ELDERS REACT TO YOUNG THUG'S $100,000 FAILED MUSIC VIDEO (Wyclef Jean)

♪ (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) ♪