YODA

The brief

When Tech N9ne and Lil Wayne linked up for 'YODA', the standout single from Tech's 5816 Forest album, the video needed to match the gravity of the collaboration. The title did the concept work for us: the song is YODA, Yoda lives on Dagobah, so we crash-landed the two of them on our own swamp planet, a Star Wars homage the crew nicknamed Dankobah. Strange Music wanted something cinematic that honored both artists' stature, and the brief was to build a full sci-fi universe without losing the raw energy that makes Tech N9ne videos hit.

The approach

We shot on a practical futuristic stage, part recording studio and part spaceship, at L.A. Castle Studios in Burbank, with the set windows on green screen. Everything past the glass was built in full 3D: a mist-shrouded Dagobah-style swamp, the crashed ship half-sunk in the bog, a security drone that scans and finds them, a heavy CG liftoff, and a hyperspace jump that carries the back half of the video. The performances stayed tactile and lit for real; the world beyond the windows could be as big as the record deserved.

We shot 4K anamorphic on Atlas Orion glass and delivered flat in LOG so the swamp greens and hyperspace blues could be graded hard in DaVinci. The drone sees the world through a green Imperial-scout HUD, and I hid the credits inside that interface so they flicker past as part of the display. The lightsaber transition that slashes across the frame I built myself.

Director of Photography Jackson Montemayor and I designed a visual language that let both artists occupy the same frame without competing. The result is a video that feels collaborative rather than divided, two legends sharing a world we built around them. Tech's lyricism drives the pacing, and the edit mirrors that rhythm; Wayne came in on instinct and sent hook options in a matter of days, the one that made the cut bringing a laid-back counterweight to Tech's intensity.

The result

'YODA' dropped June 26, 2025 and immediately became one of the most-watched Strange Music releases of the year. The video's intergalactic aesthetic earned attention across hip-hop media and reinforced Tech N9ne's reputation for visual ambition at the independent level.

Credits

Written, Directed & Edited

Cameron Logan Cox

Director of Photography

Jackson Montemayor

Artist

Tech N9ne featuring Lil Wayne

Camera

2x Anamorphic Atlas Orion on RED Komodo

Label

Strange Music, Inc.

Album

5816 Forest

Year

2025