Director Vashtie Names Her Favorite Hip-Hop Movies

Vashtie is a woman who wears many different hats. With a background in film and photography, the New York City native has been involved in many different facets of entertainment. She has directed music videos, she has thrown and DJ’d parties, she’s modeled for big brands. She’s been hustling. So when XXL got Vashtie on the phone to discuss the anniversary of Hype Williams' Belly, we had to discuss more. The director and Creative Consultant talks to us about her favorite hip-hop movies, which music video she's most proud of and how she got into DJ’ing. —Emmanuel C.M.

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XXL: I know we talked extensively about Belly, but what other movies that are big in hip-hop culture do you enjoy?
Vashtie: I like classics like Krush Groove. Krush Groove, I like the idea of all of these cameos of real people in it. It’s kind of cool to see what things were kind of like or maybe like. Juice, definitely. It's so good. It’s cool because I like the idea of these circles of friends. Plus I had a huge crush on Omar Epps as a kid so that helps. [Laughs]

I like the idea of the story in Juice. It kind of like you can live that story. It was just cool to see young people into the same thing. It wasn’t so far like Belly. Belly, that’s a fantasy. I’m not living that life. But Juice could have been real; like skipping school and just hanging out with your fans. I think that is cool because it seems realistic and I can relate to it.

New Jack City, it’s kind of funny. The acting in it is great. They’re legends. But there are parts that are kind of comical now when you see it. There’s always a scene where I bust out laughing when they shoot someone in the head and then a girl is like, “Rock-a-bye baby.” The one liners are funny. That was also kind of a fantasy to see that world. It was the hood version of Mad Max. Just seeing a city in so much disarray. Which of course exists but just to see it all on film it was sort of incredible and shocking.

You have a background in directing. What’s a music video that you directed that you consider your favorite?
It might be “ADHD” for Kendrick Lamar. When it came to me it was literally no budget. It was right when he was coming on to the scene. My manager, Jonny Shipes, presented it to me. He said, “Hey, listen to his mixtape, see if you want to do a video for him.” I said yeah for sure and I picked “ADHD.”

It was a great experience. Just to see how much he’s grown; to work with him and for him to be open to my ideas and create a video and a vision. I haven’t done anything like that. It was partly new to me due to the state of mind I was in. I really like that song because it expressed the mood to me that I was feeling at the time. I wanted to capture that into the video. I don’t know if a lot of people cared for it. Some people on Twitter said, like, this video is so stupid. [Laughs] But others loved it. I absolutely loved it.

Do you think hip-hop still cares about making quality music videos?
I feel like the artists that are serious about their brand and their artistry do care. I feel like the type of artists that have always cared still do and will put their own money into a project and work hard on it. You can kind of see who cares and artists who don’t care about videos. Those who care or believe it’s important, they make videos that leave an impression or make you want to recreate it or live that moment.

I feel like those artists exist. Some artists are not so invested in branding themselves. It’s always been a difference to me between an artist who cares about their brand, who cares about their craft and their art. Then there’s also artists who say, I just made a song, and they don’t know how to dress themselves or dance; just artists who don’t have the same vision as others who take their craft seriously.

With all your different hustles, it seems like you don’t sleep.
I don’t. [Laughs] It’s interesting; I sort of branch off. I went to school for film and photography. Then I got involved in directing but I also worked at Def Jam creative directing. Then I started my own brand and I do collaborations with that. Now I’m sort of doing brand partnerships like modeling for DKNY. So it’s a lot of things going on; lots of good things. I’m really excited about next year and the things coming out. I can’t really say, but it's fun.

I’m doing a lot. All the stuff I did as a kid when I was 13—making videos with my friends and going to Salvation Army and cutting them up and sewing them back together—everything I been doing as a kid I’m doing it now professionally and on, I hope, a better level. The newest thing that I’m doing that I didn’t do as a kid is DJ’ing. I’m really enjoying it more and more. Every day that I get to do it, practicing, I’m really enjoying it. It’s just interesting from being a music lover to now DJ’ing.

How did you become a DJ?
So I started this party called "1992" in 2006. The New York Times wrote it up. All these people loved the party. Even people who never experienced it were booking us in like Paris and Amsterdam. My friend Oscar and I, we just started this party. We didn’t DJ, we weren’t promoters, we just started a party and it grew. So a lot of people was think we was DJ’ing the party and they try to book me as a DJ. I would tell them I’m not.

Then I stated to doing a party with Q-Tip. He heard about my party and asked me to help and he kept urging me to DJ. Then eventually one of my friends who was also not a DJ just started DJ’ing. His name is Huggy Bear and I learned from him, basically. Plus just hearing Q-Tip saying I should DJ made me think maybe I should. I’ve been around DJs since forever, which is why I was really conflicted about calling myself a DJ because I never carry records to clubs; [that's] a rite of passage. I just show up with a laptop and turntables. [Laughs] That’s basically how I got into it.

What are some go-to songs that you usually play in your set?
So my go-to for sure—'cause I’m known for a good '90s-2000s set—is Mobb Deep's “Burn,” Too $hort's “Blow The Whistle.” I like to go into remixes of things, so DJ Sliink has a remix of Frank Ocean's “Thinking About You” song. It’s so good. It’s enough for it to be hip-hop/R&B and it's also upbeat enough so you can dance to it. There’s also a Kelela remix. I’m obsessed with her. The guy who remixed it is YGSP [“Bank Head”]. Incredible. There’s another one that I play. I play a Mya remix that this kid Cosenza did, its Mya’s “Case Of The Ex.”