The Wake

Remember when Tom Green sang his way through town, bumping his bum against taxis, cheese, and battleships? Local hip hop duo G-Biz has taken the former MTV star’s concept to the next level—their newest video’s theme is an MCAD student humping his way through Minneapolis, alongside G-Biz rapper “Blingo Gringo.” The Wake braved a ride in a ‘92 Aerostar van to follow G-Biz and crew from the Walker Art Center’s steps to the Government Center as they filmed shots for their upcoming video, “What It Is.”

“Ready for the music?” yells Tone Def, a 27-year-old rapper whose shock of orange hair swirls around a pale face. “Dance to the beat in your head!” instructs the day’s director, Matt Ernster, crouching on the Walker’s front steps with a small camcorder pressed to his face.

On cue, Brendon Brogan, a tall thin man in a white tank and button-up wind-pants a few inches too short rocks his pelvis backward and thrusts his arms forward, swaying back and forth like a dog in heat looking for some leg action. Twenty feet away, also standing on the vast expanse between the Walker and Hennepin Avenue, another tank-topped white boy, Noel Young (a.k.a. Blingo), begins dancing in place, hopping from foot to foot while pumping his fists in the air and shaking his head like an ‘80s jazzercise instructor.

“Keep going! Pump harder!” Ernster yells. “Stay on beat!” adds Tone Def, waving her hand to an imaginary sound, which is interrupted by the Bastille church’s noon-time bells and honking from a white van speeding towards I-94.

“I think I hyperextended my joints or something,” Brogan says after completing the shot, lighting a cigarette, and collapsing to the ground in a dramatic heap—not a good sign, since this is only the second scene of the day. Blingo, it seems, is a bit more optimistic: “All the fine women love my supreme dance moves,” he says.

After chugs of acid-yellow Gatorade lemonade, it’s into the three-door van, or “shaggin’ wagon,” and off toward downtown. Matt tosses Harvest Power Bars and chocolate-almond-raisin Zone Perfect Protein bars to everyone as we peel away from the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

The motor purrs loudly over shouts to Blingo in the driver’s seat. “Go in reverse!” “Not now!” “Fuck.” “It’s a dead end.” “He can just turn around.” “Can this thing turn around?”

“I told you I’m in no condition to drive today,” Blingo says as we shoot through an alley and backtrack to Hennepin before finally making it to a parking ramp by First Avenue.

After hump-dancing through the garage’s walkway we emerge on the street. “Who’s got my back when I get my ass kicked?” Brogan wonders out loud. There are no takers. But there is a stretch limousine sitting in front of the Radisson hotel—and what is a hip-hop video without 25 feet of sparkling white automobile?

Ernster runs into position near the hood, Tone Def grabs a clunky flashlight—err, spotlight—and illuminates Brogan’s body as he pretend humps the limo for 30 seconds. “That was awesome!” says a prim-looking valet, in a white-button up and professional black pants with shiny shoes, guarding the hotel’s lobby, as Brogan and Blingo strut towards our next hit: Nicollet Mall, a retail stretch teeming with parents pushing strollers.

“I want you to punch that baby in the face,” Matt directs Blingo, who’s now standing on a platform before the Gap’s window display, where a baby’s face smiles in an advertisement for furry cloaks with ears on the hood, making the child resemble a tame bear.

Next door is an entrance to the IDS tower, the next scene’s location. “I predict this will be our first encounter with…” “Johnny Law,” Tone Def interrupts, finishing Ernster’s thought. Fortunately, the only people inside are a few bemused elderly men and parents holding small children. Brogan and Blingo do their thing on opposite sides of the Center’s indoor water fountain, before a Ritz one-hour camera shop.

Racing out the door (just in case), we walk to the Metro Transit light-rail station. “Is any humping happening on the vessel?” Tone Def asks. The answer, for now, is no—but we do hop on and ride to the Metrodome. As the crowd of families and teenagers, in striped jerseys and baseball caps, spills out of the dome’s doors after the morning’s game, Brogan takes up a position behind Blingo and thrusts away. Matt films from inside a light-rail car, to the delight of its passengers, who point and laugh at the spectacle outside.

“Do you think they shoot music videos in Hollywood like this?” Brogan asks when the shot has wrapped.

“Oh man. I have a beer in my car. I’m excited about that,” Blingo responds, and it’s off to the Government Center Plaza for the next take.

Buy a $5 cup and check out G-Biz live on Oct. 14 at Empty Red, 1617 22nd St. NW, Rochester, or if you can’t make the trip, listen at myspace.com/itisthegbiz.