♪ (ragtime music) ♪
- "But we never met each other." Hmm.
- "I was initially sent a recording of him
explaining his idea for the video to his team."
Oh goodness.
- Young Thug. Thug!
- (Young Thug) I wanna do it in The Hills.
Like Manny said, he wanted to do a lot of foreign cars.
But I didn't wanna do foreign cars.
I wanted to do kiddie cars,
like what you buy kids. - (chuckling)
- (man) What, like, go-karts? - (Young Thug) No.
- (woman) No, like the... - (man) He's talking about--
- (Young Thug) The cars that the little kids drive.
- (man) Oh, the little Power Wheels joints?
- Aw, look at the cute little car.
Oh, look at all of those.
- They're nice cars, even though they're miniature.
- You gotta have hoes for music videos. (chuckles)
- Oh, he was late.
- Hmm, I think he'd want to be there with all the bitches.
- ♪ I told her keep going... ♪
- Didn't show up for any of the shots?
- So... what an ego, huh?
- "Two months later, he sent me some footage he shot." Oh.
Oh, so he just incorporated it.
- I've never seen him before.
- "I wish it was my idea for him to eat Cheetos."
(chuckling) "But that was all him."
- "...explain how this video fell apart."
It seems like it's off to a great start.
- ♪ Play with my money ♪
♪ I do lie, yeah ♪
♪ Play with my, play with my money ♪
- Uh-oh, he killed the police. Look out.
- (Young Thug) ...kids in the adult car. - (man) Mm-hmm.
- (man) Juxtaposition. - (Young Thug) Yeah.
- (woman) So could it be a water gun then? - Kiddie cops.
(chuckles)
- Aw. (gasps) Oh.
- Oh, they're smashing the cop car. I don't like that.
- ♪ Play around with my cash ♪
♪ End up in a body bag ♪ - It looks like fun.
- ♪ ...and then dash ♪ - This is art, right?
- (chuckling)
- ♪ She know she gotta keep me back ♪
- They're having a lot of fun.
- "Real cops watching us destroy a police car." Uh-oh.
- "Remember them. They'll be back later."
Yeah, I bet they will be.
- ♪ I'm in that Wraith, homeboy ♪
- "The label reps told us that Young Thug was minutes away
and demanded that we immediately prepare for him."
- A lot of cheek there. (chuckles)
- "First performance setup."
Oh, I don't like that.
- Uh, yeah, I think so.
- ♪ ...one night, let me put it on your face (Slatt) ♪
♪ Let a [bleep] nut ♪ - 'Cause that's okay for kids to hear.
(laughing)
- "Thug still wasn't there yet,
so we improvised with the models."
- Oh, dear god.
- Are you kidding me?
- Okay, he rolled up. I assume that means he arrived.
- He wouldn't get out of his car? What was he all pissy about?
- Oh, his Instagram was hacked. This is so dramatic.
- "Also, his bodyguard had already begun arguing with the cops,
and they'd threatened to 'shut this whole...'" (chuckles)
- (laughs)
- "We waited as label reps and management
tried to convince him to get out of the car.
Then suddenly we heard that Young Thug had driven away"!
Oh boy!
- "Ironically, my first idea for this video
was for Young Thug to light the budget on fire."
Well, it kinda sounds like he did.
- "On the way home, I wondered if Thug would've liked the shoot
we put together for him." (chuckles)
- "But I guess none of that matters now.
In fact, maybe that's the moral of the story."
- "This video cost over 100 grand."
- It cost $100,000?!
- "You're still watching...
even though the song just ended.
So I guess the video actually worked."
Yeah, we heard the whole song, huh?
- It did. We're all suckeroos.
- So unprofessional.
- And this went viral? (laughs)
- It was somewhat ingenious in that you're improvising, adapting
to overcome the situation that occurred
and trying to save something out of it.
So I thought that was good.
- For not having the guy in it, it turned out really well.
(laughs heartily)
I'm not sure he would've made it any more interesting
after watching him eat Cheetos. That's kinda boring.
(movie reel clicks)
- (FBE) What are your first impressions
after seeing this music video? - Well, he had to be creative.
The guy didn't show up, so you gotta be creative. So he did.
I think he did a good job.
- Everything was perfect for the shoot.
Except the artist was not there.
- He seems like a very selfish, self-centered individual
who doesn't concern himself with anybody else.
- It was entertaining, especially knowing the fact that,
you know, the guy could come in anytime.
And he was late and late and late.
And it was more of a Murphy's law kind of a thing.
If it can go wrong, it will go wrong.
- By them doing a video about how it didn't work
is probably more interesting and enticing
than just watching another regular video
with girls dancing around.
With all the cuts and what happens behind the scenes,
sometimes it's more fascinating
than what's happening in front of the camera.
- (FBE) This video was number one on YouTube's trending page
the day of its release. - Whaaat?
- That is awesome.
- (FBE) And it's gotten millions of views
in just a handful of days.
What is it about the concept of this video
that you think makes people want to check it out?
- Rebellion to authority.
And they think it's cool he didn't show up.
- People have always wanted to watch
disaster, mistakes, accidents.
- It's like a giant blooper. We love things that go wrong.
Makes us feel superior.
- It's fun to see the plans that you make
and then what really happens.
Especially since he popped $100,000 on that.
Good gravy. Wow.
- (FBE) Despite Young Thug seeming to have
very little to do with the final version,
this video was posted to his official channel.
Given that the video does not really
portray him in a flattering way,
why do you think he decided to release the video anyway?
- He liked the content of what he saw.
- Maybe as a wake-up call to him.
They're saying, "Hey, if you want to be promoted
in a better light, you gotta show up,
and you gotta show what you got."
- He knew it was gonna be entertaining.
He went, "Hey, so I didn't show up.
Big deal. There were other things going on. They'll forgive me."
We're a very forgiving people.
- It's not maybe flattering, like,
he wasn't there when he said he was going to be.
But it's his lifestyle.
And like, "I can spend $100,000,
and it doesn't make any difference."
- (FBE) Young Thug is known for breaking barriers
of some stereotypes of rap.
He is considered a fashion icon and has stated
that he owns more women's clothes than men's clothes...
- Fascinating.
- (FBE) ...and said, quote, "In my world,
you can be a gangsta with a dress,
or you can be a gangsta with baggy pants."
- He's pushing the envelope.
The rapper is supposed to be macho, you know, gangsta.
So that is a little different, gangsta in a dress.
- Scantily dressed women, you know, destruction of cars.
I go, "Oh, okay, that's a rap thing. Yeah, okay."
So maybe he's-- maybe he's not as different as he wants to be.
I would like then to have seen him eating Cheetos in a dress.
- As far as the clothing thing and what a man is, that's done.
That stereotype that was my dad and men of my generation,
that's over. That's a good thing.
- People love this kinda stuff. Are you kidding?
In today's society, more and more open all the time.
When you look at all the LGBT type of things going on,
with restrooms and open society, I don't think he's--
I think he's leading the norms. That's what he's doing:
trying to open society up so we're not so uptight.
- (FBE) Finally, back to the music video,
do you hope this may lead to a whole new genre of music videos
made in this type of more honest style?
Or do you think most artists will stick
to keeping things more professional?
- No, I think it would be fun
to see more of that behind-the-scenes stuff.
- The industry needs always a different push here and there.
- If this truly was an accident, which I believe it was,
you may find some more accidents happening.
- Seeing that this is done so well, this may inspire other people
to be more spontaneous. "Spontaneous."
We put that in quotes,
'cause we're not sure how spontaneous it was.
- Thanks for watching this episode of Elders React.
- Follow FBE on Instagram to get behind-the-scenes info.
- We have new episodes almost every day, so why not subscribe?
- Thanks for watching. Goodbye, guys.
- Hey, what's up, everybody?
It's Dallen here from FBE.
Thanks a ton for watching this episode of Elders React.
Now, if you have any more suggestions
for what we should cover in the future,
go ahead and let us know below.
♪ (ragtime music) ♪