It's still early in the evening on Friday, June 22 - but Home is in chaos. Here, at this Manhattan club, Keyshia Cole is shooting her new video for "Let it Go," the first single from her second album, Just Like You. Its grown, candlelight atmosphere currently resembles a warehouse in the daytime. A host of extras in short-shorts and fake lashes mill about or look bored, sitting in booths, waiting for their party scenes. T-shirted tech dudes manhandle cameras and tripods, shining giant lights on the red velvet wallpaper. Benny Boom - director of videos like Ciara's "1, 2 Step" and Akon's "Smack That," plus three of Cole's videos - wanders purposefully in headphones, pointing at locations, the cameras trailing behind him.
In an adjacent room, Missy Elliott, dressed in a sparkly black Chanel
t-shirt and loads of diamonds, is lip-synching against a green screen.
A towering bouncer directs gawkers and onlookers elsewhere. "She
doesn't like people to watch her while she tapes," he explains. So a
crowd of techs, fans and press gathers around the tiny TV screen
plugged into the camera. Missy Elliott on a TV screen - it's how we're
used to seeing her. Later, Lil Kim will show up in a black mini-dress
and a pile of thin gold chains, smiling sweetly, ready for her cameo.
It's a club-setting video, rife with dancers and glossy, moody lights.
Though there's no juicy poolside chatter, it will pay tribute to the
laidback party atmosphere of classic Notorious B.I.G. videos.
This is the final stage of work before the single gets its push, into
the real world, to see if it sticks, if its powerful "do-you" charisma
and humid, midtempo beats will translate to this summer's jam. "Let It Go," the song, however, almost never happened.
"Fantasia did this track before I did it," explains Cole later, on a
short break between shooting party scenes. "It didn't go on her album
but I thought it was real hot. So when we were all in New York, I
recorded it."
Elliott didn't even think Cole would go for "Let it Go." "I tried to
hurry up past it cause I felt Keyshia wouldn't want it. She said she
wanted to work with me and I really didn't know what kind of direction
she wanted to go in," says Elliott. "But as soon as the chords came on
she was like, 'Wait-wait-wait stop! Stop!' She was like all, who record
is that? I was like, well [Fantasia] had too many records on her album
so I couldn’t take it. And she wanted it."
To make the track complete, they called their friend Lil Kim up to the
studio. "It only made sense cause this record takes people back to
Biggie, and before Biggie, Mtume," explains Elliott, referring to the
original group sampled for BIG's "Juicy" and now, "Let it Go." On her
"Let It Go" verse, Elliott raps "They gon' mix it with Biggie 'IT WAS
ALL A DREAM!' like dayyyum, that's hot." Elliott continued, "The newer
generation remembers Biggie, so we need Kim on there to make it
official. We haven't had a ladies night since
'Ladies Night.' Keyshia believed in this record, she made me believe in
it. It probably would have been sitting around, collecting dust. But
once we put the vocals on it, I had no regrets in giving it to her. It
was like a banana split: something just very sweet, we just had to keep
eatin it!"
Dressed in a purple leather jacket, white tank, jeans and pumps with
voluminous eyelashes and her hair shorn short, Cole spends the day
vamping and dancing in front of the cameras, head thrown back, hands
thrown high. Missy is always at her flank, grinning luminously, shaking
around, riling the crowd of dancers behind them. This scene is in stark
contrast to the permanent teardrops and woman-done-wrong videos of
Cole's broken-hearted debut album, The Way It Is.
Cole explains this song's joy is a mirror-reflection of her forthcoming
release, which features Scott Storch, Anthony Hamilton, Missy and Kim,
Brian Michael Cox and Greg Curtis, who produced "Love." "This album is
more about you, inside," Cole says, "and how you need to get yourself
together, rather than pointing at somebody else and saying, 'You don't
treat me right, you don't do this.' I'm truly lovin it, I listen to it
myself. The last album, I didn't really listen to until I went on tour.
[Because] when you listen to your own experience, it's like, I don't
wanna hear it anymore. I do write from my personal experiences, but I
think it's very important to young women."
"Let It Go" is Missy Elliott's second feature in two years, with only
Busta Rhymes' "Touch It" remix between this and her 2005 album, The Cookbook.
So just where has Ms. Misdemeanor been? "I been workin' on my album. I
should have a single out by the end of August," says Elliott. She is
reluctant to give away details, but she does offer, "I don’t think it's
gonna be any different from what I do. I just try to give the
unexpected. As different as it gets right now, I would wanna do a
record with Amy Winehouse, but I don't have her yet. When I go to the
clubs lately I notice a lot of the music is real slow tempo. My main
thing is to get the girls dancing, cause once you get the girls dancing
the guys will always follow. When I go in the clubs now, the records
are so hard it's like even the girls are like, [barks] 'THROW
YA HANDS UP!' People ain't really havin fun with it no more, so that's
my main thing - trying to get people back in the club."
Elliott is also working on her autobiographical movie, which was
optioned by Universal Pictures last year. " I'm helping the writer
[Diane Houston] to come up with the right stuff cause I don’t want it
to be watered down. I want it to be raw and uncut the way my life was,"
she says. "People gonna be shocked, cause a lot of people don’t know
the background of Missy Elliott. They know Missy Elliott the
character." The cast has yet to be announced, but the film will be
co-produced by Robert DeNiro and Jane Rosenthal.
Meanwhile Cole, no stranger to the emotionally bare, debuts the second
season of her reality show this fall on BET. It will depict more
intimate portraits of her life - including the weeks following her
mother's release from prison. She is comfortable with putting herself
out there like that because, as she explains, "It's easier to be
yourself than try to make up somebody. A lot easier."
At 10 pm, the cast and crew is kicked out of the club - the location
rental is cashed, and Home is about to open for business. The extras
scoop plantain chips onto plates from a catering table outside the
spot, hoodies now pulled over their camera clothes, while Friday's true
clubgoers line up outside along a velvet rope, showing ID to bouncers.
For the artists, the night's not nearly through - a driving scene with
Cole and Elliott is yet to be shot. But for now, Cole, Elliott and Kim
retreat to their trailers, hulking black busses parked inconspicuously
one street over, to get their make-up retouched. Missy Elliott throws
on a black bathrobe and furry white slippers, but jovially emphasizes
it's not her normal gear. "My management wanted me to let y'all know
that," she laughs. Her diamond bracelet sparkles from underneath the
terry cloth.
Article tags: Keyshia Cole, Let It Go, Lil' Kim, Missy Elliott
Page printed from:
http://www.vibe.com/news/online_exclusives/2007/06/keyshia_let_go_vid/




Comments
1.
lovie says:
Keyshia is where it is at I love her songs and herstyle keep up the good work .
October 19, 2007 at 6:00 pm
2.
latifah says:
keyshia cole can sing
October 18, 2007 at 12:51 pm
3.
Marley says:
When I first played the song at the club I DID mix in Biggie's track. Not one person standing still!
October 4, 2007 at 3:39 pm
4.
jenna says:
keyshia cole i so relatable lovin her lyrics lovin her sound the girl is just a genius!
October 2, 2007 at 12:39 pm
5.
SHALAUNDA says:
sumtimez u jst gotta do wht u gotta do! im really feelin ths song. much luv 2 keisha. keep up the excellent work!
August 28, 2007 at 10:35 am
6.
Crystal says:
keep up the great work
August 11, 2007 at 4:24 pm
7.
Cristal_Passion says:
that why i dont mess with men
July 20, 2007 at 6:16 pm
8.
summer says:
i love that song let it go keep doing ya thing girl love ya
July 17, 2007 at 7:26 am
9.
victoria Wilson says:
Keyshia Cole, I love your new music. It is so wonderful.
July 16, 2007 at 1:56 pm
10.
summer says:
keyshia you my girl i looooooooove that song let it go that was the best you've had keep doing ya thing.
July 16, 2007 at 7:22 am
11.
yasir says:
My comments Is Love
July 13, 2007 at 9:11 am
12.
corey tenor says:
I love missy producer writer singer she's a bad b*tch 4sho!
July 10, 2007 at 3:56 pm
13.
MISS FROST says:
KEEP BRING THAT FIRE,CAUSE I LOVE YOUR MUSIC AND WHAT YOUR ABOUT,THANKS FOR REPIN THE BAY, CAN'T WAIT TILL THAT ALBUM DROPS CAUSE I KNOW IT WILL BE AS GOOD AS THE LAST IF NOT BETTER
July 6, 2007 at 3:36 pm
14.
CHARLENE J says:
HEY MA KEEP DOING YOUR THANG AND KEEP REPPIN' THE BAY AREA... I AM FRIM THE BAY AND I NREALLY FEEL UR HOODNESS...
July 4, 2007 at 11:00 pm
15.
fox says:
REAFY FOR A MISSY ELLIOTT AND LIL KIM ALBUM I DON"T KNOW ABOUT YALL BE WE NEED MISSY AND KIM TOGTHER AND KILL THESE FEMALE RAPPERS
July 3, 2007 at 3:35 pm
16.
chassity says:
i am so glad that i read this i was wondering when missy was going to come out with a new album and i cant wait to get it when it comes out because i love her music.
July 2, 2007 at 7:28 pm
17.
Shamica says:
I am a HUGE fan of KC, i was wondering when she was gone pop back up on the seen. I love the new song. Can't wait to see the new vid.
July 2, 2007 at 6:20 pm
18.
nene says:
i new this song before it came out me and my freind always listend to it i love it
July 2, 2007 at 2:40 pm
19.
Andrew says:
I love you Mz/ Keyshia Cole
June 29, 2007 at 10:16 pm
20.
Nicole from East Oakland, Ca. says:
I can't wait to see this video. I love this song, and Lil Kim did her thang in this song. I also can't wait to get that album.Keyshia Cole girl keep doing yo thang girl. I love you.
June 28, 2007 at 4:26 pm
21.
talanye carter says:
im so glad keshia went to get a the best female rapper (my opinion)to hurt the song what a good idea.also it feels good that missy elloits back on the scene cause i miss action in the videos and her dancing and she can dance her on style and very raw and smooth.another thing it has not been no hit out since ladies night and this will do it off the top.i love it!!!Make another one.VIBE pass the message along please.
June 26, 2007 at 3:54 pm
22.
cutieonduty29 says:
Lil kim owned this track all day.
June 25, 2007 at 5:39 pm
23.
Janay says:
YESS! New Missy albuM!!!
June 25, 2007 at 1:48 pm
24.
Qunisha says:
Keyshia Cole is the shit and can't be f**ked with!!!!!!!!!!
June 25, 2007 at 12:36 pm