Art imitates life. This is definitely, definitely a case of art imitating life, not the other way around.
Local outlaw rapper Struggle Jennings (grandson of outlaw countryman Waylon Jennings) shot his latest video — for the song “Black Curtains,” and you can watch it above — at the Davidson County Jail. More to the point, Jennings (born William Harness) appeared in the video — filmed in November 2012 — while incarcerated at the facility, where he was being held on drug-related charges. Now, Davidson County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Karla West is claiming Jennings “duped” the jail into allowing a film crew to shoot a music video at the facility.
“They came to us saying they wanted to shoot a documentary,” West told local CBS affiliate News Channel 5. “We were duped, when it seems as though now, their purpose from the beginning was to try and get that accomplished so it could turn into a video, not a documentary at all.”
West goes on to say that, essentially, the jail’s policy is documentaries that can serve as cautionary tales to keep wayward kids out of jail = Cool! Music videos that bolster a rapper’s image as an incarcerated outlaw = Bogus!
But in a correspondence sent to the Scene from Jennings’ email account (currently, the rapper is locked up at Northeast Correctional Complex in Mountain City) Jennings’ business partner Sebastian Marbury counters West’s comments and claims the Channel 5 story is misleading, saying that the station never contacted the Jennings camp for comment.
According to Marbury, a documentary is indeed in the works. “We are launching a Kickstarter campaign this month to fund the film’s completion and promotion,” Marbury writes. “Our strategy all along was to release “Black Curtains” as a way to generate awareness and insure us a successful campaign.
“Not only was DCSO staff present the entire time [we were shooting in the jail]," Marbury continues, "but they even stated to our film crew that this production was ‘the coolest thing that had ever happened in Davidson County Jail.’”
Consistent with Marbury’s claim, West admits to being present during the jailhouse shoot, which consisted of a 20-minute, documentary-style interview with Jennings followed by a request to film the rapper lip-syncing. (Uhhh, WUT?)
“At the end [of the interview] they asked, as part of the documentary, could [Jennings] mouth some words to his song and I allowed that.”
West goes on to express her own opinion that the duplicitous nature of the how the “Black Curtains” video was filmed sullies the song’s sentiment — that Struggle’s son shouldn’t follow his father’s footsteps into a life of crime. “The lie completely covers up whatever the message is of the song,” she says.
Marbury claims, in fact, that Jennings and the film crew did four complete takes of the song, shooting with multiple cameras, “not to mention that there was an MP3 player in the room playing the song during the performance[s]."
LOL.
Says Marbury, “[DCSO] made no demands on how, when and in what format the footage would be used.”
At press time, the “Black Curtains” clip has racked up almost 36,000 views since making its YouTube debut on Oct. 21. Surprised and none too pleased, Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall sent the video’s Florida-based production company, Creativity for Hire, a letter requesting the removal of the “Black Curtains” video and any other video employing footage (whether they allowed it to be filmed or not, apparently) depicting DCSO.
As Scene contributor Betsy Phillips editorialized over on Pith in the Wind:
Ooo, a letter. Listen, it's hilarious bullshit that this happened. And, if I were Jennings, once I got back from Mountain City, I'd do my best to stay out of the Davidson County Jail in the future, because they're not going to be very happy to see him.But there's no way this becomes less of a debacle for the DCSO, even if they succeed. They look like fools for letting this happen and they become the perfect foil for Jennings if they go after him and his people to change the video.
I mean, think of it this way. Before you knew that they'd filmed inside the jail because they'd pulled a fast one on the DCSO, did you have any desire to see the video? Me neither. And now? Of course people in town are curious. The controversy is great publicity for Jennings.
Worse than that for the DCSO, that song demonstrates something that ought to give DSCO nightmares — Struggle Jennings has some genius getting him song clearances. Sure, it's not surprising that he can get permission to use his grandfather's music, but getting the permissions clear to use his grandfather's cover of a Cream song? That takes some finesse.
“Black Curtains” samples Waylon’s cover of Cream’s “White Room.”
Can’t get enough Struggle Jennings? Then revisit Cream contributor Sean Maloney’s (DCSO approved) jailhouse chat with the rapper from last year.
