Versatile hip-hop artists Motorhead2x, Davonta Appleby, and P.O. The Priceless One, Anthony Hill, just released a new music video for their remixed single “Say No Mo.” Both the song and the video are a result of extensive collaboration between Appleby’s original vision and his trust in Hill to take it to another level.
Originally Appleby worked on the track with HBN labelmate, producer and engineer V12DQMagicmann. After it sat unfinished for about a year, Appleby posted an “open verse challenge” for the song on social media. Hill submitted a verse with a new layer of production, which brought a different and unique sound to the song that impressed Appleby and his manager SteadyGrip.
“The collaboration made a huge difference, because this song wasn’t a song I was originally going to put out until I decided to get someone on it,” says Appleby. “Hearing P.O. remix the beat and add drops made it sound like the best remix I’ve heard.”
Back in 2022 Hill emerged back on the local music scene after a hiatus from rapping and producing, and it was then that he met Appleby at a hip-hop show. However, it wasn’t until Hill saw Appleby’s open verse challenge that the two were able to work together musically.
“The interest for me was I really liked this song and I liked this beat. It was something fresh for me, and it pushed me creatively… Unbeknownst to him, I went into the studio and put my little flair on it,” says Hill.
After the collaboration was greenlit, Hill took all the stems from the beat, hooks and vocals and added new instruments and sounds like choir “ahhs,” organ, guitar and more to build up a more dimensional and fuller sound.
“My job as a producer is to hear the things that you can’t, and to use my creativity to add value to what you’re listening to,” says Hill. “I come from a different era… I did all of this production through my MPC Key 61 keyboard.”
But Hill wasn’t ready to stop there—after the track was agreeably completed, he told Appleby that he wanted to try his hand at directing a music video for “Say No Mo“ with videographer Brasher Media. Having worked in the film industry, he saw this as his opportunity to explore a new skill and involve his community. He scouted the location, made a storyboard, designed a set and found props.
“The overall thing is that everyone came out to represent me and P.O. I’ve never had so much fun for a video, so this is the best one yet,” says Appleby. “Thanks to P.O. and Brasher it opened up my eyes for future video ideas. So I’m excited and grateful I got to experience this with the Classic City family.”
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