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James Blake ft. Chance The Rapper 'Life Round Here' By Nabil

Luke Tierney - 21st Oct 2013

You can tell who the best music video directors are pretty quickly. Like with many art forms having the most interesting concepts is key and then knowing how to execute them in a way no one else can; priceless. Nabil is that person. Each project is individual. They stand alone yet within themselves are cohesive. It is this talent that has encouraged artists such as Kanye West, Frank Ocean, Bon Iver and Foals to repeatedly employ Nabil. You just don't know what you will get.

In this case the contrast of the English countryside and an American low rider set the tone matching the collaborative clash of James Blake and Chance the Rapper on Life Round Here. Somalian pirates, booty shakers and a priest walk onto set. Although it sounds like a joke, it's just another day in the life of Nabil. We were lucky enough to catch up with Nabil and find our what makes drives him to succeed, his thought process for this project, and what track he want to work on next with James Blake...

PROMONEWS: You've worked with James Blake before, did that make it a lot smoother process this time round?

NABIL: Yeah it definitely helped.  We got along well on the last one and I think because he was happy with that process it definitely created some trust.  Plus we go out for pints in London town which helps.   

Did shooting in the rain affect your plans at all?

A lot of factors that day affected the shoot – a short day with Chance, hitch problems on the loader, rain…  But somehow it all came together and we worked with what we could - which was about an eight-hour shoot.

You openly love juxtapositions, did the genre-crossing nature of the track influence you when creating the concept for the video in this case?

Definitely. I had Chance and James in London for one day, so I thought lowrider, English countryside, black and white, black and white, and a little more black and white. Put it all together and see what happens..   

All your work is diverse. Would you say individuality is important in your approach to creating a promo?

I would say there is nothing particular to my approach except I want to make something awesome! And make people think… Sometimes they don't turn out as awesome, but that drives me to out-awesome the last one, which also doesn't always work… That's my approach.

I really like how shooting in black & white ties the surreal situations together, almost making them normal, was that the aim? 

Sounds good to me! Thanks.

Going from eerie cliffs to falcon riding low riders – so is there a trilogy in the pipeline for Nabil x James Blake? 

I would love that.. I want to do a video for Our Love Comes Back. Thanks for the motivation Luke!

* Check out Luke Tierney's blog, Word Is Cheap, or his Twitter @wordischeap, for more thoughts on his favourite music videos.

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Luke Tierney - 21st Oct 2013

Tags

  • Interview/Q&A
  • Promos
  • Surreal
  • Alternative, Hip Hop

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Credits

Production/Creative

Director
Nabil
Producer
Liz Kessler
Production Company

Camera

Director of Photography
Matyas Erdely

Editorial

Editor
Julia Knight

VFX

VFX
Gloria FX

Misc

Associate Producer
Morgan Clement

Luke Tierney - 21st Oct 2013

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