Hype Williams Talks Busta Rhymes’ Creative Partnership, Missy Elliott, And More In Rare Interview
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Hype Williams’ mind is otherworldly and after shooting Complex‘s latest cover starring Ice Spice, he explains how.
The St. Albans, Queens native sat with the outlet in honor of Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary to discuss how his creative partnership with Busta Rhymes came to be as well as reflect on Belly, and his relationships with Missy Elliott, Beyoncé, Kanye West, and more.
Williams, 53, credited the “Flava In Ya Ear (Remix)” video for birthing his partnership with Busta back in 1994, even though the rapper initially “hated” him. He explained, “He really made it a point to be disrespectful because he’s the kingpin of Brooklyn, and Biggie and Puff and all them were on their way to being titans. And LL [Cool J] was already a titan. And I’m just the f**king film school kid who Puff let do the video.”
He revealed that he and Busta “had a terrible time on that shoot until I showed him the playback.” They, then, became close friends and later, collaborators.
“Busta’s moment took the video to a whole new place, and he allowed me to express myself through him after that point,” said Williams.
Williams also credited Sylvia Rhone for backing his and Busta’s cinematic visions.
“Sylvia saw whatever it was you can consider greatness in somebody like me. So she allowed things with me and Busta that she would never allow in any other capacity as a record executive because it just didn’t make any sense. She showed me so much love and support and allowed for Busta and I to do whatever the f**k we wanted. No questions asked,” he explained.
The 2006 MTV Video Vanguard recipient continued to give Rhone her flowers, just as Missy Elliott and Busta have done in recent years. “I’m hugely thankful and I’m hugely lucky that I was in the right place at the right time to have someone like her give me freedom,” Williams stated.
On Busta’s work ethic when it came to the videos they created, Williams revealed, “What people don’t understand about Busta was he wasn’t improvising s**t. Busta would rehearse those videos and come to set like a choreographed perfectionist. So he knew what he was gonna do with every lyric… He’s a master, and you would just think that he was improvising. No, no, no. He would be in the mirror perfecting that stuff. He would visualize his own lyrics. So he knew how to do him better than anybody except me. Because then I knew what his process was, and all I had to do was be there at the right place at the right time per shot, per lyric, and then string all of that stuff together.”
When speaking on the “Flava In Ya Ear (Remix)” visual itself, Williams details how it was the first time that he personally felt he “took the concept of Matthew Rolston and Albert Watson and what all these great photographers were doing and applied it to a Hip-Hop video in a crisp way.” With Diddy giving him a very small, undisclosed budget and not caring what the video would be, it allowed Williams “complete freedom to paint my picture.”
In the rare, in-depth chat, he also called Missy Elliott a “unicorn,” reflected on how he “never clashed” with Beyoncé, explained how Belly was “meant to be our Goodfellas or our Godfather,” and disclosed the whereabouts of the Yeezus Tour documentary. Read it in its entirety.
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