Artist Statement

     Growing up in the late 90's/early 2000's, I was naturally inclined to watch MTV's popular show at the time, titled "Total Request Live."  This show was absolutely amazing. Besides for the fact that it frequently brought on popular artists for interviews and fan interactions, most importantly it aired the top ten music videos requested on that day. This show was popular at a time when MTV was primarily known for music videos, hence the name "Music Television." I remember logging onto my AOL slow dial up service to go to MTV.com and request my favorite videos at the time. It made me so excited to actually see them on tv later that day. At that time, there was no youtube, so the only way for me to watch music videos was by tuning in everyday. Although I enjoyed watching my favorite videos, nothing excited me more to hear that they would be premiering a new video later in the episode.

    Nowadays, MTV is known for drama and reality tv shows not even closely related to music at all. That part is not important though, what is important is that this show "TRL" was the inspiration for my interest in writing, producing, and editing music videos. With the invention of Youtube and other internet video sharing platforms, as well as the addition of cheaper professional equipment (DSLR cameras with 1080p Video mode for example), Music videos have only grown and evolved to a point of being very common.
               Music videos give the fan a true visual to the musical piece. It brings the song to life and creates a whole new world around the song. I will never forget some popular music videos I grew up to, for example Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady" or Ludacris' "Stand up". Both of these music videos included a creative implementation of humor to accompany the song.
              This is all great, but you are probably wondering "Why comedy music videos though?" I have always been a jokester and I grew up making parody's of my favorite songs. Often replacing words or letters in the chorus to make an entirely different song.
                   As i got older, new artists such as The Lonely Island and Weird Al Yankovic began to create music videos with the video in mind when recording the song. This led to even more entertaining videos such as "I Jizzed In My Pants" and "White and Nerdy." At that time I knew that comedy through the medium of music videos was my passion. I knew that this was now an established genre with demand and competition and that I was suited to compete at a high level in this newfound medium.
         I started out making amatuer videos on a $99 flipHD camera I got, to instrumentals of famous songs. I would download these insturmentals and record covers using a built-in USB mic that projected decent audio recordings. When making my music videos, I would place the camera facing me, on a table. I would then press play and run to my position and start rapping on the camera. I would then edit the videos using consumer software such as the standard Apple iMovie.
                 After about a year of doing this, I had generated some buzz with cover to a Tyga song called "Far Away." I wrote a cover to it called "High Holidays". The concept of the song was that on the Jewish High Holidays, I would smoke all day while "they" fasted and prayed. It was quite humorous and provocative and I knew I had found my niche in the comedy rap game.
                As I returned to school after taking off a semester (to focus on these amateur videos), I knew that I would need to major in film and start networking to meet people who could help me start producing professional quality music videos. In the past year I have met some amazing people who have helped me chase this dream. The most important people I have met are VFX guys. They are the ones that make my videos come to life and allow each of my versus to be illustrated effectively.

 To date, I have produced 2 very funny anf professional videos. The first one was titled "Let's Just Tan" and it was a satire about over-tanning during the summer and not doing anything else (no job or class, just tanning all day).  The second Music video, which I am releasing early next week is titled "The Walk of Fame" and it makes fun of the popular term amongst singles called "The Walk of Shame." In this music video I AM the one that sleeps by a FEMALE and therefore I must go through with this walk the next morning, however I am unashamed and that is where all of the humor comes into play.

   Within the next year I look forward to continuing to learn, meet new people, and expand on my music video production abilities.

-Ethan Kaplan