Dave Free, director of social media for Top Dawg Entertainment, took his time to talk to us about his part in directing the music video for Jay Rock’s “Life’s A Gamble”, one of the many music videos for Jay Rock’s debut album Follow Me Home. The insightful coordinator for the online efforts of the TDE team shared his illuminating perspective into the meaning of the video.What’s going on in this video?

It’s pretty much just showing what’s going on in a person’s mind that’s committing crimes of feeding the family, I call them “feeding the family crimes.” A person that’s really struggling to do right but has to put their life in jeopardy just to make a way for his family because of his circumstances. We kind of reflect on him taking the time out of his life and thinking while he goes through the deed. It’s showing what’s going through his mind during the visual process of him committing these crimes to feed his family.

What was your thought process behind the look of the video?

I just wanted to do something simple because I wanted the song to speak more and I wanted people to listen to Jay Rock. There’s a lot of songs that come out that have a better representation just by riding and listening to it. Most of the people I talk to they have a certain song that they can just drive in the car and listen to. I don’t know what the singularity is about driving a car and listening to music that makes it so great. I don’t know what it is. I know most of the guys I’ve talked with, it’s like a venting thing: there’s nothing like driving with your music loud.

Especially in LA. Is it a big thing there more so than other cities?

The weather definitely has a lot to do with it. We have a big car culture out here in Los Angeles. I wanted to highlight the car that he was in. Maybe that’s the vanity of it–we do these things to have these nice things too. I don’t want to glorify drugs too much–we don’t know what was in the bag, nobody knows what’s in the bag. But a lot of people out there have had to take that ride of going somewhere and not knowing if they were going to come back because of something they were doing. That’s really what the song stands for, it’s about gambling and playing with your life that God was blessed enough to give you for money or financial support or anything you need.

I was going to ask, what’s in the bag?

Yeah nobody knows. That was one thing I didn’t want to show. It could be anything! People are going to assume it’s drugs or whatever but it could’ve been a dog! It could be something we could continue from later on. The bag represents anytime you put your life on the line to do something. You could be doing it for your family. It could’ve been ransom money!

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