Video director David Rousseau said he and the Cash Money team might need to check the Guinness Book of World Records: He and his company Creativeseen may be the new record-holders for most music videos shot in 48 hours.
Cash Money chiefs Ronald “Slim” Williams and his brother Brian (a.k.a. Baby, a.k.a. The Birdman) enlisted Rousseau to shoot nine videos for Lil Wayne during Friday, Saturday and parts of Sunday. The director said he and his crew started setting up for the production around 9 a.m. Friday and the last camera stopped rolling at around 8 a.m. on Super Bowl Sunday.
“We shot some shit from the [We Are Young Money compilation] album, we shot something from [Wayne's forthcoming] Tha Carter IV. Some stuff from [Wayne's recent LP] Rebirth,” the director told MTV News on Tuesday (February 9), before Wayne’s sentencing was postponed. “We knew what our deadline was. We’re trying to get maximum coverage for Wayne. Most of the time we only shot Wayne’s verses — we’ll finish the rest of the videos off in the next couple of weeks.
Rousseau, who had previously directed the soon to be released Young Money video “Roger That” and the recently released Kevin Rudolf/ Wayne/ Birdman/ Jay Sean collaboration “I Made It (Cash Money Heroes),” said the Williams brothers contacted him two weeks ago about his huge task.
“We were put on hold,” Rousseau tells. “Cash Money said, ‘This is our deadline. This is a hard deadline.’ It was basically a ‘Mission: Impossible’ [scenario]: This is your mission if you choose to accept it. Everybody is on board because everybody knows what’s at stake. Unlike T.I. and some of these other guys that’s disappeared while they were in, the point is to keep Wayne [visible] on TV and everything for whatever time he’s in. There was a plan in action. Slim and Baby really could foresee that. He’s at the height of his career, you can’t let that momentum slip.”
Some of the videos that were shot over the weekend were “Da Da Da,” “Knockout” and “Get a Life” from Rebirth and a brand new Weezy song from the highly anticipated Carter IV. “Da Da Da” features the rock band !Mayday! — which performed at Wayne’s “farewell” party on Sunday night — and was shot on location at the Marlin Hotel in Miami. The rest of the clips were filmed at the New Art studio in North Miami in front of a green screen and white background, so footage can be added later.
“There isn’t a title for it,” Rousseau said of the Carter IV song. “Honestly, I can’t tell you too much about it. That was a complete secret. We had to kick everyone off the set for it. No photography, even their official photographer had to leave. That’s under wraps. The album is still under production. It’s a crazy song.”
Rousseau did divulge that the video from Tha Carter IV record would have parts of performance as well as a storyline, as does the video for “Knockout.”
“We got some concepts,” the director said about what we can expect from the videos. “Cash Money came to the table with certain rough concepts. We went off that. In the next couple of weeks, we’ll figure out what we got; ‘Let’s take this over here, let’s take this over there.’ At the end of the day, what it comes down to is making sure you got Wayne in the can. There’s rough ideas for everything. They may not be completely sculpted out, but there is a plan. Nothing is done, just to do it. Everything was pre-thought, whether it be by Baby or Slim or Wayne himself. They’re in the loop. As a label they were prepped.”
Along with the Cash Money/ Young Money family, Juelz Santana, Yo Gotti and boxer Sugar Shane Mosley came out for the shoots.
“We tried to keep it wide, medium, close-up, just him vibing. Then we let him go change clothes,” Rousseau said about the different shots in the videos. “Then other people would come in for 30 minutes. Wayne would come back out, same thing; wide, medium, close-up. Then we bring out somebody else who is on the song, Nicki Minaj, Sean Garrett, Baby, Tyga. Then again, 35 minutes [later] Wayne would come out. The only way to keep him fresh is [doing it] like a basketball team. You know, you can’t give your starter too many minutes: You got him for 35 minutes on the court, outfit change. It was a tight schedule. We shot 16, 18 hours [at a day]. He was there the whole time. He was a trooper.
“He was in a zone,” Rousseau continued. “He was ready. It was a work mentality. He’s getting prepared for everything that’s about to happen to him. He knows it’s the fourth quarter. He was completely cooperative, and completely professional.”
Besides the aforementioned videos, Weezy told Westwood that he recently shot four in Los Angeles, one in Dallas and has “been shooting” in Atlanta as well. Those videos include Rebirth’s “Drop the World” (with Eminem) as well as “Roger That” and “Girl I Got You” from Young Money LP. He also filmed “WTF” with Shawty Lo in Atlanta.
Of course, Wayne now has a bit more time to work on these videos — and probably a lot more.
Via MTV, and hit the jump to see a video and pictures of Lil Wayne leaving the court with his sentence postponed to March 2nd.
February 10th, 2010 at 12:16 am
FIRSTTT !!
February 10th, 2010 at 12:17 am
1st free weezy f ;P until march best rapper alive tho ;P YMCMB allday N.O sTAND uP!!!!!
February 10th, 2010 at 12:18 am
First!!! 3 weeeeeeeziee
February 10th, 2010 at 12:19 am
wayne wasnt tryin 2 hear nothin they had 2 say!
February 10th, 2010 at 12:19 am
Shocking
February 10th, 2010 at 12:23 am
FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE WEEZY!! MORE USTREAM TOO WEEZY WE GONNA MISS YOU UNTIL THEN!!!!!!!!
February 10th, 2010 at 12:28 am
wow… a video for da da da and now get a life….. whats wrong with them?
February 10th, 2010 at 12:29 am
dayum get a life, no paradice/one way trip/american star? Oh well, he may do more videos with the month he got now
February 10th, 2010 at 12:29 am
awww<3 he looks so sad. now i'm sad too. : / i hope he'll be okay!
February 10th, 2010 at 12:35 am
Video for Knockout YEESSSSSSSS
Carter 4 song too sounds ill
February 10th, 2010 at 12:39 am
damnn Carter IV ?! weeezy you had me ready to cry today. lovvve youuuuuuu <3
February 10th, 2010 at 12:58 am
get a life? why not paradice or im so over you or ground zero? -___________-
well guess he will be shootn sumthin more now
well see
FREE WEEZY
February 10th, 2010 at 1:20 am
Mayb, his mouth hurts : – (
February 10th, 2010 at 1:21 am
Look at the white guy in the 2nd pic hilarious
February 10th, 2010 at 1:21 am
He has the best grill/smile ever, I love it!
February 10th, 2010 at 1:41 am
I see my prayers paid off, I am glad that you have more time to spend with your family and friends….Hopefully the fans can see some more of you ustreaming live. Love you more!!!! May GOD continue to shine his grace on you. Peace and love to you and yours
February 10th, 2010 at 1:57 am
MY NIGGA WEZZY BLESSED HANDS DOWN
February 10th, 2010 at 1:57 am
AWWW IM GOINN TOO MISS HIMM
LOVE U WAYNE!!
February 10th, 2010 at 2:11 am
wayne dont look 2 happy…. did wayne ask for dis postpond???????
February 10th, 2010 at 2:11 am
thank god he gets a little under a month before he gotta leave us!!
it wont be the same without lil wayne here man!
February 10th, 2010 at 2:14 am
damm..i wore ma weezy t shirt 2day n listened to drout 3,d2,d3,suffix,c2,c3 n rebirth, n hottes nigga unda da sun..but yea he blessed.i realy felt fa him 2day
February 10th, 2010 at 2:22 am
where is drought is over part 7 -.-
i was hoping 4 it to be released on weezys last day of freedom :/
February 10th, 2010 at 2:37 am
YEAH!!! YEAH!! FCUK YEA
February 10th, 2010 at 3:07 am
wheres the red flag weezy?
February 10th, 2010 at 3:12 am
mannnnn… knockout, get a life is 2 of the worst weezy songs ever…
GIVE US CARTER 4 FUCK REBIRTH..
February 10th, 2010 at 3:35 am
shit i cant wait for the carter 4 single… there’s a rumor going around that wayne is spittin very fast
February 10th, 2010 at 3:36 am
de’shaun1
don’t tell me you played rebirth but you didn’t play no ceilings
February 10th, 2010 at 3:50 am
soo-woo.. congrats wayne on da extended freedom
February 10th, 2010 at 6:58 am
wat kind of jacket is that!?!?!?!?!??!!??!?!
February 10th, 2010 at 7:05 am
Twist was just ustream
February 10th, 2010 at 9:06 am
You hear him “Lil Wayne, what up Cuhz?” Kinda disrespectful. : /
February 10th, 2010 at 9:58 am
Knockout and get alive! Verry good choise
February 10th, 2010 at 11:10 am
LIL WAYNE JUST GOT ON USTREAM
February 10th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
FUCK I wanna ave 30min to new orleans/ Fuck one Time!!!!
NOW
February 10th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
dominican republic in the building wayne we gonna mis u ma nigga. damm alof of videos but i want american star video and fuck freeeeeeee weezy
February 10th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
Freeeeeeee Weeezy !!!!! Tha Best Rapper Alive ya, dig !
February 10th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
im From Germany and i want u say that i Loveee Lil Weezy!
Got the best Voice i ever heard !
Weeezy Free !! ya, dig
February 10th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Music Videos From Rebirth
1. Prom Queen 2. On Fire 3. Drop The World 4. Da Da Da 5. Knockout 6. Get A Life
February 10th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
@ Yung mulaa babyyyy x3
ja man ich bin auch aus deutschland
altha ich hoffe 30min to new orlenas kommt bald!
February 10th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
shit look at the dude on the first pic.
February 10th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
he´s so sad ..=( but i´m looking for the videos
February 10th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
is that gun tat on his neck new?
February 10th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
what happened to that fuckin song they promised us yesterday?:)
February 10th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
Supp weezy diz yo project niggaz from l.a. Cali. We out here like fucc da law throwin up da middle fanger with da left hand @ da law and throw up da dubb with the right hand daz 4 weezy f. Freeeeee da bezzz nigga dat chose to touch da mf mic. Free wayne ya bastardz!!
February 10th, 2010 at 5:03 pm
weezy gon be okayy !!! ya diiggg! 3 mo weeks, he be in the studio like crazy.. or he be with his fam.. free weezyyyy!
February 10th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
I am from equatorial guinee dont mat……………we love u weezy we never f4 get u kiss
February 10th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
damn what a video to paradice who knows maybe he is going to shoot a video for every rebith song
cain’t wait for carter IV and like father like son 2
shanell said there will be a surprise in stores, D4 ??
February 10th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
i wish i had that niggaz coat! i’ve got the louis velt to match that bitch!!! that nigga is prolly gonna be livin better in prison then most of us here livin regular lives ya dig! fuck u homos!
February 10th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
9 videos that’s sick damn ! I want to see them
February 10th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
Lil Wayne Rebirth
176,000
first week!
its ok….he´s gonna fuck 50cent…
February 10th, 2010 at 7:20 pm
@danny wheres the song yu guys were talking abt yesterday
February 10th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
damn,cant wait for the carter 4 video,3 weeks means more songs,free weezy,ym/cmb.young mula babyy(weezy’s Voice)
February 10th, 2010 at 9:22 pm
OMG, SO MUCH VIDS!
but the shitty thing is, they ain’t releasin it too soon, maybe over 3 months or something, let’s just hope that the shit it coming soon! Go Weezy!
February 10th, 2010 at 11:36 pm
does anyone know where wayne get his stocking caps that hes always rockin? especially the one from his court appearance yesterday…
February 11th, 2010 at 1:13 am
THE REBIRTH ALBUM SOLD MORE IN THE FIRST WEEK THAN BEFORE I SELF DESTRUCT AND IT LEAKED ALMOST 2 MONTHS AGO!!!!!!!HOW 50 CENT THINK HE ON LIL WAYNE LEVEL AND LIL WAYNE PUT OUT A ROCK ALBUM THAT SOLD MORE IN THE FIRST WEEK THAN 50 CENT RAP ALBUM!!!!!!!
February 11th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
imm proudd if waynee
hess keepin hes head heldd high and hess stilll doing what he loves to do
lovee uu weezy!!
February 13th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
that carter IV song is that 30 minutes to New Orleans. i bet u.
February 24th, 2010 at 4:32 am
Wayne cant go to jail! it jus aint right! u cant lock up tha best…. wut tha hell and i gon do till he gets out??
February 25th, 2010 at 7:55 pm
that’s crazy as hell we supose to do a song togather
~Million Dollla Kid~