York. You don't have to hit anyone in the head.