Production and songwriting team Louis York, aka Chuck Harmony and Claude Kelly, are fixing our relationship woes with their new house-inspired song and video, “Don’t Play.”
Having worked with countless artists including Rihanna, Mary J. Blige, Chrisette Michele, Whitney Houston, and Kelly Rowland, Chuck and Claude branched out on their own, forming Louis York and dropping their debut EP Masterpiece Theater in 2015.
Now, the duo is back with “Don’t Play” from Masterpiece Theater — Act II and ESSENCE was lucky enough to chat with Claude and Chuck and get an exclusive look at the video.
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Shot in Nashville, the video for “Don’t Play” features the duo dancing through the streets, joined by strangers who hop in front of the camera to show off their moves…turns out, none of that was planned. “We actually shot the video over Halloween weekend, so downtown there were a lot of people dressed up and we were shooting a music video. People were so intrigued with us, we were just capturing some of the weirdos in the city,” they revealed.
Now, when they refer to “weirdos” in the city, they use the term affectionately. The duo run Weirdo Workshop, a collective of artists and entertainers creating unique experiences.
“We didn’t plan it that way, it just kind of happened,” they added. “At one point there were these kids kind of lurking around, we were like, ‘Yo, you guys want to be in a music video?’ and they just started dancing. So, when we’re in the middle of the street in the video and the guys are dancing and doing flips, those were the guys.”
The energy in the video is contagious as the artists move through the streets. Claude rocks a flashy jumpsuit, his signature look. “Jumpsuits are kind of my thing,” he said. “Every time I can, I try to bring a new colorful jumpsuit or something people haven’t seen before, just to keep it new and interesting.”
Check out the video for “Don’t Play” and catch a glimpse of Claude’s jumpsuit for yourself.