Interview: Director X Gives a Play-by-Play of Drake's "HYFR" Video

Image via Complex Original

Drake’s been getting hella love since releasing the video for his Lil Wayne-assisted banger “HYFR” last Friday (April 6). The clip finds Drizzy, one of hip-hop's top Jewish MCs, getting re-bar mitzvahed. Of course his family, including YMCMB bosses Birdman and Weezy, are all invited to the ceremony as well as DJ Khaled, Trey Songz, members of the OVO crew, and a few old chums from back home, too.

Judging by the amount of Patron and Manischewitz wine being tossed back on the "HYFR" set it looks like Director X—who’s handled videos for Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Usher, among others—had a lot of fun on this shoot. So Complex caught up with X to have him walk us through some of the video's best moments. How crazy did the shoot really get? Who decided to put the panda mask on Wayne? Who’s that bearded white guy stealing all the shine? And was there a rabbi around to make sure they didn't get too wild in the temple? Keep clicking to find out.

Written by Brad Wete (@BradWete)

Where did that footage of young Drake come from?

X: That footage is from his cousin’s bar mitzvah years ago. They came to me with this VHS tape, like, “We have this footage of Drake dancing.” In the first part, he says, “mazal tov.” He was seven years old! He’s really part of it. This isn’t “I heard I was Jewish. Let me…” My man is really Jewish.

Where was the video shot?

The video was shot in Temple Israel of Greater Miami. Who knows what’s happening at Temple Israel in Miami right this second. [Laughs] We were respectful. The song might not be what you expect. We didn’t do anything in the synagogue at all.

Were you guys at all fearful of backlash from the Jewish community?

We made sure it was all legitimate. We didn’t make any jokes. We took little liberties with the afterparty. That’s more of a “What if” situation. What if Drake had a re-bar mitzvah with his friends coming together with his family? There’s nothing funny—other than Birdman just being there is funny. But if you’re watching, you see Drake’s Torah and the reading of the lines. It’s like these two worlds coming together. There’s nothing in there that’s disrespectful. We had a rabbi from the temple right there the whole time. He was like, “You wouldn’t wear that outside” and stuff, you know? So at that point, maybe you have a problem with the lyrics. That’s a legitimate complaint. But we never cursed inside the synagogue. After that, if you have a problem, you’re kind of just a stick in the mud. When I show it to my friends, all my Jewish friends are all in.

Who’s the white guy with the sunglasses and the beard? He kind of stole the video.

That’s OB O’Brien, Drake’s homie from Hamilton, Ontario. It’s about two hours away from Toronto. OB’s out there doing his thing. He’s a rapper. Drake wanted some friends in there that were funny. So he brought OB around. He kind of sets the tone—sunglases, yarmulka, and chewing gum. He’s first person in the video that makes it look like, “Something’s not right here.”

You got to love the part where they're doing the hora and Drake gets lifted in his chair by his friends. He was holding onto it tight to make sure he didn’t slide off.

He pretty much handled that. I don’t know if I would’ve gone all the way in like that. He even took both hands off for a little bit.

Who thought it'd be a good idea to put that panda mask on Wayne?

That’s Wayne. You can’t tell Wayne nothing. I’m old school, boy. It ain’t my job to tell an artist what to do and what not to do. People want to see an artist for who they are. So, hey, if you want to wear a panda mask, wear a panda mask.

The energy got turned up even more once Wayne started to perform. Did you tell the extras to get amped up or did Wayne bring that out of them?

It’s a little of both. At first I told them to get a little more hype. But then they realized, “What are the chances these we are ever going to be in another rap video? Let alone be in a rap video with little Wayne.” So at one point in the evening, those kids said, “Fuck it. I’m going to get as close to Lil Wayne as I can and act like I’m a rapper too.” So that part where the kids are jumping around just got excessively crazier when we shot it. The crowd around him just crept in more and more. Wayne had no shirt on and he’s smashing vases.

The thing that you don’t even know is that our film ran out when he smashed that vase with his skateboard. Our film ran out right there! Then he goes and throws a table over and people start jumping on this. You couldn’t stop it. I was yelling, “Cut!” You just couldn’t stop it. It was by far the craziest shoot ever. No one would stop, bro. It was bat-shit crazy. I got the memories. But I wish the film had not run out.

Was that real Patron Trey was guzzling?

Yeah. I didn’t bring that, though. It’s not even legal for me to bring alcohol. I’m the representative of a legal corporation employing other individuals. I can’t bring those beverages on set.

So the artists brought the bottles, huh?

Yeah. For real, it’s illegal for me to bring alcohol on set. If someone got hurt and in the scheme of the police report, it read, “X handed me…” it could be troublesome. It’s just the law. When you’re making music videos, you don’t get people drunk. You pretend to. On the other hand, if an artist and their friends decide they want to bring alcoholic beverages…

Then it’s a go.

I can’t do anything about that. It’s your choice as a grown-ass man. Trey was just in town.

What's the meaning behind Drake and Trey Songz lighting those candles?

What’s really important that people don’t see is that he’s lighting that final candle. And at a bar mitzvah, it’s significant people that light candles. There are 13 candles and the last one happens to be very significant.

So for him to be lighting it shows how important he is to Drake.

Yeah. Trey and Drake have been friends since before either of them was even close to being big. Drake is the homie in Trey’s “Wonder Woman” video. Trey is the singer on Drake’s “Replacement Girl,” the one video Drake made in Canada. They’ve been friends since way back then.

I’m sure you didn’t know when you were shooting that the video would debut on the same night as his one with Rihanna for “Take Care,” directed by Yoanne Lemoine. That’s an amazing, arty video. But yours is getting the most buzz days later.

I’m not really sweating that. You can’t compare the two. Theirs is very artsy fartsy. You don’t know exactly what’s going on. There are arrows being shot at bulls. It’s a beautiful video. As a director, I’m like, “Oh, OK.” But mine is funny. You can’t beat funny, brother. There are a million people that through history have talked about the power of laughter and satire. So if people have to make the choice between laughing and saying, “This is really beautiful, but what the fuck is going on?” they’re probably going to go for the funny.