RIDE FOR ME — A-Trak, Falcons, Young Thug

In what might be one of the most clever concepts ever, Eli Gesner sets A-Trak, Falcons, and Young Thug in ‘90s New York in the new “Ride For Me” music video. By weaving together unseen Kids-era Downtown footage with new Hi-8 shots of the artists, Gesner takes you on a journey that travels through time. The result is a world in which Harold Hunter kicks it with Young Thung at a party that’s visually retro but sonically futuristic. Gesner breaks down how this project came together in a new interview with NY Skateboarding.

A-Trak and I are old friends. Back in the late ’90s, A-Trak, DJ Craze, Infamous, Develop, and the rest of the World Champion DJ crew – The Allies used to practice out of the old Zoo York offices on West 13th Street. They were all in Mix Tape 2: Unbreakable. A few months back A-Trak contacted me about doing a skate related video for Young Thug. As much as I love Thugger, he famously doesn’t show for videos. So, this was an issue for me. But after Trak sent me the song, I loved it so much I had to do it.

At this time, I had a bunch of my old ‘90s skate footage loaded for the Harmony Korine episode of Epicly Later’d, Patrick O’Dell’s show on Vice. So, once I had the song, I was sitting at my desk bumping it, and going through the old footage, and was like… this is fucking sick! But more importantly, I realized that I could just take an old Hi-8 video camera and go to Young Thug… he doesn’t have to come to me! That’s when I knew the logistics of this all could work. But even more important, for me, is the Harold Hunter Foundation. When I saw Harold dancing to the song, and it synched up, I was like – Young Thug, you are going to help us with the HHF – Boom!

Have a look for yourself above.