On Tuesday night, Greenport native and rising hip-hop artist Mike Check took the stage at Manhattan’s Tammany Hall to perform some of his latest tracks and unveil his newest music video, for the song, “Beastly,” which and featured numerous local residents. The event, which was streamed live online, celebrated the video’s official release which occurred the next day.
“The premiere party was packed with more than 150 people,” Check said, “including a number of cast members who were raised in Greenport.”
One of those cast members, Jennifer Wood, of Greenport, described the event as, “exciting.”
“It was the first time I was able to see Mike perform live with the band backing him up and I loved it,” she said. “Seeing the video for the first time did not disappoint. Mike and his whole team did a phenomenal job. I'm so happy for them!”
According to Check, he prefers shooting his videos back home because his friends and family are always willing to help out, even as actors. In the case of “Beastly,” most of those local actors were transformed into scary characters that rivaled any found in a Hollywood horror flick.
“Being a part of Mike's video was so much fun,” Wood said. “I was nervous because I've never done any sort of modeling or acting before, but Mike and the whole production crew were so professional and made me feel very comfortable. They did an amazing job.”
The entire project took roughly eight weeks to complete, Mike said, and included a marathon 30-hour weekend of shooting at six different locations across the North Fork, with three videographers, a director, a producer, and more than 25 cast members. While he said it was no easy task, Mike Check is pleased with the way the video turned out.
“It's four and a half minutes of high energy and eye-catching visuals,” Check said. “I couldn't be happier with the end result.”
He wasn’t the only one.
On the same day as the release, The Source, which Check describes as “the most influential hip hop magazine ever”, featured the video on their website.
“Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come and the goal is to reach MTV, VH1 and BET,” he said. “For now, we’re just hoping it will continue to go viral.”
