What You Expect sits down with Raridigital ..
I’m so happy to have you because you’re always working. You put out like five videos a week.
You know what it is, I remember when I would do a video a week for a hundred dollars; this was last year. Now that I’m getting all these videos I can’t slack I have to knock them out. I put my all into it.
I say this to a lot of Jersey artists. Jersey has a ton of talent between athletes, artists and entertainers. There’re so many gifted people that come out of Jersey, but at the same time I feel like it’s under the radar. When you look at the most popular areas people will say New York, LA, Chicago and Atlanta. As of right now, you’re working with all these Jersey artists. Is your dream to stay in Jersey or to travel the country or even internationally to find work.
Yeah, I want to go everywhere, but this is where my fan base is. I want to grow with everyone in Jersey first before I make a new base in LA or Texas. I don’t do this just to make videos and get popping. I want to build a platform for these people out here. Jersey doesn’t have a real platform where people can drop a song and it will get good numbers, unless they go with someone from a different state. I want to build in Jersey first, make sure everyone is lit then go out to LA, Texas, Chicago.
Where are you from?
Plainfield, New Jersey.
When you were growing up did you want to be a rapper then transition to shooting videos?
Yeah, I was rapping for two years.
What was the transition that you wanted to start shooting?
Imma break it down like this. In high school, I was just the funny guy freestyling and rapping. I took a TV production class my senior year. When I was making music, I had my own camera and I would edit my own videos. I wasn’t making any money rapping, so videos came in and it took off.
It’s interesting, you have a great personality and you’re goofy and I mean that in a positive way. But all your videos are the complete opposite. Do the artist comes up to you and say “I want to do this and that” or are you the director and tell them “you should do this and that”?
Most of my videos I go to a location the artist wants to shoot it at and we just shoot. I don’t like to make artist do stuff, I let them express their own ideas in the video. I’ll give them a few pointers and creative direction but I don’t force them to do anything.
Is that one of the reasons why artist like working with you because you give them a lot of freedom?
I think so, whenever I link with artists they say I capture everything well and I let them be there self.
I was watching one of your first videos Bishbenji x Haze “Fast Life”. When I watch that and compare it to your other videos it’s such a difference. You didn’t have your trademark, there’s not a ton of effects and the camera was kind of shaky. It seems like you were jumping around with them. Do you look back at that and say I really improved?
Yeah, I look at that sometimes. That’s when I got my first camera and it was my first video. I wanted to be good with the hand movements but I went overboard with it.
Talking to you I see you bring up numbers a lot, are you motivated by numbers or meeting and working with new people?
Meeting the people and enjoying everything. When I edit a video, I sit back and laugh. Numbers help me keep track of points and time.
How long does it take to edit a video?
That’s a great question. If it’s a basic video I can get it done in a day. If you want to make it nice, color it and add effects it might take a week.
I want to tell you my favorite video and song. My favorite video is Luh Trap Stay Out Late. I love it because the song fits really well with the video. Did you plan out that video?
Luh Trap planned out that video. He already had it in mind. I like working with artists who already have an idea of what they want to do. That video is hard.
My favorite song is Nook Lauren Get Wit Me Pt. 1. I’m shocked he didn’t blow up.
In the hood he blew up. Plainfield doesn’t have a big market compared to other cities. It’s at 11k on YouTube and that’s big for a Plainfield rapper.
What’s your favorite video and song?
My favorite video is Talib You The One and TwoSyde Big Going. With Twosyde that’s the most effects I’ve done. My favorite song is Elzo Bandz 4th Quarter. I bump that every day and never get bored of it.