The single from Tuxedo – the duo of Grammy-nominated soul singer Mayer Hawthorne and Grammy-nominated producer Jake One – is designed for the dance floor, and for their new video, director Ian Eastwood enlisted some of the most successful hip-hop dancers to show their moves.
Eastwood is a former member of Mos Wanted Crew, which was featured on America’s Best Dance Crew and World of Dance. When Tuxedo met him at a party (“he said he fuxed with the Tux,” they told VIBE) and saw him dance, they decided to pitch him to direct the video for “The Tuxedo Way.”
The video features Eastwood both directing and performing, along with several other renowned dancers: Popin’ Pete (nee Timothy Earl Solomon) of the Electric Boogaloos crew, Jaja Vankova (So You Think You Can Dance season 12 finalist and America’s Best Dance Crew season 6 champion), Alan “Kid Boogie” Leal, Lily Frias (America’s Best Dance Crew season 7), Marie Poppins (America’s Best Dance Crew season 8), Hector “Bean” Flores (America’s Best Dance Crew season 7), and Shockwave. The dancers are a perfect fit with Tuxedo’s 70s-inspired funk.
“I first fell in love with popping and funk when I was 10 years old. Throughout the last 16 years of learning and becoming a genuine fan of every individual person that contributed to/is in this video, I think it was truly magic and the alignment of some stars to bring this art piece to life,” Ian Eastwood told VIBE. “I’m so thankful to every single person on set that made this possible so the world could see the beauty of this incredible style of dance from one of its creators (Popin’ Pete) all the way through the current generation to a record that proves funk can never die from two amazing musicians. My hope is that this video can be looked back at for years to come as a true representation of the style both in music and dance.”
“The Tuxedo Way” appears on Tuxedo’s third album, Tuxedo III, which was released in July on the duo’s label Funk On Sight and features guest appearances by MF DOOM, Gabriel Garzón-Montano, Parisalexa, Leven Kali, Battlecat, DāM-FunK, Gavin Turek and Benny Sings. Tuxedo is currently on a North American tour that runs through Aug. 24.