By
Werner Caspar
I
must have impressed Stryker and Sapphire with my mad swagging skills during our
last interview because shortly after, I was invited to the Millennium music
video shoot to watch them in action. Swagging,
I learned, is pimp walking with a swagger and is a heavily used theme in the
video for their debut single ‘When We Walk in the Place’, a slightly
narcissistic dance song about the importance of embracing one's own personal style.
This was going to be a two-day video shoot and they had a lot on the
agenda.
Day
One: The first day of the shoot was set
in an intimate Hollywood club where roughly a hundred crew and cast members
gathered shortly after sunrise. In the
midst of all the commotion, it felt like being at a casting call for Moulin
Rouge. This outlandish circus included a
black opera carriage driven by a rather buxom brunette on a sleek motorcycle, a
gold-suited pimp, an Asian dominatrix with her muscular man-slaves, an alien, a
toddler with her bottle, a drummer boy, an astonishingly rotund woman, Iron Man
and more. Wave after wave of extras
filed in and while helping themselves to coffee, were met by an affable and
efficient woman with a clipboard who quickly signed them in as club dancer, VIP
patron, skeleton gang, etc. I swear to
you that the pizza we ate during lunch break did not have any special mushrooms
in it and this was all actually happening.
The
gold-suited pimp was Stryker, who brandished a leopard print cane and matching
leopard print shoes. His pimp hat precariously
held a three-foot long black feather that poked everyone in the eyes every time
he turned around. The Asian dominatrix
was none other than the blue-haired Sapphire dressed in a black leather dress
and gloves. Her ‘pets’ were scripted as
two male models whom she kept close by her side in spiked collars and heavy chained
leashes. Earlier that day, we discovered
that the two burly Olympians that she had previously auditioned had cancelled
at the last possible minute. Upon
learning this, the woman with the clipboard began sizing up the current pool of
men to see who could play the part. Strangely,
I was not even in the running. In the
end, it was the drummer and one of the camera men who were chosen, de-shirted,
oiled up and collared. A second later, I
saw the anxious camera man fervently doing pushups in the corner as a last
ditch effort to beef up his pecks. Meanwhile,
Stryker and Sapphire took the matter in stride- literally. They were relentlessly swagging to the beat
of the music. When asked why all the
practice, Stryker looked at me with a sober expression, ‘I’ve got goldfish in
my shoes, bro.’ Point taken.
The
crew and the actors took their places and the cameras began to roll. Scene after scene unfolded and needless to
say there was a lot of swagging and a lot of dancing. It was not even noon and the set looked like a
very happening nightclub. After a quick
costume change, they shot a performance scene of Stryker and Sapphire on stage. He was still dressed as a pimp, but this time
in red velvet with zebra print and an oversized wide-rimmed hat. She was dressed in silver sequins with shiny
silver tennis shoes. Suddenly, they
broke into an extremely cheesy 70’s dance routine and the crowd went wild with
laughter (think Saturday Night Fever meets Carlton from Fresh Prince of Bel Air). After ninety minutes of filming the performance
scene, the duo was still on stage having the time of their lives. Judging by the liquor flowing on set, so were
the cast and crew.
The
rest of the day proceeded smoothly as they filmed one VIP table scene after
another, each having its own unique set of characters including the Blues
Brothers, LA gangsters, Virgil Farley and his entourage. Virgil was the original pimp who, despite his
notoriety in the 1980’s, was widely respected by both cons and cops alike. The table that received the most attention
had a petite blond with the word ‘Millennium’ painted across her otherwise
pristine body from her voluptuous chest all the way down to her thighs,
compliments of body artist Lasco. At the
end of the day, approximately fourteen hours after gathering the cast and crew
together, the set was now littered with coffee cups, half-eaten danishes, pizza
crusts and upside down shot glasses. The
crew began to break down their gear, and people began exchanging numbers, Instagraming
photos of themselves and each other, and saying their farewells. Everyone was utterly exhausted, except for
Milennium who appeared even more energetic than ever as they eagerly talked
about the upcoming shoot the next day.
Day
Two: Millennium and crew were now going
mobile and virtually every scene would consist of Stryker and Sapphire swagging
around town. The game plan was a bit
fluid. When a particular location struck
their collective fancy, Millennium and crew would hop out of their vehicles and
film a scene. For example, if Sapphire
needed a peppermint mocha, off we went to the nearest coffee shop to film
Millennium swagging with their coffee and newspaper in hand. They visited a vintage record store, picked
up their dry cleaning, and came out of a drugstore with what looked like a pack
of Magnum condoms (we won’t ask). After
driving all over town, the crew nonchalantly decided to film a scene of
Millennium pumping gas, in a pretty scandalous manner I might add. I may never look at a pump the same way
again. Needless to say, wherever they
walked they drew attention, stopped traffic, and were approached by onlookers. When a crowd gathered in one location, Millennium
took time out to give swagging lessons and the crew obliged by filming these
Los Angeles residents strutting their stuff.
After
a long day of filming around LA, we headed back to the studio just before
sunset. It was a wrap! Everyone began to relax and talk about dinner
options. Sapphire removed her thigh high
boots and gave a sigh of relief.
Stryker, on the other hand, sat pensive, deep in thought. Just as someone was about to make a run for
burritos and burgers, Stryker said in a steady voice, ‘We need a shot on
Hollywood Boulevard.’ After a brief
period of stunned silence, protest erupted on all sides. But after thirty minutes, Stryker convinced
the group that it would be the perfect scene for the climax of the song. As we filmed the final scene of Millennium
belting out their last line of ‘When We Walk in the Place’ right in the thick
of Hollywood Boulevard, an onlooker cried out, ‘Aw hell no! He got the goldfish
shoes!’ Yes, the better to swag with,
bro. Everyone smiled knowing that indeed
it was the perfect ending to one amazing and crazy ride.
The music
video for ‘When We Walk In The Place’ is now live at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNNPbub7ZO4
You can learn
more about Millennium and what they’ve got in the works at www.WhoIsMillennium.com
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