OFFICIAL RON ARTEST GO LOCO VIDEO
The Ron Artest “Go Loco” official video is here:
RON ARTEST GO LOCO OFFICIAL VIDEO FILMING
By Jeff Lenchiner
I’ve been visiting Los Angeles since 2011 NBA All-Star weekend in mid February and have enjoyed wild, fun adventures during my extended time in Hollywood. And just when I thought this week, which already featured three straight days of Playboy parties, including two days at the Playboy Mansion, couldn’t get any more interesting, I stumbled into getting cast as a giant panda in the new Ron Artest rap video for his song “Go Loco.”
Relaxing in a trendy hotel lounge in Hollywood Tuesday evening, I ran into famous rapper Fat Joe and his manager Macho, who I know well thanks to the wonderful world of street basketball. (Be sure to check out the great EBC Rucker Park streetball documentary “The Blackout,” featuring Fat Joe, Jay-Z and more.)
Fat Joe, it turned out, was there to film a rap video. I wound up getting invited to attend the taping, and headed downstairs to the video set in legendary exclusive spot Beacher’s Madhouse, for a Ron Artest song called “Go Loco.” Celebs on set for the shoot included Joe, B-Real of Cypress Hill, actor and basketball fan David Arquette, TV host George Lopez and others. Artest and fellow Los Angeles Laker Matt Barnes came later in the evening, a bit late after edging the Phoenix Suns in an intense triple-overtime thriller.
Also on hand for the Artest video shoot were several little people (the video features an area identified by a sign as a “Midget Bar”), a few other interesting characters, and a large heap of very pretty girls who were very good at shaking all sorts of body parts in a wide variety of directions.
Most of the Go Loco filming taking place that night focused on Artest and others relaxing in the club, bouncing around to the song’s beats. I mostly stayed in the back with friends of the rappers by the bar area.
As hours went by with most of the video successfully filmed, celebs and their friends called it a night, leaving me and a fairly small handful of people hanging out to watch until the very end. “Final set,” yelled one assistant.
A producer then came to me and asked how I’d feel about wearing a giant panda costume. I assumed he was kidding and that it was his way of telling me to move or get out. But he was serious; it was in the script. Very few guys were left in the room at the time, and the wearer of the costume had to be tall, so there were actually very few candidates. I stand 6-3 and could handle it.
Faced with a choice, I could call it a night and leave with no involvement in the video, or rock a panda costume in a club.
How could I pass on such a prestigious opportunity? I said yes.
I’ll leave it to you to check out how the video turned out, but I will describe my scene: A flock of hot girls, a giant chicken and a panda bear (me, the editor of InsideHoops.com) enter the nightclub. And… that’s it. The rest got cut.
The video was fun. Check it above.
