By David Greene
A controversial rap video is creating a buzz on the Internet and at video music channels, as the uncut video depicts President Barack Obama being tortured after his helicopter is shot down with a rocket launcher.
The video, titled, "Choppa Down," by Bronx-raised rapper French Montana, featuring Jamaica, Queens rapper Waka Flocka Flame and stars Obama look-a-like and Bronx native Louis Ortiz, made it's MTV debut on January 31.
Ortiz, of Morris Park, stated the video was shot in December at an abandoned factory in Atlanta, Georgia that was recently used as a set for the new AMC Network series, "The Walking Dead."
Ortiz recalled, "They needed a Barack Obama look-a-like... in a matter of two days, I was planning out when to go to Atlanta."
The uncut video begins with the president’s helicopter being shot down, followed by several scenes that depict Obama being tortured with a stun-gun, burned on the arm with a blow-torch and a large knife placed to his neck.
Asked about the disturbing video, Ortiz says, "This is where I need to walk on eggshells, as you can see in the video, I am the, 'target,' and the same person wishing me a safe flight... he's actually the one that initiate's some operation against me."
"I've been around rapper's," Ortiz recalled, "But to be in another state, around all these rappers with all this bling-bling and all these bullet-proof vests everywhere, it was quite the experience, it was surreal."
In one behind the scene video posted on, "YouTube," a gun can be heard going off, Ortiz explained, "Yeah, a gun went off in somebody's pocket. Thank God nobody got hurt, but it was actually a prop gun, so it was a blank."
"You see I'm all bloodied up," Ortiz continued, "MTV and World Star Hip Hop have the clean version, Mizay Entertainment threw out the dirty version. The uncut version, that's the scary one. That's the one where you see torture scenes... but like a couple of entertainers have said, 'it's only entertainment.'"
Given the basic storyline, Ortiz recalled, "I said wow, what am I walking into, but we made it."
Ortiz, who will soon be headed to Australia for work on an upcoming film, added, "Most videos just have a lot of bling-bling, girls, a bunch of booty-shaking and drugs, but this video was more like a movie, like their was a storyline behind it, that's why I was excited to do it."
Days after the video shoot and clips from the shoot were uploaded to the Internet, cops raided the Atlanta home of Waka Flocka Flame on December 16. Investigators discovered two guns and a small quantity of marijuana.
The director of the, "Choppa Down," shoot, Chicago native Morroco Vaughn, said of the video, "They just added it to three more networks, BET, Fuse and VH-1, it's everywhere now."
Vaughn continued, "When I heard the song, it was like it was a big challenge to figure out how I can make it viable for daytime TV, because it had violent content." However, once Vaughn saw Ortiz' photo, Vaughn said, "I've got to build this into the theme of the video."
Explaining the concept of his project, Vaughn stated, "I'm eluding to him being a secret society guy... he orchestrates Obama's abduction and he also orchestrates his rescue, in order to just go fourth with marshal law and his political agenda."
Asked about the raid on Flame's home, Vaughn stated, "Yeah, that happened right after the first installment of the video and the jail thing happened," the director had plans for a second shoot featuring rapper Gucci Mane, who now also faces possible charges stemming from the police raid, so the project has been put on hold.
Asked if the release of out takes from the video on the Internet may have prompted the police raid, Vaughn replied, "Oh yeah, I'm sure. I believe in hip hop police. I know their deal, especially in cases like Waka Flocka, Gucci Mane, T.I., they watch rap stars all day."
Vaughn added, "With me, I can't let it limit my art form. I can't think about it for a second, what the government or how the police are going to interpret my art and I've got to help my artists express themselves as best they can."
This week the video is # 9 of MTV's Top 10 videos.
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