On January 25, YG had a video shoot for his new song “I’m A Thug” featuring Meek Mill, in his hometown of Compton, California. The early evening shoot, located in the notorious Tree Top area of Compton, was flooded from the start with video extras and neighborhood fans coming by to get a glimpse of the action.
Mostly a large BBQ scene, the shoot included a cameo of South Central rapper Nipsey Hussle and a drive-way Lowrider scene, where YG and his homies had fun bouncing off of the car’s hydraulics. Spectators got a little too close to the bouncing vehicle and as you’ll see in our video, a young man even got hurt. In all, it began as a fun scene with the rappers hanging out with friends, family, and the fans who came out to participate.
Then, while waiting for Maybach Music Group rapper Meek Mill to show up, things turned ugly quick as the crowd began to get out of control and regular traffic could not get through. As a Compton Sheriff’s vehicle came through to clear up traffic, a group of young men came running from across the street shouting, “They’re bustin’ on the homies!”
Apparently shots had been fired down the block at a group of people, although I myself didn’t hear anything. Within seconds, the crowd began to run left and right to flee the scene, and as quickly as that happened, police zoomed in immediately and blocked off all street exits from every side and detained everyone they possibly could.
As I was heading down Oleander, a young man about 20 feet in front of me was trying to get to his car when a Compton Sheriff drew a weapon on him and told him that if he moved, he’d be shot. Thankfully, I was able to turn around and find an alley that allowed me to exit the scene without incident.
The area was once made somewhat famous at the beginning of DJ Quik’s “Loked Out Hood,” and I couldn’t help but think of the song as I made it back safely to home sweet home. Check out the video from AllHipHop.com’s unforgettable visit to the Compton set of YG’s “I’m A Thug” video: