A Taste of Nur-D
Behind the Scenes at Taste of Minnesota
“Him”———————————————————————————————————————————————————
Sometimes a job is about being at the right place at the right time.
Shortly after finishing up some Reels for a prior gig, I happened to glance at my phone and saw that Nur-D had posted something new. I opened Instagram and saw a last-minute request: he was looking for a videographer to help capture his Taste of Minnesota set on July 4th.
I immediately messaged Jose.
Nur-D was a dream client for Skull Dogs Media.
Intermission 3—————————————————————————————————————————————
I’m sure most people found Nur-D through his music or concerts. My first experience with him was actually at the 2024 Minnesota Book Awards where he Emceed. As a fellow with Mirrors & Windows at the time, we got an invitation to attend for free, so naturally I had to pay the awards a visit. When I walked into the lobby of the Ordway Theater, an old woman addressed me and asked if I was the Emcee. Later at our seats, my sister and I checked the itinerary to compare how close the resemblance actually was, which…it wasn’t very.
After seeing Nur-D’s wit and charisma as he emceed the event, I looked into his music, and I wasn’t disappointed. Later, when Jose and I started Skull Dogs Media, I already knew Nur-D would be an ideal client for us, especially with Jose’s music background. It was also one of the reasons I filmed the On The One Music Festival in 2025, when Nur-D was headlining. That, and the fact that my mom packed our summer plans by attending nearly every festival Minnesota had to offer that year. On the One ended up being the best festival we attended that year.
But wanting an opportunity and actually being ready for one are two very different things. So, before I reached out, I needed to know Jose was available.
After what felt like an eternity, Jose let me know they were free.
So I messaged Nur-D.
He was already talking with a few people for the gig, so nothing was guaranteed. We let him know we were available and gave him our information. Then, we waited until finally, he chose us.
A few days later, Jose and I went downtown to scout the Taste of Minnesota setup. The area was blocked off while the festival was still being built, but we were surprised to discover that the main stage was on the backside of the same parking lot we usually use when we go to Beyblade tournaments at the Minneapolis Central Library.
While we were out, we also stopped by West Photo and bought a new camera bag. It turned out to be a great investment. For the first time, we had one bag that could fit nearly all of our gear…the only downside was that once all the gear was packed inside, there was no room for the tripod.
Windows Down—————————————————————————————————————————————
On the day of the performance, we headed out early. Jose wanted to take the Metro, but that plan fell apart when it turned out to be closed, so we bit the bullet and paid for parking across the street from the festival.
Before we even made it to the venue, we passed by Nur-D on our way to the elevator to get out of the parking lot.
I recognized him immediately, but I didn’t say anything. After we passed, Jose turned to me and mouthed, “Was that him?”
Yeah.
But we kept moving. He was clearly in the middle of something, and as excited as I was to meet him, I didn’t want our first interaction to feel like I was ambushing him outside of his car.
On the elevator, encountered someone wearing a Nur-D Crew shirt and carrying what looked like a very suspicious case. The case wasn’t exactly “instrument-shaped,” but I couldn’t help but suspect he might have been part of the band. He complimented the Nur-D Crew shirt I was wearing, and I complimented his in kind. Whether or not he was from the band…?I’d find out soon enough.
Once we reached the festival area, Jose and I met with Nur-D’s manager, received our credentials, and were taken to the green room. There, we met DJ Hayes and members of the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Band as everyone slowly trickled in.
DJ Hayes gave us a sense of what mattered most for the performance. The main songs they wanted covered were the opener, “Outside,” and the final two songs, “Play (We Don’t Really)” and “End of the World.” At the time, all three were unreleased, which made them especially important to capture.
As we got our gear ready, Jose and DJ Hayes had a nice long conversation about music, DJing, and Puerto Rico. Jose used to DJ, and DJ Hayes had apparently taken a trip to Puerto Rico and was excited about returning one day with Nur-D and their wives.
Then DJ Hayes looked out the window.
That was when we noticed the security snipers on the nearby rooftops.
It was alarming, to say the least. It was also hard not to think about the contrast between that security presence and the set Nur-D was about to perform. A good part of the show carried anti-ICE and anti-police-state energy, including songs like “Outside,” “Break Chains,” “Play (We Don’t Really),” and “End of the World.”
We decided not to point the snipers out to Nur-D before the performance…There are some things an artist does not need in their head right before stepping onstage.
Eventually, Nur-D arrived in the green room. Jose and I gave him space to settle in before talking with him about his vision for the performance, what moments mattered most, and what cues we needed to watch for.
Then it was time. The moment of truth.
Outside—————————————————————————————————————————————————
During our conversation, Nur-D had asked if we had experience filming concerts. I told him yes, which was true. I had filmed concerts before: Dua Lipa footage with my sister for Always Uttori, Sonic Symphony with Jose, and On The One Music Festival for Skull Dogs Media among other things.
But this was different.
Despite my fair collection of experience, they had all been for personal projects, from a distance as part of the crowd…
This was my first time filming a concert as part of the official press...It was my first time filming from on-stage.
I could have been in the pit, a bit closer than I was used to, but it was still what I was used to. But, Jose insisted that I be the one up there with Nur-D. They knew how much it meant to me.
So, Jose took the front angle with the Lumix, positioned in the pit just in front of the stage. Originally, I had planned for that camera to be on a tripod so the main front-facing shot would stay stable, but once I realized how close Jose would be to the stage, a tripod just wasn’t practical. They filmed handheld instead.
Meanwhile, I took the Sony onstage for side and back angles, hooked up to our Insta360, a monitor and big battery to ensure it would last the whole concert.
The 28-75 mm Sony lens we’ve got is fairly zoomed-in by default, which ended up being both its strength and a limitation. It meant I could stay farther back and avoid blocking the audience’s view while still getting tight shots of Nur-D and the band…But it also meant I couldn’t get too close without risking losing the frame which also limited the spaces I could film from.
There was one moment where Nur-D started singing directly toward the camera and moving toward me while I happened to be zooming in on him. I had to react quickly and pull back to keep him in the shot. But once the stage is alive, you just have to move with it.
There is no pause button.
And I’ve never had more fun at a gig.
Nur-D opened with “Outside,” setting the tone for the entire performance. From there, the set moved through fan favorites, collaborations, and healing, plus the brand new songs.
It was the perfect July 4th performance, and the best possible way I could have spent the 250th.
Real and raw, loud and Black and free.
Take My Picture———————————————————————————————————————————
After the set, we did a brief photoshoot with Nur-D to close things out. It was quick, but it gave us a few strong stills to go along with the performance footage, including some shots that became part of the larger story of the project.
We wanted Nur-D and the team to have options, so we delivered a handful of versions of the performance, including versions with the concert audio and a few versions where I implemented the studio recordings of their tracks instead. Nur-D had also asked for the raw footage, so we included that as well.
When Jose and I delivered it, Nur-D gave us a tour of the studio space. The walls already had some great work from local artists, and Nur-D mentioned wanting more to fill out the space.
That gave me an idea.
Back in February, directly in the wake of Operation Metro Surge, I had made an art piece to honor some of the Minnesota Heroes that had become the face of the injustices of the ICE Occupation. You know their names. Renee Good and Alex Pretti. In this piece, I had also included Nur-D, due to his contributions and arrest while protesting. I placed them all alongside Kinetic and Puck, fictional Minnesota-based Superhero characters from a project I’m working on on the art side of things to emphasize the impact of Minnesota’s heroes. And maybe it isn’t much, but that piece was one of the deepest honors I could offer.
Additionally, there had been an edit I’d made of one of the photos taken during the photoshoot, where I made it look like Nur-D was throwing a Spirit Bomb a la Dragon Ball Z.
I offered to print these pieces as posters for Nur-D to add to his local art collection.
Epilogue————————————————————————————————————————————————
When I returned to deliver the posters. Jose couldn’t come with me that time, but the visit became its own little epilogue to the project.
Nur-D and DJ Hayes were really happy with what we had delivered. We had really gone above and beyond for them, and they joked about how they kept finding more folders of material. At one point, DJ Hayes mentioned that while reviewing some of the videos, they thought about putting the studio track over the concert footage…only to find that I had already done it, save for the 2 unreleased songs, of course.
But that felt good. I told them that the less work they had to do, the better.
Since they were working on the studio edit for “End of the World,” the final song from the Taste of Minnesota set, they let me stay for a bit and listen. After filming the live version, getting to hear the studio version come together was really special, and it sounds great.
This project was a milestone for Skull Dogs Media. It was last-minute, high-pressure, and bigger than anything we’ve filmed up to this point. But we showed up, and showed out.
And by the end of it all, Skull Dogs Media had filmed a dream client and taken a big step forward.
Thank you, Nur-D, for everything you’ve done for Minnesota.
