October 26, 2007 @ 11:32 am

Styles P: I'm Back...

by: Brad Wete

As rumors fly of Jadakiss signing to Def Jam, VIBE.com visits the video shoot for Styles P's "Blow My Mind," where he talks Lox, Swizz Beats, and J-Hood. 

It's an unseasonably warm Columbus Day afternoon in Brooklyn, New York, and most people are enjoying the last of their three-day weekend. But instead of spending his Monday relaxing, David Styles - better known as Yonkers, NY rapper Styles P - is hard at work in Brooklyn Studios, shooting the video for "Blow My Mind," the first single from his upcoming album, Supa Gangsta, Extraordinary Gentleman. Styles, who is one-third of The Lox (rappers Jadakiss and Sheek Louch complete the set), doesn't seem to mind putting in some work, though. "The energy is good, baby," he yells, as he shakes the hands of crew members and staff. Amid rumors that the Lox are signing to Def Jam for a 2008 release - and that Jadakiss is about to sign to the label for a solo album, as well - it seems as if Styles and his D-Block soldiers are ready to gear up for battle again.

Usually, a video is shot over the span of about two to three days, but Styles and company will be burning the midnight oil, shooting "Blow My Mind" in just one day. "I'm not a rich artist," he jokes. Styles alone wrote the treatment for the dark, partly computer-generated video. Clad in Men in Black-style black suits and sunglasses and cast as an actor alongside co-star Idris Elba (The Wire, Daddy's Little Girls) it follows a man feeling the effects of marijuana. "The basic concept for it is like [seeing what you feel] whenever you get blown out and smoke mad Ls," says director Todd Angkasuwan. "I think he actually came up with this idea when he was just gone... he starts off in a park, which is the 'real world,' and all of a sudden smoke comes out of his mouth and he's transported to this other world. [He just] wanted to do something really tripped out."

After the last few years in Styles' career, it makes sense that he would want to break out the box. With the constantly pushed-back release schedule of his last album, Time is Money, and a handful of quality, but not-so-commercially impactful singles, Styles left Interscope Records in January 2007, and signed with the independent Koch Records, who will release Supa Gangsta on December 4. "For me, as a solo artist it was better not to be at Interscope," he explains, "because they have a lot of big entities over there... your 50s, your Eminem, Keyshia Cole, Busta, Dr. Dre. What's going to make them say 'Styles is back around. Let's pay 110% attention?' That isn't going to happen."

He may have gotten lost at Interscope, but the images in this video will be unforgettable. There's the 300-pound, hairy-backed white man who transforms into a beautiful model chick. Then there's the bearded, roundly white man who plays the role of the Wizard of Oz-style grand wizard. Off camera, he takes pride in the fact the he didn't require a make-up crew to become the unattractive man he needs to be for the video. "When I got to the set [the crew] was like 'Oh, you already have a beard. You don't need our props,'" the wizard laughs.

But perhaps the most wizard-like on-set dude is producer Swizz Beats, who didn't need the fashion crew, either; he came dressed in his Kid Robot line, a brown and gold long-sleeved shirt with dark denim.

"Me and Swizz, we go back a lot of years," says Styles, whose 2002 hit, "I Get High (Good Times)," was produced by the fellow Ruff Ryder. "It's always a beautiful thing when we work together. We're homies. Our history goes back to Ruff Ryder studios, [Swizz] banging out all day on the beats in one room and the Lox in another room making rhymes. It goes back to just trying to make it. We were just young boys in the game trying to fight for our position. And now we have our positions and our solidified spots."

Even though D-Block has spent the last couple of their industry lives in purgatory, by the looks of it, things are finally coming together. As Styles prepares his new material, Swizz is riding high on a crest of top singles and preparing to release Cassidy's third album, B.A.R.S. Similarly, Styles' D-Block partner Sheek Louch is dropping Silverback Gorilla (early 2008), and Jadakiss recently had October 2006 drug and gun charges dropped, and he's close to signing with Def Jam solo.

But when Styles talks about former D-Block member J-Hood, he sours a bit. Hood, who used to refer to himself as the fourth member of The Lox on mixtapes, had appeared on mixtapes to express his displeasure at the lack of attention he was receiving at D-Block Records. When rumors began circulating over the net that Sheek Louch had taken Hood's D-Block chain last month, Hood responded by making a YouTube video in which he drags his D-Block chain. "You talking about this chain?" Hood asks in the clip. "This is the chain that was supposedly taken from me. I don't care about this chain."

"I don't understand Hood," says Styles. "[He] had no reason to go to the internet and do all that phony shit. I wish him the best, though."

With his career veering back on track, Styles doesn't seem to have a reason to hate. The video shoot has started to bleed into the late-night hours, but the energy Styles touted earlier has not yet begun to fade. Later, Sheek drops by to show support. Styles' son, also in the video, dances in the background. And, after Elba and Styles nail a sprinting scene on their first take, Styles yells out "Yeah, baby! Let's go!" Yes, the energy is still good, people. And the video is even better.

Styles shoots "Blow My Mind" against a green screen. Photo by Johnny Nunez.

Article tags: D-Block, Jadakiss, Jay-Z, Sheek Louch, Styles P, Swizz Beats, The Lox 

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