Lil Wayne feverishly filmed a series of music videos in the weeks leading up to what he thought would be his last day of freedom two weeks ago, before dental surgery postponed his prison sentence.
Director David Rousseau told MTV News that the Cash Money superstar recorded up to nine videos in one weekend, though most were in front of a green screen so his image could be added later to the finished clips. One video the rapper was on the set for, however, was his upcoming clip with Eminem for "Drop the World."
The collaboration between the two esteemed MCs is the next single from Wayne's Rebirth album. The pair performed a snippet of the track at last month's Grammy Awards.
Chris Robinson directed the "Drop the World" video and told MTV News on Tuesday (February 23) that the shoot — featuring the two heavyweight MCs — was comparable to a movie set.
"As a director, it's how do you, more than anything, combine these two artists together and create something that's special," he explained. "Because when you have two artists together, it's like, 'Oh, they'll stand next to each other [and that's it].' It's very awkward sometimes to have two very big stars. How are you gonna cover that? Especially two artists that are so big. You can do that with a performance at the Grammys, because the spectacle is to watch them onstage and sit in the audience and look at it. But as an artistic piece to have some magic, or if it's a mood piece or whatever way you communicate the music, you have to take two people into consideration with how you do that. And for me, I almost take it like a feature film: How did Scorsese put Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio in the same movie?"
The clip was filmed on the eve of the Grammys, Robinson said. It was a one-day shoot, and Wayne was on the set for upward of 14 hours. As of press time, no details regarding the premiere are available.
The "Drop the World" video is still being edited, Robinson said. It's likely the director will complete the final clip by the top of next week. Wayne is scheduled to begin his one-year jail sentence in New York on March 2 after undergoing eight root canals.
Robinson wouldn't reveal the premise of the video, but he promised the clip would match the song's intensity.
"You got two guys who are basically huge supernovas coming together, and the way that the song is constructed is great," he said. "Because unless you see it coming, you don't know Eminem is on the track. The first two hooks and the first two verses are all Wayne, and it's kind of a surprise when Eminem comes through, and we matched it visually how Eminem enters the piece. From the concept and to just hearing the lyrics, with both of these amazing lyricists killing it, the whole video is just energy."
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