Why did A$AP Rocky choose Kansas City for music video? Meet the team who made it happen

On a hot June day, a tank rolls down the 12th Street Viaduct, followed by military trucks and an inflatable orange mannequin flanked by a masked militia. In the center is hip-hop star A$AP Rocky, who used Kansas City’s West Bottoms as the backdrop for the Pharell Williams-produced “Riot (Rowdy Pipe’n)“ music video.

But how did this New York-born, Grammy-nominated recording artist end up here?

The spectacle was the culmination of a six-month collaboration between Kansas City production company Nomada and A$AP Rocky’s production team, AWGE. Nomada’s co-founders — Jason Eubanks, Dante Walton and Austin Goldberg — had some lucky connections.

The three of them met two years ago working on event promotions and found they shared interests.

“We talked about introducing new types of experiences into the Kansas City community,” says Eubanks, the organization’s director of operations. “Ultimately, the goal of Nomada itself was to really just bring all walks of life together.”

Pulling their resources in videography, music and business connections, Nomada held its first event on New Year’s Eve to ring in 2022. Then that spring, the new company started its weekly (now monthly) barraca event in a parking lot in the Crossroads District, mixing a vendor display and club night and drawing a wider demographic.

Barraca is Portuguese for tent, and the events took place under the group’s 64-foot-long vintage military tent. Wanting to create a “sound camp,” Nomada transformed the interior into a neon party spot for music, dancing and networking, welcoming local DJ’s and bands to perform at each show. (Their next barraca event is next weekend.)

“We set out to provide more tasteful nightlife experiences here in Kansas City,” says Walton, the creative director for the company. “It’s truly this beautiful community that we naturally built right, by just putting what we want out into the world.”

They decided on the name Nomada, which is Spanish for nomad, reflecting their travels away from Kansas City and their return.

“We like to travel and essentially bring back artifacts, whether they’re physical or just kind of mental and bring what we experienced or observed and kind of put our spin on it,” says Goldberg, Nomada’s brand director.

Within the first year, Nomada’s events gained popularity and garnered acclaim for their sound and light design in their massive tent. Goldberg’s brother, Kyle Goldberg, attended many of their events. He also happens to be a creative director for Amazon Music.

Last year, Amazon was putting on concerts to promote its new venture into “Thursday Night Football.” Performances by big-name recording artists such as Lil Wayne, Megan Thee Stallion, 21 Savage — and A$AP Rocky — were streamed after games on Amazon’s Prime Video.

Goldberg’s brother was assigned to assist A$AP Rocky in putting together his performance Dec. 8 at Red Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles. He heard the rapper’s ideas of a stage made to look like a new-age military camp. He knew exactly who to call.

“We packed up our tent as well as a lot of the props that we have, and that ended up being the backdrop for Rocky’s performance for Amazon Music,” says Eubanks, 34. “That gave us the ability to meet him and develop that relationship. Planning started that night when we met him after the performance.”

As the team drove their rented truck packed with their set equipment, they received a call from A$AP Rocky’s management formally offering them the job to produce the video. Though slightly intimidated, the team was also excited at the possibility of bringing that level of exposure to the creative forces in Kansas City.

“It feels like the start of something big for Kansas City, it really feels like the flag has been dropped here,” says Goldberg, 35. “It’s making it known that, hey, this is a unique atmosphere for artists. It’s kind of like making them aware that we exist.”

A$AP Rocky, born Rakim Mayers in New York, shared his ideas for his music video, and the team began to truly grasp what they had signed on for. The 34-year-old rapper was set to direct the piece himself, supervising all aspects of production.

The team knew they had to push themselves harder than ever to bring together Rocky’s vision of an over-the-top stylized militant uprising in the West Bottoms. They drew from their years of contacts to assemble hundreds of performers, art teams, drummers, hairdressers, makeup artists, wardrobes and even a tank.

“It’s really an honor for someone like Rocky, who’s been around the world and has amazing taste and to see something in us and in this city to give us a shot and then for us to turn around and give that love back to the city and provide a platform for so many,” says Walton, 34, a Wyandotte County native.

The shoot during the first week of June was a long and extensive process of organizing the infrastructure of a video while also dealing with temperatures that reached a 88 degrees, plus Kansas City humidity.

“You know, it’s 12 hour to 16 hour days and we were shooting four or five days straight , which is a lot on teams and again being out in the heat,” Eubanks says. “So everyone just saw how this was a crazy, awesome opportunity to highlight not only themselves but the spirit of Kansas City.”

“Riot (Rody Pipe’n)“ is the first single off A$AP Rocky’s fourth studio album, “Don’t Be Dumb,” and is his first major music project in four years. Rocky was pleased with the finished product released on July 25, Nomada says, and the company hopes to work with him again.

The music video currently sits at 7.5 million views on YouTube.

Now they are preparing for growth in the upcoming year and plan to open a lounge sometime in the West Bottoms called In the Lowest Ferns.

“We’re going to continue to be innovative and try to push ourselves to create,” says Goldberg. “It is really wild and unique things that come to our mind, trying to bring them into physical form and continue to keep pushing on and create new things for the city.”

Nomada’s next barraca event will be at 8 p.m. on Sept. 9 at 1105 Hickory St. Tickets are $20 through Sept. 4, $25 afterward and $30 at the door. For more event information, visit nomada-us.com/events.

This story was originally published September 4, 2023 at 5:30 AM.

J.M. Banks

The Kansas City Star

J.M. Banks is The Star’s culture and identity reporter. He grew up in the Kansas City area and has worked in various community-based media outlets such as The Pitch KC and Urban Alchemy Podcast.