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Uncovering (get it?) additional perspectives on lifestyle & culture.

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The coldest story ever told

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Rex Stories: Music Videos Aren't That Exciting

Unsure if it was the right place, I knocked on the heavy, metal door of what looked like an abandoned restaurant. While waiting for a response, I glanced over to my friends Chris and EJ, who were just as puzzled as I was. We were in a desolate commercial area of South LA, an area that seemed too quiet for a music video and an area where you shouldn’t be knocking on random doors at night. After a couple minutes, an ogre of a man emerged.

“What do you want?” he grunted.

“Where here for the Waka Flocka video,” I responded.

He condescendingly glared at us with the same disdain a bouncer would give guys who were trying to talk their way into an exclusive club. “Who do you know? Who do you work for? Where’s your business card?” Intimidated by his large presence, I fumbled around with my words, trying to provide evidence that we belonged there. Luckily, I had texted my friend Rod, who worked at Warner Bros Records, while we were walking to the venue. Rod eventually came to our rescue and let us in.

To the general eye, music videos, especially rap ones, seem like giant parties with dancing, girls, and a lot of debauchery. Well, they aren’t as glamorous as they look. It’s actually a pretty tedious process, filming the same sequences over and over and over again to produce about 10 seconds of usable footage. Plus as a video extra, you’re pretending to have the time of your life, and after faking it for about 20 minutes, you’re pretty much over it.

“Round of Applause” was my second shoot (my first) and I wanted stay behind the camera rather than in front of it, focusing more on capturing behind the scenes content for my blog. Chris, EJ, and I were, not surprisingly, the only Asian Americans there, which was the usual case at “Hollywood” functions. Asian faces aren’t prevalent on screen, so just getting through the door at some of these things made me feel like I’ve accomplished something. We patiently stood around for about an hour as the production crew set up their equipment, video girls got primped, and Waka’s entourage smoked some “medicinal” to get in the mood. The venue itself was buzzing, which you couldn’t tell from the outside, but its interior didn’t resemble a high-end club of any sort. Additionally, there were only 30 extras on set. I honestly thought that this was going to be the lamest party to be ever featured in a music video and questioned how much money the label gave Waka to film this.

Finally, shooting began, and we watched them film an opening sequence with Waka and his co-star. Waka Flocka is a pretty big dude in person, standing over 6 feet tall. Add the fact that he makes some pretty aggressive rap music, you would think he would be really intimating, which I is what I thought. However, he’s actually a pretty goofy guy. He joked around with his entourage, ran and hid from the director to play games on his iPhone, and he even gave us his email address so we can challenge him to Call of Duty on X-Box. Still, I wouldn’t test his street cred, but he totally changed my initial assumptions (it’s all entertainment).

Drake on the other hand was such a diva. He didn’t interact with anyone on set and walked around with his nose to the air. While the girls were making googly eyes at him, most of the guys were boasting that they could easily beat up Drake if given the chance; such a contrast in perceptions. At one point during the night, a girl I had met asked if I can snap a picture of her with Drake,She and I walked over to him and she gave Drake a tap on his shoulder. Drake, who was speaking to one of his cohorts, turned his head to look at the girl for a good second, turned back to his friend, and just walked off. What a douche. I enjoy the man’s music, but I just can’t stand him as a human being. He also makes the worst faces when rapping.

Chris, EJ, and I were at the shoot for about 5 exhausting hours. My friends seemed to have had a great time, being able to meet some rappers and dance around with good-looking girls. I find it really satisfying to provide my friends with memorable experiences like this. One last drawback of music videos is having to listen to the same damn song on loop for hours. After that night, I couldn’t listen to “Round of Applause” for a few weeks or I would’ve pulled my eardrums out. Ultimately, I could only stay behind the camera for so long, as the bright lights beckoned me into the scene.  When the final cut came out, we were wildly excited to see if we got even a second in the video, we were nowhere to be seen. We did make the behind the scenes footage (1:00 mark down below)! Success.

 Behind the Scenes- we're at the 1:00 mark, gray jacket in the background

Actual Video:

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The Seasons

They say that the people in your life change as often as the seasons. As we move through different life chapters, we cultivate new relationships, while losing touch with those no longer relevant to us. Sometimes we accumulate more than we lose, producing a net positive gain in acquaintances, but is this surplus really fulfilling? (sorry, MBA lingo)

It’s quality versus quantity. Would you rather have 100 casual friends or 5 best friends? For me, I prefer a moderate balance. I like having an array of friends who possess different ideas and interests. I’ve been able to relate to various types of people because I keep an open mind and have an erratic set of interests that span Brazilian jazz, to NBA basketball, to black ink “prison style” tattoos. Throughout the years, this flexibility has allowed me to develop some pretty diverse social circles, and from there, I've built with the ones I clicked with and trusted the most. As mentioned, I aim to maintain a balance between expanding my network and strengthening those meaningful relationships, but I realized that I actually kinda suck at it.

This past Saturday allowed me to view the different dynamics between my social circles. For some odd reason, the stars and planets perfectly aligned and I had the opportunity to hang with every friend segment I have in NYC, all in one day both by plan and just plain coincidence. To keep it simple, I can classify my friends into 4 groups:

1)    Hometown friends from undergrad or back home in California

2)    NYU Stern

3)    Early NYC friends I’ve met during my first 2 years

4)    New NYC friends I made in the last 6 months

The day started with lunch with Michelle (Hometown), who’s the older sister of a good friend from UC Davis, and was one of my “advisors” for getting into Stern. It was over a year since we last spoke, but we quickly caught up over cold soba. After lunch, I went on a spur of the moment walk with Jo (New NYC), who’s a neighbor I met a couple of months ago. The dialogue went from familiar clamoring with Michelle to more of a curious questioning with Jo, as I was still getting to know her better. That evening, I had dinner and drinks with a number of Sternies, who are actually a great representation of the balance between quality and quantity. I’m cool with a majority of my classmates, but I consider only a small portion to be close friends. Later in the night, I get surprising text out of the blue from Amy (Hometown) who I haven’t heard from in almost 2 years. The unexpectedness caught me off guard. I took a quick pit stop at the LES bar she was at to do a lightning round of catch up before proceeding to Annie’s (Early NYC) birthday. I met Annie and a few others at the party early in my NYC residency, as they were first NYC friends I made outside of Stern. I noticed that catching up with this group wasn’t as instant like with the Hometown folks because we didn't go that far back and that the time apart actually created a small hurdle to regain familiarity. 

So after Saturday, it became a bit clearer that I'm doing a pretty poor job in maintaining those meaningful relationships. I get caught up in the "desire" to network that I lose focus on the good people I already know, specifically my Hometown and Early NYC groups who seemed to have taken a backseat. When I said my salutations to them, I mentioned“We should hang out more often”, with a guilty undertone. One of my 2015 resolutions is to really concentrate on those that matter and pay no mind to those that don't. I've started to reconnect with people here in NYC and the West Coast, and as juvenile as it sounds, I started purging my social media of those contacts that aren't that important.

Seasons come and go, but you can always expect them to come back at least once a year. However, you can assume that people will do the same. 

For some reason while writing this, I kept hearing Lauryn Hill's line from "How Many Mics"

"Seasons change, mad things rearrange, but it all stays the same"

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Spiral stairs

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So cold that the fountain frozen over

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I was in times square for NYE 2 years ago. Waited 12 hours. Midnight was cool but never doing it again.

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Closing out 2014

2014 was pretty eventful. The year commenced with a grandiose firework display high above Copacabana Beach. I escaped a portion of the Polar Vortex that plagued NYC by spending most of January in Brazil and Argentina, and all the sun, steaks, beautiful women, and caipirinhas made it very hard to feel sympathetic for those stranded back in the States. This extensive vacation was a major highlight because it was a very cultural immersive trip that gave me some great perspective, and if you know me, I’m a purveyor of all things culture. In terms of travel, it was a pretty solid year with trips to Jamaica, California, and Chicago filling out the rest of 2014.

The first half of the year mainly revolved around my last semester at NYU Stern, which was very bittersweet. B-school provided me with some of the most productive, enlightening, and amazing experiences ever, and it was a pleasure celebrating with my classmates as we (reluctantly) put an emphatic end to an era. Getting an MBA was one of the biggest personal goals, and it took an enormous amount work to get into my top school and to graduate from a world renowned program, so walking across that stage at Radio City Music Hall this past May was a defining achievement. It was sad to have such a good thing end, but it was exciting to finally get my new career in marketing started. It was totally miserable searching for that first opportunity, but I finally got that chance when I started with Time Inc. in September.

Other than these major moments, the rest of 2014 was comprised of more subtle experiences.

-       Globetrotting through food during our #internationaltueday dinners

-       The night some friends and I went overboard on Fireball shots and missed an Awkwafina concert, only to have her take even more shots with us at the venue

-       Almost getting arrested for exploring the Freedom Tunnel

-       Turning 29 at a cigar bar

-       Spending an afternoon at the Jersey Shore

-       NYC neighborhood walks during the summer

-       Seeing BANKS perform live (best concert I went to this year, Alesso came in second place).

-       Attending Derek Jeter’s last game at Yankee Stadium

-       Participating in the Millions March with 25,000 other people

There are plenty more highlights that I can’t immediately remember, but I’m not the type to bask in the past. For 2015, I hope to take progress in my career, save money so I can pay off these damn student loans, find a girl I can connect with, and continue to make my days count.  I do have some everyday resolutions though:

1)   Sleep more

2)   Detach from technology, mainly social media

3)   Meditate

4)  Do a better job at maintaining important relationships

With that said, 2014 was amazing, and I don’t expect 2015 to surpass it (big changes in my life happen in 2 year intervals, so I have high expectations for 2016), but it doesn’t mean it won’t be memorable. Happy new years everyone.

Last year’s NYE in Rio 

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Merry Christmas

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Randomly went to @Awkwafina show last night at the @knittingfactorybk. Last time, my friends and i pregamed so hard, we actually missed the show. This time it was a success

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How to dress well at the Spin Media x Microsoft Connected Sessions event at Verboten

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Thoughts from the Million March NYC

As I approached Washington Square Park, I felt an intense blend of energy comprised of passion, community, and hostility. Once I entered the park and joined the thousands who congregated under the Arch, I realized that this was going to be defining day. Like many, I don’t approve of the incidences of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, as both situations shouldn’t have resulted in two deceased individuals. Race, obviously, is a fiery, underlying theme and as a minority, I’m tired of all the unnecessary bullsh*t that minorities have to endure. The other side of the controversy involves police brutality. I respect law enforcement because they have an extremely hard job of ensuring that we behave morally as a society, however, there are those few who abuse their power (with minorities occasionally being on the receiving end) and taint the police’s general reputation.  

I’m not an activist; I’m just a person who’s frustrated with how things have been and would like to see them change for the better. Several years ago, I made it a personal and professional goal to impact culture (I’m trying to figure out what that really means). Getting my MBA has made me confident that I have a realistic shot to do so, and now it’s actually time to take some gradual steps in that direction.

I attended the Million March alone because I wanted to fully absorb the day’s events without having to worry about anything else. Washington Square Park was a gumbo of demographics in terms of race, age, and gender. There were Blacks, Whites, Asian, teens, students, parents who brought that their young children, the elderly. With all the talks of racial and hierarchical separation, I couldn’t sense it there. The excitement at the meet up grew as the crowd engaged in chants, while raising signage that exemplified the frustrations developed over the last several weeks. Eventually, it was time to take the streets.

The crowd slowly filed onto 5th Ave and headed uptown. The chants continued as people were more than ready to flood Manhattan, but I stayed mainly silent. Instead, I observed those around me, witnessing how serious and meaningful this Million March was to them. I also read of many of the signs around me and to be honest, most of them made me a disappointed in society.

I initially planned to only walk up to 14th Street, as it was cold and I get a bit claustrophobic when it comes to large crowds. However, I ran into some Stern friends and decided to give it a few more blocks. When the crowd turned on 6th Ave, I decided it was a good point to exit. While I was grabbing coffee to warm my soul at a nearby Starbucks, I was astonished with how humongous the March had become. The crowd grew to become about 25,000 deep, stretching almost 15 blocks. This was New York City coming together. I sipped my coffee while watching the March pass, and ultimately, the energy was too convincing and I rejoined.

The March went up to 32nd Street and turned back around, heading to NYPD headquarters in downtown. Along the route, I enjoyed seeing the reaction of bystanders as they saw this massive sea of people heading their direction. People climbed onto construction rafters and light poles to get an aerial view of the spectacle, capturing footage on their smart phones and cameras. Some even joined the March. At one point, we intersected the dreaded Santa Con. It was an obvious contrast of groups that had different priorities. On one side, you had those trying to push for positive social change, while on the other, you have people dressed in cheap Santa suits trying to find their next cheap drink. I’m aware that there are people who could care less about the March, and that’s their preference, but the Santa Con folks just looked "out of place" (in kinder terms). It's just different priorities for some. In any city I reside it, I make an effort to be one with the community and culture, and I felt as a NYC resident, I had to be part of this March. Personally, I get really annoyed with those transplants that move here to drink and brunch this city dry, without respecting the culture and history of New York. There’s a reason why the city is gradually losing its character.

Eventually, I completed the entire route. Thousands braved the cold and marched several miles to exemplify that this is a matter that a significant number of people care about. If the Million March doesn’t spark some conversations with the decision makers, I honestly don’t know what else is there to do. I hope those who organized the March have a game plan of demands and initiatives because this is where some protests falter. You commit so much effort to rally, but no call to action at the end. At the end of the day, I believe that the March brought further attention to a controversial subject, but as a society, we still need the majority to believe and act better.

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Nas came by the time inc office today

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Brands and Bands: Pandora Discovery Den Holiday 2014

If you’re a digital music service, you’re pretty much doing everything possible to build your user base. There’s an unnecessary amount of streaming/ online platforms, so whoever has the most listeners is going to lead the market. Pandora, Spotify, Sound Cloud, Beats Music, etc. these companies are making little to no money, but they have to invest marketing dollars to establish themselves as the premier online destination for music. So I could understand Pandora’s objective for hosting the Pandora Discovery Den Holiday 2014 this past Saturday.

Held at the classic Hammerstein Ballroom, the very-well produced event featured performances from rising artists Rudimental, Kiesza, and The Neighborhood. Attendees braved a treacherous downpour of rain, some waiting for a couple hours, for the free concert. Once inside people were confronted with blatant advertising and branding (how else is Pandora going to pay for all this?). I thought most of the activations could’ve been better executed, as a couple of them didn’t make much sense. TV network TBS sponsored an elevator and the coat check, while Pillsbury hosted a glowing blue room that served no real purpose. The only clever initiative was from T-Mobile, who sponsored a “VIP” area that wasn’t very VIP because everyone had access to it as long as they tweeted a generic “Thanks to @TMobile I'm celebrating #musicfreedom VIP style” to get in. This helps T-Mobile generate some awareness online through a sizeable number people, so I thought it was pretty smart. The greatest disappointment, that should’ve been obvious for an event like this, was the lack of an alcohol sponsor.

The concert itself was great. A friend recently introduced me to Rudimental and they really impressed me with their sound. The group’s combination of drum & bass, dance, and soul induced the crowd to dance, waving around their Express branded glowsticks (this sorta makes sense?). Kiesza performed right after and she maintained a consistent high level of energy with her dance-pop records. The Neighborhood closed out the show, but by this point, my starving stomach had shifted my attention towards fried chicken in nearby Korea Town. 

Even with all the misguided branding, I thought it was a great event by Pandora. It was highly memorable and tasteful, and surely elevated brand affinity. One thing Pandora should’ve done is make attendees download the mobile app as a requirement for entry. This relates back to building a user base, and I’m certain would download Pandora for a free show. I’m sure Pandora’s competitors are gearing up their own experiential events. For me, I’m not loyal to any online music service, but hey, if they want to fight for my attention, I'm easily swayed. 

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this week's edition of 2AM in the East Vill to make your Monday a little more fun.

Featuring:

AlunaGeorge, Rudimental, Kendrick Lamar, Destructo, Seven Lions,  Galantis, Kaskade- A Little More, RL Grime, Flume, Outkast, Odesza, and more

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Went to sneaker con for work. Check out the new Sneaker News vol 1 "2 Kings" double cover. Limited edition

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Me

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Thanks

After seeing many voice their thanks on social media this morning, I'm inspired to express my own gratitude.

I practically change year over year (for good or bad) in my demeanor, aspirations, and mindset, and this has led to new living situations, careers, and friends. I’m not saying I pull a “Stefan Urquelle” and I transform into a totally different person, but as a human being, I should mature from lessons and experiences. I’ve made a lot of sacrifices, taken a lot of risk, and made a lot of regrettable decisions over the years. At the end of the day, it’s all a work in progress.

With that said, I’m genuinely thankful for those friends and family that have been down with me since day 1. Day 1 could mean April 19, 1985 (the day I entered the world), or it could be only a few months ago when we first met. I appreciate those that have stuck with me as I take leaps and bounds in my personal mission. I’m horrible at maintaining relationships, especially when most of my Day 1’s are on the other side of the country, but I’m glad that I have made lasting relationships that withstand the test of time and distance. I value those relationships where you don’t have to keep tabs on one another because when you link up, it’s like nothing has ever changed. It’s as if the pause button was pushed. These are the one's that understand who the core Rex is, and I feel loyal to them. 

After a couple of years away from my core friends and family, I realized that what’s missing in New York. There are 8 million people here; I make new acquaintances every single day, but sometimes it still gets a bit lonely. People in your life change as frequently as the seasons do, so I’m thankful for those that are still around. Those are the Real Ones, while everyone else is just there for the moment. 

And to close it out, I say this every Thanksgiving: Be thankful for what you got, but keep striving for what you don’t have.