See
more of the story
The new Vikings stadium is co-starring in Minneapolis rapper OG Grip's upcoming video featuring Houston rapper Scarface and singer Jack Freeman.
The downtown landmark gleams in "Them Days," which I suspect is the structure's first music video appearance. I got a sneak peek Sunday of the video scheduled to debut next month on YouTube.
Minneapolis director Tomas Aksamit, of Future Frame Productions, also edited the very crisp video he shot in Minnesota and Texas. "It's Minneapolis meets Houston, so making sure to give shout-outs to both cities," said Askamit.
"We kind of just brainstormed: What are some of the landmarks we want to put in here to rep Minnesota? That's obvious, the new big thing. We wanted to make sure we got that in there, visually and contextually. There's the Broadway Street sign, also a 'Welcome to north Minneapolis' mural."
Aksamit believes "Them Days" is "definitely a feel-good summer track." Lyrics include "Sometimes I reminisce on them days/ basketball in the street where we played. Lord won't you bring back them days/ because the way we used to live was amazin'/ and I've got to say/ Lord won't you bring back them days."
On the track, "there are kind of some throwback vibes to the beat itself done by Emazin, another local producer," said Aksamit. "He and Grip have been working together. Future Frame is also collaborating with my two main guys, Shawn Dunbar and Michael Vanasek.
"This is our sixth video for Grip, so we've been working with him for a couple years. Very thankful. He's just an awesome dude. Grip was able to connect with Scarface down in Houston. Scarface is a legend in the music game, a pioneer of southern rap." He was once a member of Geto Boys, whose track "Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta" was the music in the scene where the cubicle gets dismantled.
Grip did not surface before my deadline so I could not ask him why "Those Days" wouldn't have worked for lyrics. I just keep reminding myself that Lin-Manuel Miranda's grammar is not perfect in the hip-hop musical "Hamilton," the greatest theatrical production ever.
'Jefferson' channeled Prince
"Visually, with the purple coat, and with his swagger, I couldn't help thinking of Prince when Jefferson first emerged," said writer Mark Binelli in a Rolling Stone Q&A with "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.
"You know, he wore a brown suit at the Public," Miranda said. That was the theater where "Hamilton" played before moving to the Richard Rodgers Theatre.
Thomas Jefferson [like the Marquis de Lafayette] is played by the divine Daveed Diggs, a rapper and now a Tony winner who is about to star opposite Julia Roberts in "Wonder." He is going to be a big star and dresses like a future fashion icon.
Prince saw the production a month before he died and tweeted that it was "THE BEST HISTORY CLASS EVER!"
He's right, save a few inaccuracies deemed creative license by Miranda, who also left the 2016 Tonys with awards before exiting his Broadway production.
The reviewer who declared "The Book of Mormon" the best musical of the century probably wishes he could take that back now. I saw "Mormon" when a touring company stopped here last month and thought it was terrible. I especially did not find the oversexualization of the Africans amusing. By contrast, the twenty-something I took with me LOVED IT.
For my money, and as yet I have only spent it on the cast album, "Hamilton" is a million times better.
My doctor gave me this link — graphics.wsj.com/hamilton — which explains how the rhymes were accomplished, after she found out I was also "'Hamilton' obsessed.
O, Tina, where are you really?
Tina O is apparently at the GOP convention in Ohio, if her tweets are to believed.
The Minnesotan who now lives in California may be a delegate. If she is, I am sure she has one objective: a photo with Donald Trump.
This month's violent news cycle inspired me to tweet that security needs to be jacked up around both @HillaryClinton and @realDonaldTrump. @psychicRuth replied that "Tina @TINAHILLSTROM1 is a delegate-at-large in Cleveland. She will be protection enough there :):)"
When I tweeted Tina O to ask if she was REALLY a delegate at the RNC and in Ohio, she tweeted back a photo of herself with Trump. No confirmation yet whether that photo was taken in Ohio and if it was a cardboard cutout or actual Trump.
C.J. can be reached at cj@startribune.com and seen on Fox 9's "Jason Show" and "Buzz." E-mailers, please state a subject; "Hello" does not count. Attachments are not opened.
