Caleb Jermale (IJU) Interview: Filming A Lil Baby Music Video In ONE HOUR

I'm at a young MA show. I'm supposed to be acting in a video and I brought my camera. I'm like, shit, I'm about to make something. Like, I'm about to do something and make some kind of content. I'm a tagger a hundred times in a video. Like did that work? No. Come on, come on. Spin a rock, spin the It's my pleasure to welcome in legendary English actor. It's Idris Elba on the pod. Hey, bro. Welcome to the pod, bro. Oh, that was funny. That was a good one. Here he is. That's a that's like a mad compliment. I think he won like yeah, Sexiest Man of the Year. I was just watching a movie with him in it last night. Yeah. You're a lot ugly. You're a lot uglier than him for sure. We're stuck in the world. In all seriousness, we have one of It's Just Us's IJU's finest. We have a producer, director, overall creative. We got Caleb Jermail in the house. Caleb. And we got a one-more time podcast alumni, Surf, another member of the IJU collective in the building.

We brought him out of retirement. To be our production assistant for this episode. Yeah, he actually did just get us some water, so shout out to Surf. So we talked about this on a on a podcast recently where uh me and Henry discussed our top three uh members to add to your team initially as an independent artist, right? So if I'm a rapper, I'm starting out, who are the top three people I want to build out with my team. We we you know we picked producer, engineer, and then we picked basically like videographer, visual artist, content creator, production guy. Guy to hold the iPhone while you do your thing. Yeah, or you know, or just be that kind of visual creative with you, like, you know, as I as uh you know, as part of your team. Where do you feel that someone like you ranks on like an artist team? In reality, or like that's amazing. No, it's literally in reality, like how how it is normally, or how should both.

Let's get both. So let's get the brutal honest reality. In reality, like last. They are no, I won't even say last necessarily. Probably damn near close to it, but it's definitely something that is viewed as important, but isn't really, you know, looked upon as, you know, as valuable as making. Yeah. Necessarily. Oh my God, it's so valuable. Because it's everything. Literally, like that's how people, that's how you're translating all your music. That's how you're, you know. That's how you're telling the story. Yeah, you're telling the story. That's how people see you. Like, you know. Yeah. We just live in an age where video, everyone's consuming videos and shit all the time. So if you want to pop, it's like, how are people gonna see you in your videos? So in your opinion, where do you think it should rank? Right? If I'm an artist, if I get to start building out my team, like, am I are you the first type of person that should be on their team? Second, third, like, you know, where do you putting yourself?

I mean, definitely not the first, especially with an artist. Like music and the music team is the most important, but right after the music, like you like, it's definitely you once your music is down, like your visuals are have to be up to par with your music. Like if you have five music and you're dropping like just horrible content, like, especially in this day and age, that's literally we're on our phones 24-7. Like when people first wake up and get out their bed, they're opening their phone. Like, if you're posting trash, like they don't want to see that. God, I'm so guilty of that. Do you wake up and start scrolling immediately? I've tried to do like a 30-minute rule. I I don't do it, I break it all the time. It's so annoying, bro. And like before you go to sleep too, it's bad to just be like, I used to like fall asleep to videos. and shit. I do it. I do it on both ends of the spectrum. Yeah, I talk to people like they don't even a lot of people aren't even interested in like that kind of video work or like they just look at it as something. I don't know. I think artists look at it like they see it as something they need. Like it's just like, oh, it's there.

Like I, you know, I need a video, I need a picture. So they don't necessarily appreciate the art or the craft or what people are doing to bring that stuff to life. They just see the finished product and are like, yeah, that's hard. They're they're like checking a box. Yeah, it's like yeah, it's a box. Like, yeah, where's my video at? Where's my picture, at? I got it. That's so dumb. But just to play devil's advocate, like No, we don't want that. it's great to like want to put your all into every piece of creative that you have, but it's an era where, bro, you gotta have quantity. You can't just make like the greatest piece of content ever, post it once, and then if it flops, then like you gotta start over. Yeah, you gotta go, man. You gotta be posting all the time. You gotta be engaged with your fans. Yeah, and that's another at some point. You gotta sacrifice quality, like a little bit, right? Um not necessarily, especially like it depends. I guess you could say if I spent a little more time on like certain videos, definitely like the quality. I feel like that's where I'm at right now.

Like, I'm really more so focused on quality and like putting my all in my effort to whatever I'm working on. Yeah, but if you're an independent artist, I think what Henry's trying to say is like, look, music videos are different. Like but but it's also like a like a recap video or something like that. Just posting anything. Like people can see who you are. Yeah, they definitely want it quick, like right at like they need it, like probably within a few hours after whatever they just did. And then I need the next one. Because if you're posting a video from an event that was like two days ago, it's not even gonna receive that much traction because it's the new news article. Yeah, on to the next. I feel like unfortunately, most artists, if they could get by without posting any content, ever, they would just not post any fucking content. Yeah, I respect that. I respect that. I I think the ones that are winning are the ones that it comes naturally to. Uh once again, as a general observation, there's clearly ones that you know don't want to do it and they just do it, and the music's so fire and their personality is so great that whatever. But as a general observation of mine, I would say that the ones that are breaking through, uh it seems natural to them to be content creators as much as they are artists.

Yeah. No, for sure. And that's I mean, I I sometimes hate it for them. You know, I I wish that it could just be just do the music. Yeah, it's it's nonstop. I mean, Jesus, we're trying to post two times a day, and it's fucking grueling. Shout out to Henry for keeping us keeping us rolling. There's an alternate timeline out there where just the people that make the absolute best music break through. And that'd be nice to live in, wouldn't it? Yeah, that was like that was like the 1980s, I think. That was the timeline. Like where the music was just speaking for itself. It's just whoever had the best music won. And as good as your music, like the better the music was. Yeah, now the arguments are like, but the videos, like or like you know, they thinking about like looks and everything, like it's a lot more. Politics everything goes into it. For people that might not know, maybe like a quick background on what it's just us is and how long it's been a thing, and how just to cement your place in history here. So we came up with it in 2015. We were like in like 10th grade or something. And we were just, you know, in high school.

We went to a small school. It was kind of like, you know, we was just doing what kids do and stuff, and like everybody all their lunch tables, like or groups of friends, they just had different names for themselves and stuff. It was like, bro, we need to come up with something. My bro Johnny, he and IJU too. Johnny Raw, right? Yeah, Johnny Raw. Yeah. Shout out Johnny. Director. Yeah, he's hard. Um like he came up with a chief mob name. Like, we were trying to Chief Mob? Because we'd be smoking weed, y'all. I don't know, bro. We were just coming up, bro. Just corny shit, bro. Like, we just was coming up with shit. And we just said, fuck it. It's just us. Like some like we just was like, it's just us. Like, it's kind of like a we literally was a shrug thing. Like, you know, just it's just us gonna leave it at that. Like, yeah. Did you just say it? And then someone was like, aha. No, I don't I mean, honestly, I can't even remember who said that shit. Honestly, like it sounds like you just gave up and like we're like, no, that's it. Oh god.

Yeah, bro. So whoever said that shit, we was just like, yeah, all right. We just like kind of went with it. And you know, what 10th grade, we just we're kids, we growing up and stuff. And so it clearly meant nothing at that point, really. Yeah, so it was kind of just what does it mean today though? Today. Cause like, yeah, you know, it was kind of a last resort to your point, but like it sounded cool. Y'all y'all had no other ideas, clearly, you like ran out. You know, as we grown into our our crafts and stuff like that, like what I was like, I would just, you know, I knew I wanted to do something really important. And I didn't really know, like, I used to like the I used to want to play football and stuff, and then like I got into like photography, and then 12th grade year I got into video, and I kind of just was like, I know that I wanna um do something important with you know my craft and stuff. And we came up with the It's Just Us thing and we would say it here and there, and like, you know, we stuck with it, but we weren't really putting, you know, any like weren't thinking too deep into it. There was no merch yet.

Yeah. No, but like as we've gotten older, and like, you know, even just going through college and life in general, it's just like we want to do and create like authentically, like just you know, for face value, not any like, you know, hidden agendas and stuff like that, and like a lot of that, there's not a lot of like authenticity in the media today. So yeah, are you true? No, I I I definitely love the I love that some last resort idea evolved into something that actually applied to what it is that y'all thought, you know what I mean, and how you approach things, you know what I'm saying? I want to use our crafts. It's basically like show people, you know, like you can be yourself, like you don't have to look at something and feel like you have to warp into or follow somebody like yeah, that's that's tough though, man. We live in a in a day and age where it's like it's tough to have the blinders on, right? And to only focus on what you got going on. I mean, we struggle with this shit all the time as far as like success modeling, yo.

What are other podcasts doing? Like, should our clips look like this? Should our Their thumbnails be this? And social media just enhances that time, like that's it's almost kind of natural to see something that like you are inspired by and want to, you know, aim to get to that and social media just blast that shit times a million years. Yeah, it's it's interesting because I do flirt with it as far as inspiration, right? It's like we do it. It's definitely okay to be inspired and stuff. Yeah, but you can't let it, you can't like let it, you know, value it too much. Like you have to still understand that yeah whatever you're trying to do, you have to it has to come from you type of thing. So yeah, I think the biggest thing we've learned, and I'm sure you've started to, you know, appreciate this as as you've been doing this for you know years at this point is that the most important thing I would say and even like artists like surf is like you gotta make the art or you gotta do the work that is gonna be enjoyable for a long period of time because if you do fall victim to like oh they're doing this thing and you don't really want to do it get burned out you're gonna you can't do that shit for that long yeah I don't burnt out a few times like shit that shit get there like I would say so let me I'd probably say I was just doing like you know I was just doing videos in college there's literally like uh 30 to 40 um 30 to 40 video series of me in college like vlog style yeah I was vlogging myself in college every day like like, like, like daily vlog going to college living life baby yeah bro like I was just having fun like every like every set of videos I was just learning so much about video that was like right after I took that video class so I was really just like again going all in like trying new shit doing shit I seen before like just trying new shit and like really finding my style like I look back at that moment a time period like I really like was like crafting my style during that time period by just like picking up a camera and like just fucking I'm filming whatever the fuck I'm doing today. Is that your biggest advice to people who want to get started doing you know video work Yeah, literally. I tell people that like every time I'm like start, just get a you have a phone, bro like you just use your phone.

I still put I've posted videos recently using my phone. Bro some of your hardest like concert footage that I saw recently My favorite video, Cardi concert um the whole lot of red shit. Yeah, yeah Playboi Carti. One of my favorite videos ever, and I shot it all on iPhone. Yeah. I I feel like there's no excuse to start dabbling at least with it, right? If you know, if you want to get more serious, you know, you level up, you get a different camera, whatever. But to really just start creating, there's no excuse. Like, should we should we spill the beans? Let's spill them. This podcast is shot on iPhones. I didn't, I didn't know what's what I first noticed when I came around. I had no idea what beans in the quality of it. So good. Like thank you. ain't no way. Yeah. Straight up 4K, 30 frames. So you put IJU, it's just us at the beginning of pretty much every piece of art. Yeah. And it's like, what, what's that about? Why why do that?

It's like a producer tag. It's like, yeah, it's like reminding you like it's just us. Like, and then like it kind of warped into really like the meaning and like the content we're capturing and like being able to tell these people's stories from like perspectives that people haven't seen before. Like, you know, you see a recap video like all the time, but like the work, like if I'm recording a recap video, it's almost like I'm trying to make sure I'm catching every aspect of whatever we're doing to make sure it's like telling the story from start to end, like everything leads into something else. So like I kind of, you know, and it's like an authentic, like it's no like ain't no cutting out, no nothing. Like, we just no putting it out there. So for sure. So, you know, you've also done a lot of music videos, obviously. Right now, here on the one more time podcast, I want to do an exercise. Henry, you can you can play too. Uh let's pick your favorite song. What's your favorite song ever? It's on repeat. Damn,

That's hard. Just pick anyone that could be in rotation at any given time. Just give me a song. Too Faced. Okay, Two Face. By J. Cole. J. Cole. Oh, that's right. Off Friday Night Lights? Oh, amazing. Perfect. Let's write a video treatment for that song right now. Have you thought of any music video ideas? Yeah. Bro, J. Cole could hear this. He might go back and do a new video if he didn't already do it. he put me on the spot. Oh, let's let's think. For a video like that, I see I definitely see him like probably telling a story. But like talking to himself, kind of, but he's like two different hymns, kind of. And the first person is first one is him going, he's telling that story, and then the other one come back, come back at him and tell. What about like a split screen? It's like two things going on. I don't like I don't see a split screen, I kind of see a mirror. Ooh in the beginning. Like opening it up and then like kind of but something else is going on in the mirror. And then but also mixing in, but like something I really want to do more of is mixing in the narrative aspect of videos while also keeping the dramatic side of the videos and the the big green screen, you know, like mixing that all in together, like kind of telling a story, but from two different perspectives. Sounds like you could do movies one day.

No, yeah. I'm working on working on oh, can we get any uh no uh we need a one more time exclusive? Uh well I'm putting my all into it, like what we were just talking about earlier. I'm putting my arms, my legs, my head, okay, body, all that. Damn, like um, this is you know, honestly, kind of been feeling like you know, people are trying to put me in a box necessarily of you know videography and wanting to oh, he did not want to be called a videographer. No, it's not even just not wanting to be called a videographer, more so like trying to show people like they only give you so much to be able to show them like what you're fully capable of like I'm trying to show people what I'm capable of like you know I've had the chance I've done it like a few times but you know like they kind of try to keep me down in that box of like oh we just need a like quick video like you know like uh you know a little run and gun little running gun like outside we outside with classic and it's kind of I'm at a point where it's like I'm kind of was trying to be resentful of that but also like I got the opportunity to do what I want to do so like I'm at a point where I'm just putting my all into telling a story I want to tell so is it just me or does everyone look down on music videos like if you're a visual artist I feel like no one that we've talked to if we talked to some people that have done videos like you for the highest level of artist. I mean we've had people before you come on that have shot J.

Cole videos speaking of Cole. That's all right and they still seem to like look down upon music videos. What's that about I don't look down upon music videos I look down upon trying not giving artists like artists that you work with the full expression to you know an opportunity to tell you know creative stories and stuff so people want a video now they want to drop it next week. so like microwave videos yeah so like if you could bake that shit in the oven yeah if you give me a chance to put this shit in the oven and really you know just just trust me yeah and let me to like give me a shot to really put my all in. Give me give me all those opportunities that y'all like, you know, like it's honestly like a like you know, those opportunities do come, but it's like a comfortability of like I don't know. It's like you gotta prove yourself, really. It's really all it comes down to. It's like, but then it's like at what point or what chance do you get to, you know, do that. I felt the same way, man.

Uh as a as a producer, I've I like I've gone back and forth in my head all the time. If I'm like cooking up for an artist or if I'm making beats or something, and people, you know, say, like, oh, like that, that's good. Like, that's that's all it needs to be. And in my head, it's like, well, it could be so much more. Like, I could do this, we could flip this that way. And a big part of me wants to, you know, develop it more and make it something that even is, you know, more intricate, something I know I'm capable of. But I at the same time, I do think there is an art of being able to just do what's necessary at for that situation, just to be able to move on, you know, and being comfortable with releasing a piece of art and moving on to the next one. You because that's what art is. It's you could work on a piece of art until you die. I think there was a quote that's like, you know, art is it's it's it's not finished, it's abandoned. You never actually finish art. It's just like, okay, I'm done working on this one. Yeah, and for me, I think the the struggle probably for y'all too, is that the artist oftentimes, of course, is like the star player on the team, right? And so it's tough for you all to necessarily be treated as like the equal partner in the equation sometimes, right?

Even though you are both equally as important, right? You know, producer, uh, and then you know, visual artist, right? Of helping tell the story, but at the end of the day, it still feels like the decision making comes back to like the artist, or of course, the artist team, and a lot of the times, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. But I will say this: like to get in the position that I got into, like, I kind of saw I did what I used to just I was like, but I just need an opportunity to get to that point of being able to produce something on that level. So, you know, I'll start going to behind the scenes shoots. I'm like, I'm at a young MA shoot. I'm supposed to be acting in the video, and I brought my camera. I'm like, shit, I'm about to make something, like I'm about to do something and make some kind of content. Like, I'm gonna tag her a hundred times in a video. Like, did that work? No. Damn, I was about to be like, it's a fire entrance into the industry. No, no regrets, though. You got to take shots. I kept doing it, yeah. I kept so what you know, which was the first time that it worked, or that something like that worked.

Um, you know what I mean? When did you find yourself in a room with someone you probably shouldn't have been, you know, shooting video for, right? Des Dior and Jada shoot. So Des had a song, yeah. Des had a song called Um Talk to Me. And we, I honestly, at that time period, I only really knew a lot about like I only knew like of Jada, like, you know, just from like the media and stuff like that. And you know, I heard of Des, like, you know, I just seen, like, you know, they were famous on social media, so you know, you'll see them and stuff. And they had posted something about a music video. I was following this uh page. Um, you know, they'll post music videos and shit. And like, we need actors or extras. I'm like, shit, we go we're gonna shoot this. And I had my license suspended. And ace, my bro, ace, he was at IJU. Yeah, he um he was driving like anytime we had a shoot, like he was like, you know, just pull up and I gave him my camera, he'll take pictures and stuff. And he was I was like, nah, let's go to this shoot. Like, we gotta go to this shoot. Like, and they had the cars spinning and shit.

I'm like, I like cars, like, you know, and stuff like that. So we got there, pretty much was an open shoot. Like, we just have free range to do whatever. So but you showed up thinking you were just gonna be an extra again. No, I came there with my cameras. Like, I'm gonna shoot something. Like, but you just knew this was happening. But it was for extras. Yeah, but you know, I just pulled up my camera. So, oh shit, but we get there, he saw a casting call and he's like, we got there. I'm here. Yeah, we got there, got straight to shooting. And, Like, I gave him that um one of my cameras, and I had my little video camera. That shit was like a six A6300 or something, like some it was trash. Did the actual video people that were hired to be on the set? Did they look at you like what are you fucking doing? Yeah, like especially at those. Because I'm hearing this, like, no, at those. shoots. We'll fuck off our set, bro. I picture a producer coming in, like playing beats in my session, like bro. Okay, calm down. Bro, I know at that shoot. They was like, you know, like they'll be like, hey, if you're not part of the crew, like back up, you know, yelling at everybody, like, it's just us, motherfucker. Yeah, move out of the way, like we just, you know, I'm like, bro, I'm catching wherever, like, I'm you know, in the back, and then we we got down to the garage area.

So this was on the top roof, we was getting some shots, and then we got into the garage area, got up close and personal. Like, I'm like, bro, in my head, I'm like, nah, I'm about to go crazy on these, bro. Like, uh, like I'm gonna make sure they see these. Like, I'm gonna I don't know what I'm gonna do, but yeah, I'm gonna make sure they see these. So by the time the shoot in, get in the car, editing the pictures. Really? Yeah, because I wasn't driving Ace was driving. I'm like, bro, I'm gonna edit this shit right now, bro. I'm post this shit. Like, damn, he was pumped. Yeah, bro. I'm like, I'm doing this shit, bro. I don't care. I know that feeling when you start a project. You know, um, I posted it, people fucking with it and shit. They seen that shit like 20 minutes later, bro. Like, bro, she saw that shit. She was like, You hard. Like, goddamn, you gotta um send me these and stuff. She gave me her number. Um, she gave me her number, I'm like, bro, ain't no way. Damn, yeah, bro. And then how good was the picture? Shit, they were hard. Okay, I'm gonna check them out later. Yeah, I'm gonna say for sure. Now, yeah, they were hard though. Like, we snapped we was snapping in there, and then um she did she fire the other people that were on set. No.

Oh, okay. They still work with her. Um shout out to them. But no, yeah. So she ended up hitting us up like a few, like a few days after that. I was like, just to come to work again? Yeah, come to this music video shooting, like shoot behind the scenes and shit. That's how it goes. Yeah, and then actually, like, it was with like somebody she was working with a lot. And um, you know, we was just there shooting behind the scenes. I was like, damn, this shit hard, bro. I was actually nervous as fuck. Like, she don't even she probably did know, but niggas was nervous, bro. Like, I I ain't never done no like personal, like so. I've gone to BTS shoots, but I never shot one-on-one with somebody for like that. So, yeah, but did you feel like a fraud? No. Okay, so you you like felt comfortable enough, even though you were slightly nervous, like. Yeah, I was like, I was nervous, but I was like, you know, I'm I know I'm cool, like, and shit like that. So I don't know, I'd be nervous. Yeah, I was nervous, like, you know, you don't know what people gonna think. So I'd feel like, yo, I snuck into this shit last week, so like am I really allowed to be here this week?

You know what I mean? That's a pretty quick like turn of events. And so we took those pictures, those shits came out hard as fuck, too. Posted those ASAP. And I think people were enjoying how fast we move. Like, like once you get into like literally how we got into the industry was you know, moving fast. Like, what do you mean by that? Like turnaround, baby. Turnaround. Like the turnaround, like the fast turnaround, plus the having the quality in the video was just like, you know, not really heard of. Like, I mean, it probably was, I'm sure, but I don't think nobody was doing that shit like that before we start doing it for real. Like, it was just people seeing the video probably 10 to 8 to 12 hours after the concert. Like, damn, what the fuck yeah. Um I know that feeling when you get super inspired with a project, just a creative project. Yeah. And you have this raw material. Oh, dude, he's the worst about that. We'll shoot some content and he'll literally I gotta go do it right now. He'll stay up till 6 a.m. editing the shit.

And it's like can't do anything else until like see this done. It's like I love photography and videography so much, and it's like being able to get to do it on this kind of scale, and then like, you know, enjoying my craft and seeing it like translate. I'm like, bro, I gotta get I wanna do this shit. You almost get addicted to that shit. Like, yeah, it is an like an addicted feeling. Yeah, like sacrificing sleep, like especially when people are fucking with it. Yeah, people fuck with this shit. The more you do it, it's like, oh, this shit hard, bro. Like, he really hard, like Dior's texting you to come back to the video shoot. You're like, we start working. Oh, shit. Yeah, like we locked in, like, I'm locked in with them forever. Yeah, like just because of that, bro. Like, that's crazy. I would love you. So you mentioned Des. I would love to hear uh give him, you know, Caleb an opportunity to kind of drop some more names, little kind of pop your shit type of segment that Ben usually does. But brother, let's hear some of the people that you worked with. Let's get that out of the way. Let's get the clickbait title description shit going here. I mean, I ain't gonna it's a lot.

Like let's hear it, baby. Let's go. I can do it for you if you want. Yeah, you do it and I'll tell you for real. I mean, some shit I know, obviously, Lil Baby, Lotto, Moneybagg Yo, Des Dior, uh, freaking who else? Rylo Rodriguez, Shy Glizzy. Yeah. I mean, so many more. Gonna Gunna. I mean, so many more. I I literally stopped writing after there was a bunch more. So for me though, shooting for those people obviously has to feel amazing, right? Like you're in the rooms with these, you know. People I grew up listening to too. Like, yeah. That's what, Like, I don't know. That's fun. Cause like I was doing it just because, like, especially like how I got started. I'm like, bro, I just want to be able to produce and create these crazy videos and projects for these people, like on a visual level, you know. So, like how I got in, I was like, you know, I'ma just do this, like kind of quick video stuff, and then like being able to start being able to do that stuff for all these people. I used to like we used to be in high school listening to baby and like Gunna, bro.

Like, bro, shit, crazy. Like, I told him that too. Like, I told Gunna that like one time, like, yeah, that shit. It's just a like I just look at it as a blessing. And but also, like you get so caught up into that, like you kind of start losing track. Like, I don't know. I kinda I definitely burned out. Yeah. Like, you get to a point where it's like is it you lose track of why you're doing what you're doing, kind of because especially in that kind of environment, the music industry is just so fast-paced, and you find yourself on autopilot. Yeah, right. I was on autopilot, bro. For Sure, just moving, like, and then feeding off of that gratification you get from finishing a project like that and stuff like that. Cause I'm actually enjoying it. Like, it's not like I'm not doing it genuinely. I genuinely love the art of like creating these videos and like how I'm able to. But what's the goal, right? Yeah. Like of how I'm being able to tell these stories and chop it up into one minute, and you saw a story of a week in one minute, like, and being able to actually see each detail and stuff. Like, like not a lot of people can do that.

I can say that for sure. But did it go like to your ego being around big names like that? you can ask anybody that's come up, like ever said anything to me, like I'm like, they'll be like, bro, you made it like me? I'll be like, no. Like I like I always have in the back of my head, like I would tell that, say that out loud and be like, nah, I know I got more work to do and I gotta, you know, I'm trying, I know where I'm trying to get to and stuff. But I definitely was like I would be lying to say I wasn't letting that like fast paced environment and you know, being able to create these like, you know, content and this fast content and stuff, like I wasn't feeding off it like it was definitely weighing taking a toll though, for sure. Yeah, did it did it set this almost like unrealistic bar for you at some points where it's just like i if you weren't around that, did you feel like low, you know what I mean? Because you gotta have these highs where you're like you're backstage at these concerts, like you're the fucking man, like you're shooting these, you know, stars, right? You're creating this content for them that people are commenting on, like, yo, that's hard, yo, that's hard.

Like that's and people see that shit, and like people that aren't in those positions, like they just see the work, like they see the product, yeah. Yeah, so they just know that they want to be able to do stuff like that, but they don't understand like the amount of work and like what you like it really just depends on what you value when it comes down to it. Like for some people that probably is like like them being able to be in that kind of environment and just push out and push out like whatever somebody's asking of them, not really putting in, you know, any super thought provoking or like creative process into it, like just being able to produce that stuff and like put it out, like they'll probably that's probably an end goal, like for some people. Like that's and that's not even nothing wrong with that, but just for me personally, like I know that what I am capable of and like what I want to do with what I know how to do and what I'm learning, still learning how to do is like totally like this is not the end goal. You don't feel challenged doing some of that stuff, it seems right.

Does it feel more like work? Yeah, it feels more like work than you know, and then when I do get like every opportunity to get a music video, though, like I like we make sure we try to do our best. But even with those opportunities, like what we got like there's been times where we get opportunities or we for pop-out, pop-out music video. We got the opportunity, and um, like we had this big plan, and like we were we wanted to like, you know, really shape this video out like from start to finish. And it kind of like I think Baby, like had the flight or something, you had to catch it, and he pulled up. We only had like an hour to shoot, like on tight. like we had shit set up and stuff for like multiple, like, you know, looks and stuff like that. And they just pulled up, like, you know, we're just gonna do this, like kind of like, you know, we gotta move, like, not really no time to, you know, adjust, like, not giving me a chance to really like we got the big budget, but we didn't even get the chance to really show y'all. Use it, really. yeah, right.

They like kind of, and I think that's that's the work we've been doing for you know, for I was doing for them for the longest. So it's like you were hoping that was your chance. Like, yeah, I was like, I'm about to show them. Big budget. I'm about to flex my shit. But Honestly, like, if you go look at that video, people like, but it's shit hard, bro. They wouldn't know that you shot for an hour. Yeah, bro. We shot they do now. No. Secrets out, motherfuckers. No, so look, we shot the main big scene like that I wanted for an hour, and then, you know, like the other scenes, like we had to just pull up on them with the camera and like with Benji. Yeah. Oh, Shout out, Benji. Shout out Benji. I'm with Benji, man. Yeah. And just pull up and, like, just shoot it. But, like, we really wanted to flush that out. We didn't get the chance to, but. So, So shooting for, you know, big A-list artists like that versus shooting with the likes of our friends surf here in the room, right? Like, how do those feel differently? It's definitely a lot more fun shooting with your friends. Right?

Man, That, like, I look at y'all like that, and that is something that I love that we get to do together, man, where we get to create this content together. And yeah, it's fucking hard work. Like, it's not all, you know, sunshine and rainbows when you and Surf get to shoot a music video. But at the same time, it's gotta be so much fun. Yeah, we done had 12-hour shoots. Like, just but it's just you with your bro, like you're hanging out, you're hanging out, cracking jokes. Yeah, bro. We just chilling. But I will say though, like, not every shoot, like I would I'll have I have fun on set. Like, anytime I'm shooting a music video, it's fun. Like, I don't think I've ever not had fun, but definitely it can take a toll over time. But also, yeah, it's definitely more fun working with people you grew up with for sure. Oh, yeah. But I've also had a lot of fun, like working with Gunna, like I don't know. You're still a Gunna fan? Yes. Okay. He said it. I'm a Gunna fan, bro. Hey, bro, I don't care. I wanted to ask. Hey, people are R. Kelly fans, bro. Like, people are fans of much uh people are all sorts of fans of you know. The standard at which people aren't even Gunna fans anymore is just so outrageous.

Yeah, and I only I ain't even gonna go into it too deeply, but like, you know what I'm saying? Like, we don't even if, okay, y'all like see this on baseball. you know, what I mean? The media's spinning. like nobody really knows like what was going on, and like who's like, you know what I'm saying? No one's actually heard any behind-the-scenes conversations. Yeah. And even if. Seen anything. I mean, you know, then a lot of people have nothing to do with it, like they just like, oh, I don't know, bro. It's just media, social media. Once once the story comes out, it's millions of different perspectives being spat out into the world at the same time. Oh god, yeah. Like, bro, I don't even know. Like, you can't really, I don't let the media, I don't let what people say on the internet like I'm not gonna affect what I like personally. Yeah, bro, Gunna, bro. I don't know, man. And we're the last people to speak on the street code. Yeah, we talked about no no we talked about I can't speak on it either, You know what I'm saying? Like, no, we talked about the Tory and Megan trial, right? And how when that news broke, everyone and their goddamn mother was acting like they were a motherfucking lawyer, like she's she's gil a lying bitch, he's guilty, like you know, she's guilty, like Kelsey's guilty.

You motherfuckers don't know what happened. Everyone's got a fucking opinion, man. I mean, it was yeah, it was unreal. But he probably shot her. Yeah. At the same time. Sorry. She is. Yeah. So I feel like obviously we mentioned the baby situation. I feel like you've been locked in with QC pretty pretty heavy over the years. Right. Right. Like, how did that really yeah, yeah, how did that relationship first start? Um, it so I met this, then I met Jada working with Jada and Des, like, you know, closely. I met baby. Like I the first time I met baby, he was not fucking with me. Like, why not? You know, I don't know. He just wasn't, he didn't, he ain't know me. Type shit. So you don't fuck with me. But was he like explicitly not fucking with you or just he was just not? Just moved on with his life. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. But he kind of like warmed up to me, like and shit like that. So that was like, you know, and then we started working together. Like he would see me like doing my work with Jada and stuff, and then like he would ask me about what did I do? And, you know, just asking questions and stuff, like, you know, who the fuck is this nigga?

Like, this nigga just came out of the door and shooting videos. Like, so he was now, he was asking me questions and stuff, and then like, you know, I showed him my work here and there. And then I think we were on a Turks and Caicos trip, and he was just like, hey, just film me, you know, film me doing this or whatever. You wait, you got to go to Turks and Caicos with baby? Yeah, we was shooting a video, like we were shooting a little video. I'm sure that's the ultimate like celebrity destination. Was Drake there? No. Drake's always there. He's always there. He's always at Turks and Caicos, bro. But nah, well, um, yeah, we just shot a little like visualizer or whatever, and he fucked with it. So ever since then, we was locked in, like, and like he was like, nah, we gotta shoot some shit. And I was doing like little video, like just you know, recap videos for a while. But I definitely told him like from jump, like just having conversation with him. Like, I was I see myself doing directing, like and producing videos and stuff like that. So he knew what I wanted to do, but you know, yeah, he knew the end goal. In that kind of industry. Like, you you know, you can say what you want to do, but people ain't gonna just jump up and give you, you know, no, definitely not.

They have their own brands at stake, you know what I mean? Yeah, facts. So you proved yourself, clearly. Yeah, so I was like, had to, you know, I was around him a lot and worked myself up to the point of shooting um uh real as it gets music video. Yeah, so that was like our first, you know, first chance he gave me. And that video did good. Did you feel the pressure? Yes, yeah, that it was pressure. Like, like I had anxiety for sure and shit. Like, you know, that was another fast pace. Like, like we moving through the city, like, just you gotta be on no time, no time to set up. Like, we setting up. All right. Like, what's going on? What's going on? let's get this one again. Let's get it. Like, no, no, no. Yeah, not like not. Let's try to get this again. Like, no, you got the shot. Like, let's keep it moving. Like, did anything go wrong? Um, or was it like smooth sailing? No, like, no, nothing really went wrong. We had a he gave us a red camera to use. Um he just had an extra is that still the cream of the crop camera these days, or no? No, no.

I heard there's a there's another new big dog. in town. Yeah, They got a yeah, the Alexas? Yeah, Alexas, but also there's a few Sonys and stuff. Like a few Sony cameras, but um, yeah, he had a red, but it didn't have a battery. So we got the camera, like, and he was helpful. He was ready to shoot a music video. He was ready to shoot the music video, and then they have a battery, and I was just like, we gotta shoot it on our cameras, like our regular, you know, our Sonys. And um at first he wasn't gonna let me shoot it because you know it wasn't on the big camera and stuff. He was like, you know what? I'm gonna let you shoot it. If it come out hard, we're gonna use it. You know, he used it. Well, you're like, you didn't give us the battery, baby. Like, nah, yeah, sure fucking. Nah, he probably what do you want me to do? He probably just assumed, dude. I was just like, you know, I just yeah, bro. I was that gave me like I was just like, damn, I done fucked up on one opportunity. That definitely sounds like something went wrong. Yeah, I was like. Like a big thing went wrong. Yeah, bro. He was just like, damn, how we gonna shoot a video? Like all his all the bros just looking at me like, damn, bro, you done fucked up.

He's like, Oh, the the camera needs batteries, yeah, shit, bro. It's not solar powered. Uh, what do you tell someone who wants to start, you know, shooting videos that says, like, oh, I'd be so dope if I only had like a nicer camera. What do you say to them? It's not the camera. What is it? It's the um, you just gotta you gotta. It's like I'm I'm I feel like art is subjective. So like I don't really try to be like somebody works this good or not good and stuff like that. I feel like everybody has a different style for real. It really comes down to you being confident in yourself and your own work and like just doing something that you're gonna enjoy. No look at somebody else's work and then say if your work doesn't look like that, like you're valuing your work next to like something that somebody else like came up with. It just I don't know, it's hard. It's an unrealistic expectation, like you're you're putting on yourself, kind of like if you're confident in what you're doing, and you know, you're gonna literally naturally just get better, kind of like you're just gonna find your groove.

I don't know. It's something you really can't really explain or put into words. Like, you just gotta keep it's really about consistency and just keep doing what you're doing and genuinely do it because you want to. Yeah, it's interesting because I feel like you are right that anyone who's creating art does need to create something I think that they would, or I think there's a tendency to create something that you would enjoy as well, right? So you make the music that you would maybe want to listen to, you shoot the videos that you would want to, or you edit and shoot the videos that you would want to watch, right? Like we make the content that you know we would also tap into. And that's a good question. People should ask themselves. Like, what do you want it? Like, right? Right. Yeah, but here's the sad here's the sad truth that I'm getting at, right? Uh uh. God, artists that are just delusional with like thinking that they're good, and like, I don't know. I feel like there's a lot of people. I know what you mean. You know, where there's a lot of people that are doing stuff, and I question whether they would actually listen to the music that they're making. It's funny because you kind of need a little bit of delusion to make it to that.

top tier, too. Yeah, it's like yeah. You know, but like you have to be delusional, low-key. Yeah, bro. Some people need to. come back to earth, some people yeah. I'm telling you. But you know, they told Kanye that, Ben. And even some called Kanye that. No, and that goes for I mean, shit. Some people, of course, say that about like us with the podcast. So, you know, it is what it is. I know people say that about my, I feel like, I mean, I ain't never nobody's ever said it directly to me necessarily, and maybe I think maybe once. I've I literally go read the comments and like, you know, YouTube. Like, that's not a oh yeah, yeah. Like, you know, people probably say, like, oh, just be here. All right, like, I know like artists' objective, everybody like says, like, you know, hey, you the best ever, like, or the best doing that shit. Like, I don't, I know I'm probably not the greatest ever to make video recaps and stuff like that, but I know it's gonna, it's a one-on-one. Like, you're not gonna nobody else is gonna do what I just did, like, or how I did it. Like, so I'm confident to know that like how I tell my story is how I told it, like, kind of thing.

Like, nobody's gonna be able to tell it how I told it. Caleb, we have entered a final segment of the podcast. Oh shit. Uh-oh. This is about during Surf's interview. This is about when my wife called me telling me that uh she was going into labor. So is that possible to happen again right now? No, but, yeah. I have my or she called my phone was the one where we were doing we were doing video off of my phone at this point. Damn. So Henry had his phone, and I told her to call the bat phone, which was Henry's phone. She called him like several times, and he had to hand me the phone in the middle of the interview. And yeah, That's crazy. We had to stop the interview. Yeah. I was just like, fuck. I think we finished it. Yeah. Quickly. Yeah, I took a couple questions off of this rampage. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But anyways, Henry, where are we at? Hopefully we'll be able to get through the entire one this time. This is the rapid fire rampage. Okay. But this will be a surprise for Surf. Uh, baby number two is on the way. But she's one more time exclusive. She's only halfway through the pregnancy, so she she won't be calling this time.

won't be calling this time. But starting a family. He's cranking them out now for real. I'm about to have a baby girl. Yeah. About to have a baby girl, so I'm gonna have one each. Then vasectomy. So and then I'm getting my shit snipped. All right. This is the rapid fire rampage, no more penis surgery talk. Starting with some short answer questions. All right. And we'll move on from there. Here we go. Rampage! Keep it real easy for this first one. What are you doing here? I just wanted to speak on some shit. Okay. I like it. That's amazing. It's the perfect platform for that. So we're glad you came. He came to the right. He came to the right place. I appreciate you guys for having me. Of course. Glad to have you. I wanted to use some Chris Hansen. Like, what are you doing here? Yeah. Anyway, more serious question. Now, Caleb, three tips that you could give an artist who is trying to shoot all of their own videos. Um three tips.

One make sure that like you know how to do what you're doing. So I recommend watching, you know, YouTube videos. YouTube University. Yeah, YouTube University. That's what I learned so much. You're a graduate. Um I recommend getting a camera that get a camera. I don't know. I feel like you should what camera? What's like the best starter camera Whatever you can afford camera? Or get whatever you can afford. Like people be like, bro, just get a camera, bro. What's what's the cheapest one that's better than the iPhone? Like the cheapest camera that's better than the iPhone, though. I would say probably like the a6. I'm really like a Sony, like I feel like Canon. If you don't get a really expensive canon, it's not gonna be good video. But like a Sony like A6300. Okay, we've been told that one. Yeah. That's a cheap, good camera that's gonna get it. That's like the go to, I feel like I've heard that one too. Number three.

Actually, want to do it. Don't do it, don't force yourself to do something that like you're not really gonna put your all into. So I would say, like, just make sure that you really want to shoot your own music videos. Like, that's just something you want to do. Because if it's a way to tell your story better and you feel like know for a fact you're not gonna put your all into doing it, then don't do it. I like it. I like this. Caleb, what is the closest do you've come to dying? Oh shit. Oh, on the way to college, I was like going back to school. Um, and I was tired as fuck. Like it was a six-hour drive to Daytona from Atlanta, and I um fell asleep on the road, and uh I woke up and I was about to hit the like the median, you know, the left side of the shit. I had to swerve back in, and like the car started skirting, and then I like got into some, like I finally made it into the grass and I just hit the brakes and was just sitting there for a minute, and this couple, old couple came up. Are you alright? Like, they was like, they was just like looking at me like I was crazy.

How'd you respond? I was like, yeah. And I was sitting there for a few minutes. I was like, yeah, wake the fuck. That shit woke me the fuck up. Yeah, we're glad to have you today. Yeah. That was yeah, that's probably I think it was. That sounds pretty close. Yeah, it was pretty fucking close. I was like, I thought it was toast. That old couple almost killed you. I thought I was toast. And the median. Your biggest pet peeve on a video set. Waiting for our artist. Like, damn. Waiting. Yeah. And that's our biggest pet peeve on a podcast set. No, worst. Yeah, really? It's really just that. Cause like we'll be ready and then they're not. Waiting. Waiting, just waiting. Yeah. Waiting for sure. That's gotta be annoying. Last one of the short answer. What is your favorite curse word? Fuck. Part one. The correct F word. Part one. Part two.

Part two is the this or that. I'm gonna give you two choices. You pick your favorite one. Simple as that. Starting with rapping or singing. Rapping. Fish eye or night vision? Night vision. Waterproof camera or drone. Hmm. Drone. Give up your passport or give up smartphones. Smartphones. Yeah. Great. Live until 125 years old, guaranteed. Or a million in your bank account right now. A million in my bank account right now. Can't buy time, but moving on. Yeah. I don't know. How sad would it be if you died the next day? That's right. You got the Millie. You leave it to someone. I don't know if I would want to live. You said 125? Yeah. That's a long time. I don't want to be like I mean, then again, if you're healthy, like you know, you can get to that old and still be good, but yeah. Definitely we'll let the people decide if that was a good answer.

Yeah. Third nipple or four extra toes. Assuming you have two right now. Four for like extra toes. Okay. And assuming you have ten toes, yeah. Yeah. Well, four extra no matter how many Anyway, you're True, true. Actually, no, I take third nipple. Third nipple? Because I feel like four toes is just a lot, bro. Like, there's already kind of a lot. Yeah. It's kind of already a lot of toes. You're gonna look crazy down there. Yeah, bro. And then I'm gonna have to change all my shoes. Like the nipple can just be on my chest in the middle, like symmetrical. It's a lot less impactful to your daily life. Yeah. Your full internet history released to the public or your full texting history released to the public. Damn. This just gave me anxiety. For you. Yeah, turn it on. Uh history.

Internet history. Internet history? Yeah. I like it. Yeah. Okay. So yeah. I think I'd do the same. So you're texting nudes. Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. I figured. Speaking of nudes, the last one of the this or that. Shooting exclusively porn or never make another video. Never make another video. Part two. Oh man. He said I'll find another industry. I'd love to get in the advanced film industry. You said no more video. I'm going to just go back to photography. There you go. I didn't stipulate. Damn it, Henry. He's smart. He's smart. Damn it, Henry. Last one is the word association. Caleb, I'm gonna give you one word. You give me the first word right back off the top of your head. Right. Here we go. Starting as always. I don't know why I'm looking at that camera. That's not. Camera's not on me. Can't see you. With that one can. Hip hop. Kanye. Broccoli. Green.

Grandma. My grandma. Caffeine. Coffee. Content. Important. Treasure. Life. Flamingo. Pink. Lil. Who's he? Just got fired by baby. President. Obama. Bitcoin. Um, a scam. OnlyFans. Crazy. Podcast. Fi. It's time. Damn. It's just us. I was setting you up. you put it in every video. Yeah.

But you couldn't couldn't. I take the alley-oop. I threw it off the glass. He teed it up. He did tee it up. He handed it on a silver platter. Fucking dangled it in right in front right in front of your face. Until next week, Henry, what are we doing? It's time. We're getting the fuck out of here. Peace out.