Los Angeles Product Tate Tucker Drops off the Premiere of His Thrilling New Video, "Trips"

Photo courtesy of Ben Shmikler (@beenshmikler)

The music industry is a revolving door of talent, and that’s putting it nicely. The truth is sometimes, no matter how talented you may be, it’s just not enough. We see it every day with very talented singer/songwriters who pen hits on hits…. for other people. No matter the actual reason, it always seems to boil down to the fact that these artists just lack that, “it” factor—and although the, “it” factor might be the most sought after trait in the industry, just try asking somebody to define what they mean. Despite this, when you listen to one of Los Angeles native Tate Tucker’s tracks, you feel “it,” and when you watch one of his videos, it’s almost blatant—no pun intended. Returning to the RESPECT. Magazine pages after debuting his, “Just Wanna” record with us, Tucker returns with the crazy new visuals for, “Trips.”

Produced by Slant – who’s also responsible for “Just Wanna” – “Trips” is fun and jubilant record that’s hard not to bop too. Whether it’s the towering bass kicks that seep into your chest, or the oddly-soothing high pitched voice that Tucker uses in the hook before he switches back to his smooth, suav cadence—but this song has a potentially long lasting shelf-life. This goes without even mentioning the video, which was put together perfectly by the directing/editing trio of Denzel Deranamie, Curwyn Henry, and Ben Shmikler.

Set to the backdrop of a beautiful Los Angeles skyline, Tucker is seen stunting through various places like an airport hangar – which includes an insane cut of Tucker zooming through the skies in the plane, in probably the best scene of the whole video – a helicopter pad and more. Combing the trio’s vision with Tucker’s melodic presence and quirky wordplay – “She asked me for a tip, I said she can try it.” – “Trips” has the potential to end 2017 off with a bang and carry momentum into the New Year. With so much riding on this visual, we spoke with the Los Angeles native about the making of the video, what’s next and more. Check the Q&A and the premiere for the new video, below.

RESPECT. Magazine: Where did the idea for the video come about?

Tate Tucker: The plane idea was a long time in the works, an idea Ben (Shmikler) and I had been playing with for a couple of years. By the time we’d decided to work with the director/DP combo of Denzel and Curwyn on Trips, Ben had actually connected with a friend of ours and secured a plane & location to shoot at. When we scouted it out, she actually took us up in the plane and even let me fly it. Shit was stupid, like the plane dipped immediately when I took over but I mellowed out. That was the defining moment for us. We wanted to go all in and make it as cinematic as possible. We also wanted Lil’ Drippy flying the plane, so that’s kind of his first introduction to my fans. He’ll be on all my projects and in most of my videos.

RESPECT.: Take us behind the creative process of getting something like this done?

Tucker: It was honestly 4 or 5 of us at most times and sleep wasn’t really a factor. We worked the majority of two straight days, at various locations throughout the city — a couple that we had to finesse for sure. It was just a rogue video, production value was the most important thing for us. Denzel and Curwyn really brought the vision Ben and I had to life, it was just good chemistry.

RESPECT.: Were there any troubles that you and your director experienced while shooting?

Tucker: Yeah man, on the second day at the desert location Curwyn broke his fucking collar bone!!! We were all geeking cause it was freezing and we’d slept like 2 hours. It was like 6 AM and we were rocking out to “Jo Bros” by (Cousin) Stizz. We looked over and Curwyn had tripped on a rock looking like he was hurt for real. The rest was history. He was in the ER in the middle of nowhere while Denzel stepped up to film and Ben handled the bounce and everything else logistical for that day. Shit was wild. We really put everything into this video.

RESPECT.: Is this a loose release or something from an upcoming project?

Tucker: It’s somewhat loose. But it’s previewing a sound that will be explored in an upcoming EP. After this I have one more single before some really fire projects get finished up. I’m hyped to move towards releasing collective works. I love telling being able to tell a full story. It’s gonna get real cinematic real quick in 2018.

RESPECT.: What can your fans expect from you in the near future?

Tucker: More movies. My first project. Some touring. Some gear. More of a glimpse into YUP the collective behind everything I do (shout out KJ, Cronkite, PD, Been Shmik, & Slant). And a story that will unfold throughout multiple projects. A lot of growth. It’s gonna be cold.

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