Rap Video Shoot on Sunday in Norcross Draws Ire

A 75-year-old man who was a Baptist preacher for 50 years went to attend church around 8 a.m. on Sunday morning to find quite a shock. His street was blocked off because a rap video was being shot in the adjacent city-owned lot, with scantily clad women and a bed set up for the rapper.

The video was reportedly being shot by flamboyant rapper T-Pain, on the Johnson-Dean property on N. Barton Street, which the city has discussed turning into a park.

The city put the shoot together in a rush, and doesn't have a clear process in place yet for film permits or notifying residents. But Downtown Manager Tixie Fowler says this situation has helped shed light on the need for guidelines for a relatively new industry in Norcross--and in Georgia. She hopes that a filming permit process can be brought before the City Council at a July work-policy meeting. 

Howard Spruill of N. Barton Street,  who is now retired and has lived in Norcross for 14 years, describes the dancing that was going on with the filming of the video as “disrespectful” and “disgusting.” 

Mr. Spruill said that what he witnessed was so bad that he didn’t even want to describe it. He said the women dancing in the video were very scantily clad and that the music was very loud for he and his wife, especially so early in the morning and on a Sunday. "It was that bad," he said. "They were hunching and carrying on." 

Others on the street found the whole thing amusing and posted photos and videos to their Facebook walls. 

Fowler said that she would definitely think twice before doing something similar--especially on a Sunday. "My gut feeling was, not in a residential area on a Sunday," she said. 

Spruill said that he was not informed that the taping would happen—and he believes that no one on his block was aware of the situation either.

Currently there is no requirement to let neighbors know if a filming is happening, but Fowler, who has helped organized recent photo or video shoots in the city, said that in her experience, the production crews usually let the neighbors know. 

Michelle and Peter Crofton also live on N. Barton Street in the historic district. “What was the most upsetting was the complete and utter disrespect for the preacher,” she said. She said the Spruills were very shaken up by the whole ordeal.

Ms. Crofton said that her husband approached the group to ask for a copy of the permit, but they could not produce one. “That opens a whole legal can of worms,” she said, in addition to going against the image she believes the city wants to portray. 

She said she thinks there needs to be guidelines about filming that happens in the city limits and that her husband is currently in meetings with city officials. “I’m fine with a rap video, but this is just disrespectful,” she said.

Spruill said that the people working on the video crossed through his yard to pick up supplies, which he didn't appreciate. Also, he says one person took an ice cooler out of the back of his hunting truck without his permission. Both he and Fowler agreed that this was a misunderstanding. 

Fowler said this process in an opportunity for the city to grow. After meeting with  officials, Mr. Crofton, who is a lawyer, is helping to gather information for the city's permit process. "I want to get them to become stakeholders instead of adversaries," said Fowler of those who were upset with the taping.

This story originated on Norcross Patch, for which Laura Sullivan is the local editor.