Ya Heard: Jeezy, Nas shoot video for 'My President'

"Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking."

Young Jeezy teamed up with Nas to bring to life the celebratory music video for "My Presi-dent." The Atlanta native's latest single was inspired by President-elect Barack Obama's historic race to the White House.

Jeezy explained his reasoning to MTV for stating the date of the recording, "June 3, 2008," in the actual record. According to the hitmaker, he knew Obama would win quite a while ago.

"A lot of people do things for gimmicky reasons. I ain't no gimmicky dude," Jeezy said. "I just decided to do it to show I had faith in him. I had faith in the whole situa-tion. It was more so saying, 'This man is gonna win. There's nothing to do to stop him.' Yes we can. Yes we did. It takes a nation of millions to hold us back."

Jeezy, who has suddenly become very political despite his comment of not being a "gimmicky dude," touched on some key hip-hop, as well as historic, roots for the "My President" visual.

In Atlanta on the set of the video, Jeezy states, "This is Martin Luther King's 'hood. I don't know if y'all know it or not. Auburn Avenue. A very monumental spot. Probably one of the most monumental, historic spots we've got in Atlanta. It's a monumental video, so I wanted to do it in a monumental spot. Auburn Avenue, Ebenezer Baptist Church."

To match the politically-charged track, Jeezy and company decided to model the feel of the video after Public Enemy's classic video for "Fight the Power."

"I did [the video] with the 'Fight the Power' concept because I remember, back in the day, Flavor Flav and Chuck D marching down the street. They had the old people, the young people, store owners, they had picket signs, everything. It was a sense of black pride, a sense of pride, period."

Nas, also featured on the track, put the song and video into perspctive when the cameras caught up to him. "This what I'm all about," he says. "It's a celebration. The celebration of the first black president on the song from a perspective of the streets. You can't get more 'hood than my man Young Jeezy. So this is the prefect combina-tion."

In related news, just in case you missed, the D.C. Council granted Washington, D.C., bars and nightclubs to remain open 24 hours a day from Jan. 17 to Jan. 21 in celebration of the historic inaguration Jan. 20…Talk about "change!"

MURDER TRIAL FOR T.I.'s FRIEND CLOSES

The man accused of murdering T.I.'s close friend and assistant, Philant Johnson, was found guilty of all 11 counts last week in a Cincinatti courtroom.

Hosea Thomas became infurated back in 2006 after he was refused access to the VIP area at Club Ritz in Cincy, during a concert afterparty attended by T.I. and Yung Joc. T.I. and his entou-rage, including Johnson, were in the VIP section when they broke into a fight with brothers, Ho-sea and Padron Thomas.

The scuffle eventually led to Hosea being hit with a bottle.

Upon leaving the club, a van occupied by T.I. and associates was sprayed with bullets, leaving 26-year-old Philant Johnson dead.

Padron Thomas, who admitted to driving the vehicle that followed T.I. and company, testified his brother fired several shots at the van as he pulled alongside it.

Proposterously, he was given immunity for his testimony.

His brother Hosea will be sentenced Dec. 23.

During the trial, T.I. took the stand to testify about the events.

Now many within the hip-hop community have ignorantly labled him a snitch for simply taking the stand and testifying. A videotape of his testimony from inside the courtroom has been posted on numerous Web sites, and it is clear the man is not snitching. He took the stand as a man, and simply recalled the events of the evening without pointing the finger at anyone. There was never a moment in which T.I. pointed at the defendant and said "He did it."

Furthermore, let's not forget the man lost his childhood friend.

Trust me when I say, I do not want anyone around me that will not speak for me if an unfortunate occurrence such as Philant Johnson's were to happen to me. If you don't get that, then it's time to grow up.

'NOTORIOUS' UPDATE

Alright, it's getting closer to the Jan. 16 theatrical premiere of the Notorious B.I.G. biopic appropriately titled, "Notorious." The reviews up until this point have been positive as the masses are curious to see if Jamal "Gravy" Woolard was able to pull off B.I.G.'s charisma.

As for the soundtrack, it looks like Jigga Jay-Z will indeed be having his presence felt. MTV re-ports that Jay spits, "If a man tests my Stuy, I guarantee he won't like my re-ply/I'm a Brooklyn boy, I may take some getting used to," on the Kanye West-produced "Brooklyn (We Go Hard)."

Other loosely-gurarded surprises on the album include a remake of B.I.G's classic "One More Chance," featuring the Notorious one's son Christopher. The junior Wallace will be rhyming with his father's vocals on the record.

The soundtrack is scheduled to hit stores on Jan. 13. In between now and then, catch me here next week…Peace!

Dennis Winn can be reached at 703-200-4928 or YaHeard40@gmail.com.