Music

Dead Prezis are very alive in new Travis Thompson video directed by Tyler Yee

By Reel 360
August 3, 2021

(Courtesy SixTwentySix Credit: Nick Beeba)

SixTwentySix Productions has lent its services to Dead Prezis, the latest music video to drop from rising Seattle hip hop talent Travis Thompson featuring American rapper and music producer G-Eazy.

The track is from Thompson’s brand new, just released album BLVD BOY, named for the Burien, Washington native’s hometown street he grew up on, Ambaum Boulevard.

The video is directed by Tyler Yee, who is no stranger to working with the hip-hop scene. Yee has written and directed music videos for artists also including Migos, DJ Carnage, Tory Lanez, A$AP Ferg, Steve Aoki, and Swae Lee, and has directed commercials for companies including Mini Cooper, Netflix, and Google.

Shot in only two days, Dead Prezis is a wild, in-your-face Seattle takeover with a vibe that encourages breaking all the rules and getting away with anything. Hitting several of the city’s hot spots in the video, the film opens with Thompson at night outside a Seattle fish market complete with fisherman vixens dripping sex appeal, shining a spotlight on the 24-year old Seattle icon the rapper has become in a remarkably short amount of time.
Lights pulse to the beat as Thompson raps, with extreme camera angles and fish-eye lens shots elevating the video’s energy.

“Creatively, I wanted to do something both quintessential and different at the same time – I’m a huge fan of music videos from the early 2000s, the whole Yo! MTV Raps era, and I grew up making skate videos with my friends,” shares director Tyler Yee. “Travis has also been skating since he was super young, so I felt the best way to blend all those worlds with the Seattle fish market vibe was to add the unconventional fish-eye throughout the video.”

From a lit boat party to simply hanging with his squad, the video shifts to the iconic landmark imagery of the Bay Area, representative of hip hop star G-Eazy’s hometown of Oakland. Yee, who has worked with G-Eazy on multiple music video projects, treats viewers to an easter egg during G-Eazy’s performance.

The scene pays homage to the vinyl art-work on Mac Dre’s Young Black Brotha, with two vintage Mercedes. The video closes with Thompson and friends in Lumen field, completely showing out and owning the famous stadium. Watch below:

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With the production schedule not being very long at all from the time it was awarded until the shoot began, it was essential for Yee to get to know Travis as a human. In order to understand Thompson’s taste and his world, Yee flew himself to Seattle the week prior before the project was even awarded.

Yee shares, “Commercial and glossy would have been a poor choice for this video. It’s so important to truly appreciate and know the artist with whom you’re collaborating and the world that made them who they are.”

In the brief time, Thompson has been on the scene, the artist has created an impressive come-up story and BLVD BOY is a collection of songs that represents who he is now. “We wanted to make sure this video captured his essence as an artist.” It made things so much more smooth and collaborative leading up to and during the shoot because we had this vibe that was effortless,” adds Yee.

Making the video didn’t come without its challenges. “Working during Covid is always a challenge, but even more so, filming in two cities back-to-back, with multiple locations, two different crews, all shot in 2 1/2 days total was a time crunch.

That being said, EVERYONE involved from Gina Harrell and Hope Wilson – the commissioners at Epic Records, to Travis’ and G-Eazy’s teams, to SixTwentySix Productions, really pulled together to make this happen on another level. I owe everything to the focus and compromise of everyone involved,” says Yee.

Dead Prezis is currently out and airing.

CREDITS:

Production Company – SixTwentySix Productions