Dude Who Documented Proud Boys Insurrection Also Made Iconic Music Videos For DMX, Nas, & More

Nick Quested, who filmed the Proud Boys storm the Capitol on January 6, 2021, has directed videos for G-Dep, DMX, Trick Daddy and others.

Thursday (June 9) marked the start of hearings on the January 6, 2021 storming of the Capitol, and there's a new star witness at the center of it. British filmmaker and documentarian Nick Quested filmed extremist group the Proud Boys who took part in the Capitol riots, unintentionally collecting evidence that was used against them on the first night of the committee hearings.

"We took some photographs on the east side of the Capitol, and then we went for lunch. We went for tacos," Quested said during Thursday night's hearing.

Now, if you're a fan of hip-hop, the name Nick Quested should sound familiar. As Derreck Johnson — aka Dee Phunk — from from Slate points out, Quested has directed more than 100 rap videos, many from the late '90s and early-2000s by Nas, DMX, Trick Daddy, G-Dep and others. Videos in Quested's resume include the G-Dep Harlem Shake staple “Special Delivery," "I'm A Thug" by Trick Daddy and “L.A., L.A.” from Capone-N-Noreaga featuring Mobb Deep and Tragedy Khadafi.

With an iconic rap video catalog, Quested has remerged as the focus of the January 6 Capitol attack. The filmmaker spoke with The Guardian about why he decided to trail the Proud Boys during the riots.

"Why did I go over to the barriers in the first place? Look, there's two types of people in this world. There's people who walk to disturbances and people who walk away. I walk towards disturbances," Quested said. "I didn't know there was a confrontation happening. I felt a disturbance in the crowd and I moved towards that confrontation. And that confrontation happened to be Ryan Samsel shaking the barriers. And then the weight of the crowd overwhelmed the officers at the barrier."