Director X Says Drake Is Going All In for "Started From The Bottom" Video

Is 2013 Drake’s comeback season? Just a few days ago, the fansite Word on Road posted behind-the-scenes photos of his video shoot in Toronto for an upcoming single, “Started From The Bottom.” It showed the YMCMB rapper playing a drug store employee and carrying on his all white everything theme.

Though there isn’t much details, fans are excited to see Drizzy working on material presumably for his third studio album. XXL got on the phone with his frequent collaborator Director X—who is responsible for “HYFR” and 2 Chainz’ “No Lie”—to see how “Started From The Bottom” is coming together. It sounds like Drizzy is more focused than ever.—As Told To Eric Diep (@E_Diep)

On investing in quality videos similar to the early 2000s:

If [artists] could, they would [invest money in videos.] Some of them are like that. I just did a video with Drake and he did that. He spent some money and he wanted to make those videos from those days. Nicki Minaj wants to make those videos from those days. There are a few artists out there that want to make those videos; I think Kanye is one of those guys, too. They want to make those videos from those days where the money is being spent. Kanye had a moment of it. Nicki ain’t never really seen that. Drake ain’t never really seen that. It’s a different era, but there are a few people that appreciate that and what to do it. At some point you gotta fight—you are here to entertain. At the end of the day, that video is supposed to entertain.

On collaborating with Drake for "Started From The Bottom":

Drake trusts me because we go back. We are from Toronto. We are from the same city. We did “HYFR” together. It really worked. We’ve been trying to work together for a long time so when it connected...it connected. And we kind of ran with that. I can’t really say too much about it...but he’s got a lot going on. He’s one of those guys that want to spend the money to make great video. That’s what he did. He went for it. He did his best to make a great video.

On if it will top "HYFR":

You can’t really predict what’s going to do what, but he wants to do it. He’s making the effort. There’s a lot going on in the video, just on that level where we are doing a lot of stuff. His goal is to really make something where people sit up. He looks at those generations. He came up from that generation where watching videos is a real experience. You know, “Oh, wow. Look at that. Look at what they did. They are doing this and that." I want a video like that. That’s what we are dealing with. He’s going for it.