AUSTIN — AUSTIN -- "Uh, uh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, uh , Austin. Sixth Street bringing the heat."
This is the opening line of an Austin-inspired parody remix to Will Smith's 90s hit "Miami" created by a group of University of Texas MBA students.
Garry Ferguson, a student at UT's McComb's School of Business, created the video with Jeremiah Fitzgerald and a handful of his friends who are featured in the video. Ferguson, who is set to graduate from UT in May, said he and his group of friends created the video for a show called "MBA Revue." MBA Revue is a show of follies or parodies -- similar to a "Saturday Night Live" production -- of the MBA experience, but is not officially sponsored by the MBA program, Ferguson says.
The show features music videos, live skits, live music, comedic acts, etc.
VIEW THE REMIXED MUSIC VIDEO BELOW:
Ferguson told KVUE that filming lasted four days, recording the audio for the song was a couple of hours of work, and editing the video together took another three days to complete. Fitzgerald filmed the video, recorded the audio, and edited the piece together, and Ferguson essentially produced and directed the video during the filmmaking process.
"Day four of filming was my favorite day," Ferguson said. "Up to that point, I was taking cues from Will Smith’s actual video and trying to create some parallels while still differentiating my creation. But by day four, I woke up in a weird mood and just decided it would be fun to create some B-roll of me playing sports with food."
Ferguson said he's received positive feedback from the video.
"From the feedback I have received, people seemed to find that stuff pretty funny," he said. "The other people in the video are friends of mine in the MBA program. Oliver Debayle, Patricio Torres, Nihal Parekh, Ankit Jain and Dan Konakis were all eager to participate after I shared my idea with them. They had a blast being part of it! We also were able to garner some support from some folks that we bumped into around town while we were filming. Everyone was extremely supportive."
WATCH "MIAMI" BY WILL SMITH HERE:
Another friend of Ferguson, Whitney Williamson, provided female vocals for the track and music video.
"Austin" isn't the only musical parody the UT MBA students have created together either.
"I did a parody of 'I’ll Be Missing You' by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans," Ferguson said. "It was in reference to the friends that I would be missing upon graduating from the MBA program. I also created a parody of 'A Whole New World' from Disney’s 'Aladdin.' It was called 'A Whole New School.' I was inspired to create that one because this year the UT MBA Program moved into the new Rowling Hall, which is designated specifically for the UT MBA program. I directed that one behind the scenes and casted a couple of friends in the starring roles. Those are also posted on my Facebook page for everyone’s entertainment."
Creating the music videos are just a hobby for Ferguson while he works to get his master's degree from UT.
A native Oklahoman, Ferguson said after his two years of living in Austin, he considers Texas the greatest state in the nation.
"Although this video is comedic and quite ridiculous, it’s still an homage to the city of Austin and the state of Texas," Ferguson said. "What Miami is to Will Smith, Austin is to me. It’s my second home, so to speak. I love it!"