Last night was the homie Rik and Three21 were shooting the video for the remix version of Busta’s “Arab Money,” featuring Swizz Beats, Diddy, Akon, T-pain and many cameos. I had to work late so sadly I missed the fun, but Consequence was there and caught some footage of Cedric the Entertainer doing that dang dance.

And speaking of director Rik Cordero, he has a nice interview up on Streetcred.com., excerpt after the jump….

Rik spoke to Streetcred writer Tanya M. Fowlow:

“I think it was really doing a different kind of video than what was kinda the norm a couple of years ago. Everything looked like a shampoo commercial or something…[laughing]…everything was just focused on the looks and the materialism and making sure it looked pretty. We just focused the human condition and capturing these artists and creating an emotional connection to their fans without all the distractions and the smoke and mirrors kinda stuff. We just shot a different kinda video; a raw portrayal of the artists.”

TMF: Do you have any other signatures or tricks of the trade that you use creatively or technically?

RC: Not really. I think there’s a misconception now that we just shoot with a camera and in one light…we still do that…but there’s some videos where we have a small crew and we have the traditional lighting set-up and stuff like that. Everyone thinks that were so guerrilla that we don’t really shoot like that but that’s just a common misconception. Other than being unpredictable…not really.

I’m at service to the treatment so whatever resources I have to use; whether it’s me and a camera or a crew of 20 it’s all dependent on the treatment and the story, I can’t apply it to every single video. If I did that I would never get anything done: I’d be like, “I can’t shoot that I need more light…I can’t shoot that I need more this and that,” you know all the extra stuff. When you strip it all away and when you can’t throw money at problems you have to solve them creatively and that’s much more fun. Also to add to that, it’s like how many different ways can you show an artist singing or rapping passionately into a microphone versus how many different ways can you put an artist into a storyline. It’s captivating!

TMF: Artistically speaking what’s the hardest thing to accomplish in a music video?

RC: Getting the artist to be themselves.”

“RC: [Laughing] You know the other art forms like music and painting that have been around for centuries and the film and video making has been around for less than 200 years…like in the 1800s the first film was like 12 seconds long or something. So it just came up in the system where you need the big cameras, the trucks, the trailers and all this nack to make a film. It’s changing!

One of the criticisms that was levelled at me personally was that I was a cancer to the film making community because I’m lowering the standard of the craft which is ridiculous! It’s the dumbest thing ever! Basically, if you do that mentally you are setting a standard of a craft and you are saying that the art form has a limit and you are limiting yourself to what you can do creatively. I think that it’s so ingrained, especially in the hip-hop audience, because they’re so use to the bling bling videos and stuff like that; that’s what’s been the mainstream hip-hop music videos…all the extravagant stuff.

The kids that are watching our videos, they might not really know it, but subconsciously they’re making an emotional connection to an art form and that’s what it is. That’s what you do with music: when you hear a great piece of music you don’t say, “They used a hundred million dollar keyboard to get that sound,” or if you find out that it was made in someone’s bedroom you don’t say, “Oh, they’re lowering the standards of the craft.” That’s how I look at it, it’s art! If you complete it with a small camera or a huge camera it doesn’t matter as long as you make a connection to it. I know that’s probably not one of your questions but I just wanted to add that.”

Knowing Rik as a friend, I get such a kick out of how amazing the past 2 years has been for him. And at how good he’s getting with the interviews, lol!