Video Janet Jackson & Luther Vandross - the, best, things, in, FUNK - Dailymotion Share Your Videos
So I never really talk about this much because looking back its really pretty irrelevant; but back when I was around age 5, maybe bumping near 6 I had a small little dancing part in the music video of "The Best Things in Life are Free" from the soundtrack to the movie "Mo Money" starring the Wayans brothers and Stacey Dash (may remember her as the cute black girl from both the Clueless movie and TV series, also was on an episode of Fresh Prince). "Mo Money" isn't exactly an Academy Award quality movie, but it had its funny parts here and there.
Details on how I ended up in the video are kind of flaky, but long story short my uncle worked in the music business, mostly Spanish-language Chicano music (Im 1/2 Mex. 1/4 Paki, and 1/4 Caucasian for those who don't know) but seeing as how he was based in the San Fernando Valley occasionally he helped with English-language music videos. Anyways he took me off my parents hands for a couple days so they could have a little one on one vacation time (yeah what can I say my parents kind of liked me but they needed a break once in a while) while the video was being produced and totally duped me into doing a little dance segment. I was often forced to dance to music in front of my relatives, but was way too shy to do it in public.
So my uncle took me to where they were shooting and somehow with literally endless persistence and a ridiculous number of bribes (some of which I'm still waiting for him to come through on btw) he was able to shove me in there, though I still don't remember exactly how much nagging it took because I was crazy nervous.
Regardless even for the small part they gave me a mini dance lesson of what to do. It took me a little more than an hour to get it down pat but after a few takes I was done. Obviously they edited out part of the segment, but they do that in most music videos so I'm not complaining. Other than that I vaguely remember Damon Wayans being a seemingly nice guy and having the hots for Stacey, most likely the first woman whom I was ever really attracted to at that age. But I did not get to meet them personally because they were just too many people, but we all managed to have good time during the shooting. According to my uncle Stacey and Wayans along with the rest of the cast and crew were all great people to work with.
Anyways I only saw the finished video a couple times after, but my family teased me about it all the time for the next 5 years before it became old news. Anyways so I was browsing Daily motion for some movie clips a few days ago and guess what somehow appeared in the related videos section. I've been showing this to everyone I've come across in the past few days, I guess I'm kind of an attention ho in that sense but its a great way to initiate a conversation when you think about it.
So anyways heres the
vid. My dance parts are at around 1:53 and 3:31 (note have to forward to 3:25 to see me at 3:31) of the video. Im the kid with the red baseball cap, denim shorts, and a red sleeveless over a light green t-shirt, you cant miss me. Before watching here are some notes:
1. I don't mean for anyone to be offended. I have utmost respect from those who are able to abstain from music, something I hope I can do myself. There is always the option of watching w/ the music turned off.
2.There are no serious awrah alerts by American standards. Much safer than your average music vid. No one is scantily clad, again by American standards. If you want to be safe you can always pause the video and forward to times 1:53 and 3:25-3:31
3. No cheap shot remarks here fellas; I posted this for you all to get a kick out of not for you to be slamming my
machismo This is me, far before I hit my growth spurt. Today I am much larger, better built, more proportionate, and a much handsome individual in general And don't trash my dancing either, I was just following what they taught me and I probably could have danced circles around 90% of you guys back when you were that age. Probably could today as well, but thats for another topic
4. For some reason lot of people have told me that I look kind of Asian in the vid. I dunno if it was due to the quick angling cuts made by the director or just the sun being in my eyes. In reality I only have slight chinkish features mostly stemming from my mother's mestizo heritage. Perhaps they were more apparent in me back then because today I look like a perfect mix as opposed to when I was younger and looked a lot more like my mother's side.
5.. Clearly Damon and Stacey aren't the ones singing, they wouldn't be in films like Mo Money if they had THAT much talent. They're just lip syncing the lyrics done by Janet Jackson and the late Luther Vandross. I'm sure Damon and Stacey would've been naturals on the Bollywood scene.
That being said, enjoy and JazakAllah Khair.