R&B and rap artist HeyDeon, Deon Samuel Williams Jr., on the set of an upcoming music video directed by Snoop Dogg. Courtesy photo Riccardo Stanley.

Contemporary R&B and rap artist Deon Samuel Williams Jr., better known by his stage name HeyDeon, is working on a new music video for his hit song “Torin’s Silhouette” with Long Beach’s Snoop Dogg sitting in the director’s seat.

It’s not uncommon for Deon to work with Snoop on creative projects. After all, Deon was an opener for the rap icon’s set at the Once Upon a Time at the LBC music festival in 2019.

Deon said Snoop reached out to him last year wanting to direct a visual for him after hearing a snippet of “Torin’s Silhouette,” which was first featured in Deon’s 2020 album Emotional Wreck.

The song means a lot to Deon, and is an ode to his girlfriend, Torin Ashtun, a local artist herself who recently opened her first arts studio in Long Beach.

“The record Torin’s Silhouette moved him to want to give it the most exposure it can possibly receive,” Deon said. “It was just a moment I was appreciative for.”

Deon is no stranger to high-quality video productions and has posted numerous music videos on his social platforms. The music video for the song “Nothing 2 Prove,” shows an intricate one-take shot of Deon riding a bike through different neighborhoods of Long Beach. Guap City Productions is producing the upcoming video. The local production studio has worked with Snoop and other local artists before.

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“Working with Snoop is organic. He understands me as an artist,” Deon said. “He wanted to create a visual for me that best captured the emotion and smoothness of the record.”

No release date for the video was provided, but Deon said its dropping “sooner than you think.”

(UPDATE: The video was released May 2021, see it below)