Lil’ Romeo is definitely a boy of the people. In his new video for “2 Way,” he braved the indignity of soaring to new heights only to be left hanging. And for his upcoming album, Game Time, due June 4, he dug deep in the crates, looking for old records so he could put kids up on who was hot back in the days.
“I sampled a little bit more on the album,” Romeo, who uses Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock’s “It Takes Two,” for the LP’s first single, “2 Way,” said Saturday. “I like sampling because a lot of kids don’t get to hear the music from way back, so I bring it so they can hear it.”
Romeo said it wasn’t that difficult putting the new project together. Besides his evolving adeptness at song-making, he credits homework for the smooth sailing. “This is a big album,” he said. “My sophomore album. This album is gonna be way better than my first album. I looked back on that album and saw what I had to do for this album. My skills got better, it made it a whole lot easier. I’m not really pressured.”
The 12-year-old doesn’t let them see him sweat in the studio or on the “2 Way” video set, despite some goofing around. “It was excellent,” the clip’s director Nick Quested said of last week’s shoot at the Miami Arena. “When we put Romeo on the wires he was excellent. We have Romeo dunking from the free throw line like Michael Jordan. We had him up there for like 10 minutes. He was stuck up there, it was funny.”
In the clip, which was shot over three days, Romeo’s battlefield is the b-ball court, and he faces off against somebody who knows all his moves: himself.
“I have an evil and a good me,” Romeo said of the video. “We gonna have a big ol’ basketball game, we have [sets of] twins in the stands. We have a performance, we’re gonna have cheerleaders.”
“Romeo’s going to play himself at basketball and he makes the most incredible shots,” Quested said. “Romeo’s already got game, but for this, crucial shots where he does the crossover dribble and misses the 15-foot jumper, it goes in now. A basketball video? The whole family’s obsessed with basketball. All they need is a hoop and ball.”
Quested originally wanted NBA MVP Allen Iverson to appear in the video, but said it was “very difficult” trying to schedule him. But who needs A.I. when you have M.P.? Like his son, Master P also played dual roles as a do-gooder and baddy.
“There is an evil Master P – he doesn’t have to go too far to do that,” Quested joked. “The guy looks menacing. All we have to do is show his teeth.”
While there’s no word if P will wear those trademark gold chompers in the No Limit film “Shorty,” which is scheduled to ramp up this summer (see “Shorty Phone Home: Master P Developing Sci-Fi Flick For Romeo”), Romeo said to look for his Daddy More-Bucks to go in front of the camera as a villain in that sci-fi flick as well.
“It’s like a modern ‘E.T. [The Extra Terrestrial],’ ” Romeo said. “I’m the main character. The alien is my friend. I teach him things, he teaches me things. It’s gonna have sad moments, good moments and my dad plays the evil person. Dad’s gonna be a bad guy.”
