On the latest episode of People’s Party With Talib Kweli, Soul Plane director Jessy Terrero stops by the Uproxx offices to detail his peculiar rise through the entertainment industry. After getting his start as an extra in Juice, Terrero became a highly sought music video director for 50 Cent, G-Unit, and more, actually taking a pay cut to get in on the ground floor with the Queens rap crew. Videos directed by Terrero include Lloyd Banks’ videos for “I’m So Fly” and “On Fire” and 50’s videos for “Candy Shop,” “Outta Control,” and “Wanksta.”
As he explains to Kweli, the budgets for G-Unit’s videos were much lower than Terrero’s rate, but the Queens-bred director saw potential in the hometown hero. “I’m jumping on this because I believed in this from my neighborhood and the rest is history,” he elaborates. “We created a good chemistry and just started rocking from that point.” Terrero says, at one point, he was so closely associated with G-Unit that, “I used to go to the club and people used to run up on me. People don’t be running up on Dave Myers because he’s working with Jay-Z… Me and 50 just built a great relationship.
People’s Party is a weekly interview show hosted by Talib Kweli with big-name guests exploring hip-hop, culture, and politics. Subscribe via Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.