Jeru the Damaja: Ya Playin Yaself

with Jeru the Damaja!

In terms of my tastes, it’s hard to beat this DJ Premier track, classic Jeru verses, and this Nick Quested directed video. Did this really happen?

Interviewer: So leading into the Ya Playin’ Yaself  video, which for me, I mean that video came out when I was… I don’t know 15 years old. I’ve watched it a million times. I don’t even – I can usually watch a video, I have a little bit of film background now and I can usually tell some of the things that are going on. I have no idea how you guys make something so ambitious. So, I’m going to start from the beginning if that’s OK.

Jeru: All right. And it’s cool because I wrote the treatment for that video. That was all my conception.

Interviewer: That was my second question, which you know it’s very rare for an artist to – a lot of artists don’t even want to deal with it.

Jeru: Mm-hmm.

Interviewer: And like how long had this treatment that in the back of your head, was it something that when it was time to make the video you wrote or is this something you had wanted to make forever?

Jeru: Since I was born, Yo! I love kung fu movies like I love kung fu movies and I got a chance to make a kung fu movie. And the thing is the first director they hired because I – all right, I want to make kung fu movies, so they got this director and I’ve seen his treatment, the shit was garbage. I was like, “This is garbage. You’re fired!” and I hired my man, Nick Quested. And there’s couple reasons I hired Nick Quested because Nick Quested is dope at what he did if you watch films, stuff like that, he was our boy. And his father was one of the executives in Golden Harvest. And if you know anything about kung fu movies, they – it was like Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest.

Those are the two biggest kung fu movie studios. So we went to Hong Kong and made that video. We actually had people who were in that video like the Chinese dude who was running with me, Afu, if you watch Jackie Chan movies from the beginning, most – he’s Jackie Chan’s – he’s on Jackie Chan’s stunt team, like you’ll see him fighting Jackie Chan in a lot of those movies like being the fight guy with Jackie Chan, so we had like goosebumps. The last dude I’m fighting, I think he was in The Scorpion King, the girl, she’s like a famous martial artist like – it was all people from martial arts who’s actually… this is a crazy shit, the team that shot Playin’ Yaself is the same team that shot The Matrix. Before The Matrix stuff.

Jeru: That was the Wu-Tang’s team, Dion Lam. It was a bunch of those dudes. They want – and they were bugging when we got there because I’m like, Who directed The Magnificent Trio and shit like – do you know about that movie? At first, we acting like with Jet Li. Do you know what I’m saying? We’re like, “Yo! You know Lianjie¹?” They say, “Oh, shit! You know Lianjie?” I actually have a photograph. I have a photograph copy, an autographed photograph of Jet Li where he was playing the… I think the movie was called, I think it’s Dr. Wai, The Scripture with No Words. I believe that’s the name of the movie but I have an autographed picture from that movie because he was shooting that movie at that time.

Interviewer: They should have gotten you for that – the soundtrack that Jet Li did the hip hop movie with Aaliyah.

Jeru: I know. I mean, listen. How about this, how about when Playin’ Yaself came out, Rush Hour was out, right? The movie Rush Hour, Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. And Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan hosted MTV and they did the top kung fu videos, Playin’ Yaself was number one and Jackie Chan called me Blackie Chan because that’s what I was telling him when they was – when I was in China, we’re doing our own stunt and I got interviewed by the media out there and they said, “Oh, why do you want to do this, you can get hurt?” I said, “Because I’m Blackie Chan.” Do you know what I’m saying?

Interviewer: That’s amazing.

Jeru: So, Jackie Chan… Jackie Chan on MTV saying, “Yo! They call this guy… in China, they call this guy Blackie Chan.” You know what I’m saying?

Interviewer: So, I mean the first thing that’s striking when you watch the video is you know you look like you could be in a kung fu movies. You don’t look like you’re a rapper who got dropped into it. Like, tell me, did you train for the video?

Jeru: I took Taekwondo. I got a black belt in Taekwondo.

Interviewer: Yeah, that makes sense.

Jeru: So I was – and so you know I could do most of the stunts. You know what I’m saying? A little something, a little Hollywood it up but just like real motherfuckers. Do you know what I’m saying? But I can throw a punch, I can throw a kick, so you know.

Interviewer: And what about Afu? I mean Afu was like this…

Jeru: Afu, we trained together.

Interviewer: Yeah. And are there – do you guys use – you know like I don’t know a ton about making an actual kung fu movies, like do you guys – is some of the stunts assisted by ropes?

Jeru: But we didn’t do nothing with no ropes. But like when we jump towards that building at the end, we jump towards that building. You know what I’m saying? We, as we jump to like a three-storey building into cigarette boxes and the matches.

Interviewer: That’s amazing. And there’s no stunt double?

Jeru: No.

Interviewer: No, that’s… Yeah. I mean it’s – I can watch the video over and over again. You guys shot – so some of the stunts, you know you have a lot of sort of scenes on the streets in Hong Kong and I’m assuming some of it was… you’re filming some of it on a set in Hong Kong as well?

Jeru: We just went to like this temple. Yeah, it was like this temple, it’s like a show temple where we rented out where they do like kung fu demonstration. I used to think it’s the total. Do you know what I’m saying?

Interviewer: Yup. And like – all right, so I just need to throw out first, when the first director, he wanted – do you remember his name?

Jeru: I don’t even know who he was. [Laughs]

Interviewer: So like while you’re making the – like while you’re out shooting it, are you aware – like how are you filming it? Are you like – the whole time, are you realizing how good this is going to turn out?

Jeru: I mean from inception, you know here?

Interviewer: Yeah.

Jeru: Like from inception, you know I think everything I do is going to be awesome. So you know, I’m sweating myself, you know?

Interviewer: Yeah, yeah.

Jeru: I’m sweating myself. You know what I mean?

Interviewer: Sure. Yes. Yes.

Jeru: I’m sweating myself on me. I’m going to be the first to admit it.

Interviewer: How long… Yeah. I mean, well, you know you’ve had some success in your career and you didn’t…

Jeru: You know I’m saying? I’m just trying to say I’m not conceited.

[Laughter]

Interviewer: He was… he’s always done it. Yeah.

Jeru: It’s not just on conceit now. How they used to say, “I’m not conceited, I’m convinced.” You know what I’m saying? Like…

Interviewer: I like it. I like it. Did you get to spend significant amount of time in Hong Kong?

Jeru: Oh we were up there for some days. You know what I’m saying? Like, we went around, with me, Nick, Afu. It was a great experience. You know what I’m saying? Like I said, we met all the stunt dudes. They toured us. And it was like – it was actually like a kung fu movie like you know certain little shit they step in and do like certain hand movement they show with certain close-ups to something. You know what I mean?

Interviewer: Yes. Sure.

Jeru: But for the most part, you have to do everything. You know what I’m saying? It’s little things and then they say, all right, come on, this ain’t the time. You know what I’m saying? Hong Kong motherfuckers, I have to do it like a million times. But for the most part, it’s just us, you know getting in there and rocking.

Interviewer: Yeah. Did you ever need shots that were really challenging in terms of like you had to do a lot of takes? It looks like some of the stuff could have taken several takes.

Jeru: I mean it was – a lot – some of the shit was like a lot. You know getting to jump on the table right and land right. You know what I’m saying? It’s shit like that, you know.

Interviewer: Yes. Absolutely. You have a very distinctive wardrobe, do you know – do you still own that robe that you wore in the video?

Jeru: Oh, it’s probably in my mom’s basement somewhere, you know. But like they would… this is a funny shit. They was like, “Why do you want to wear that?” You know what I’m saying? They like, “Why you want to wear that?” All the Chinese motherfuckers, it’s just normal.

Interviewer: So why did you want to wear it?

Jeru: Because I watch kung fu growing up. That shit… you know to me, that was a real kung fu shit. Today, you know they like, “What did they do with having old-school shit on?” You know what I’m saying? Like it’s a period movie, you know.

Interviewer: Yes. And I think it’s dope.

Jeru: Yeah, for us. Of course, we knew that the hook would tell you it was dope. You know what I’m saying?

Interviewer: Yes.

Jeru: And then Ma, they like, “Why do you all want to wear this shit?”

Interviewer: I’m getting totally like different vibe on this knowing that you wrote all the action for – like, you know when you walk into a scene like the scene where like Afu is doing the stuff with the towel, like you have that pretty heavily scripted in your treatment or there are some flexibility for like…

Jeru: Oh. We work with the stuntmen on the spot. They’re like, what can you do? Show me something. Show me a kick. Show me a punch. Can you jump? And then we went from there.

Interviewer: Oh, that’s great. So I’m going to ask you a question that it feels like a cop out but I get really good answers to this, so I kept asking people this, like when you – just when you think back to the video, like what are the memories you have? You know, because we’re going back… I don’t know, what is it, 25 years now, like what sticks out for you that just was a fun memory, a challenging memory, like what do you remember most?

Jeru: Trying to get food. [Laughter] Trying to get food because you know motherfucker is vegan and we’re in fucking China. We motherfuckers eat anything. You know what I’m saying? Like… and motherfuckers don’t speak no English, man. The food was the stinkiest situation because like one time, we go on to a restaurant, we Black dudes in Hong Kong, we’re going in, we’re looking at the… we try to get some food, you know we know Chinese food, we know regular shit. You know made up shit, Egg Foo Young and vegetables and you know, regular shit.

Interviewer: Sure.

Jeru: And these motherfuckers... but now, we not dumb, so we know that. What we know is Chinese food is not Chinese food. There’s no such thing as chow mein, all I should learn the shit, but we’re going. But you go into a thing and you see a big ass silver platter filled with just steamed chicken feet. You know what I mean? Like the actual feet, son. You know how crazy that shit looked to you? Like mein be like, oh my god, I don’t want none of that. We, you know we’re trying to get some and they just – everything is nasty looking, you know. It’s like… what’s the movie with Mark Wahlberg and Chow Yun-fat?² Mark Wahlberg was like, “That’s some nasty looking shit.” And Chow fat go, “You want to be a Chinese? You got to eat this nasty shit.” You know what I’m saying?

So it’s like, damn! You know we went to get something to eat and it’s foul – and they gave us like the 1970’s plastic cups like those plastic cups that look like they’re dirty like the film gets over them. You know what I’m talking about, like the clear see-through? They look nas– but you’re giving me that in a restaurant. I’m like, oh, I’m good on that feet. Thank you. You know what I’m saying? But that was the most challenging thing but other than that, everything was great, man because I appreciate every experience that I have, right, and like crazy shit like we’re getting on a bus. 

You know it made me understand Chinese motherfuckers more because they don’t – it’s a lot of those motherfuckers don’t like the concept of space, personal space is different. Like me getting on a bus, on a bus’s seat that sits two people, three motherfuckers are sitting in that seat. You know what I mean? And they try to squeeze in next to you and then, them motherfucker is like touching our dress and shit. They looking like – they like touching out like, “Yo! What are you doing? You’re touching me.” You know what I’m saying? And they’re like, “Oh.”

So, but it was fun. We went scouting around, me, Nick, and Afu. We jump on buses and they had two different kinds of bus. They had the regular bus and they had the first class bus. The regular bus is the same as the first class bus. That shit ain’t had no AC though and it’s hot in the motherfucker, you know. Just like 900 degrees, you’re on a bus with like a thousand Chinese motherfuckers and no AC. You know that shit is like, whoa!

Interviewer: Yes.

Jeru: But overall, I had a good time and I had a fun time shooting the… So we had two different days. We had the performance day and then we had the kung fu day. So, and it was just, ew! And then we’re on that boat, you know.

Interviewer: Yes.

Jeru: We’re on that boat like Bruce Lee. You know what I’m saying? When you’re going on an island like when – shit, what the movie is that? It’s not The Game of Death. It’s… oh shit, which one is that, what to do with the claws? Enter the Dragon I think.

Interviewer: Enter the Dragon. Yeah, it is.

Jeru: Enter the Dragon with my man, Jim Kelly. Bruce Lee, when he’s coming to cross that boat. But, Yo! Son, let me tell you something. Trying to rap on that boat, that was difficult trying to stand up on that because that boat is moving. Like you – and you ain’t just doing the rapping and all, like you can lose your balance and be up in that river. So that was – it was all around great experience stuff.

Interviewer: Yes. So did the label take care of you? Did you fly out first class or in coach?

Jeru: We ain’t flying out no first class.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Jeru: But we flew out coach. You know what I’m saying? But I mean the video was expensive. It was $100,000, you know.

Interviewer: Wow. Yeah, that’s not happening now, right?

Jeru: That’s $100,000 to do that video.

Interviewer: Wow.

Jeru: So, you know. It might be a little less something, might have been like 90 but that’s – and 90 is a $100,000, you know.

Interviewer: Did anything very funny happen? Did somebody… I mean like who got in real accident. Was there any that was – did somebody take a fall that was funny, or?

Jeru: No. I mean everything was pretty cool. Every beat is all good. It was just a fun time. We had in that in that Joe and… but you should have seen the motherfucker’s face though when they – that we got him jump off the building.

Interviewer: Yeah, I would have been nervous.

Jeru: And they go like, “Yo…” he like, “Yo, we’re going to jump on…” he just said, “Make sure you fall down, you know you got to hit the floor.” And he’s trying to see just how to fall off a building but jumping off a chair. He like, motherfucker, he’s like building, chair, same shit. You know, they’re Chinese. They don’t give a fuck. You know how they make their kung fu movies. You get hurt. You know what I’m saying? 

Interviewer: Yes.

Jeru: You get hurt. They don’t – they know a lot of bullshit. You do that. You get kicked in the face and stuff.

Interviewer: That’s amazing. So when you go out, it’s – from the American side, it’s mostly you, Afu, Nick…

Jeru: That’s it.

Interviewer: That’s it? No manager, nothing?

Jeru: That’s it, me, Afu, and Nick.

Interviewer: Tell me what you remember about like the scenes in the market, when you’re walking through outdoor market.

Jeru: That shit was stinky.

[Laughter]

Jeru: That shit was stinky. But we did, me and Afu, we went out to one market. We got like urban jam and stuff. You know we were on that… we had an idealistic idea of what – you know that Chinese culture what… juts like a lot of people have idealistic ideas of what things are until you go to a place, right? We just had an idealistic view in it. It wasn’t like… and it was Hong Kong, right? Hong Kong, that’s like Britain. You know what I’m saying? Like really… so, but it was great. It was different sites and scenes. It was dope though. This is – all right, this is the dope part. So now, when we’re walking down the market and I’m rapping and shit, we finally get down to the end of the market and we stopped, the music stopped, the whole market erupts into applause [Applause]

Interviewer: That’s dope.

Jeru: …like everybody, all the vendors, all the people out there. That was a dope one.

Interviewer: Do you have like another shot where you must be riding on the back of a truck maybe?

Jeru: Oh, a rickshaw. It was like a rickshaw type thing. But yeah, it was like a car. Mm-hmm.

Interviewer: And…

Jeru: That was crazy.

Interviewer: Yeah, you got the neon lights on the back which is awesome.

Jeru: That was night time and motherfucker is still kind of jet lag, right?

Interviewer: Yeah.

Jeru: From that whole… so it seemed like we were in a whole another world. You know to me, that’s how I felt. I was in the whole another dimension because my mental state was kind of hazy. Do you feel where I’m coming from?

1. Jet Li is known as Lianjie in China.

2. The Corrupter