Video
MOTION :: GRAF
feat. ZION, dir. by Eklipz of Crown A Thornz
Remembering KASE2 & all the midnite writers…
What an amazing experience working with director/emcee & artist, Eklipz of Storehouse Media/Crown A Thornz, DP Robby J and graf pioneer ZION to present this new “petit film” GRAF. Blending word, beats & vizuals, we wanted to drop a tight collabo that intertwined our artistic worlds into a multi-level creation.
With words that flowed outta my mind one sunset while riding the train, fused with the beatbox of King RC making music with his mouth, over a a soundscape created in the Kilzone, we took to the TDot & Steel City streets, underpasses, railways and alley ways to capture glimpses of concrete heiros that will most definitely “outlast our past.”
What a thing to know that as GRAF was being conceived, officials in low places were erecting yet another attempt to institute the erasure of this artform, with the latest “war on graffiti” policy, politics and tricks. Their mono-tones infused a counterpoint to the mood we were creating.
In the final days before its birth, GRAF took on a next level when I awoke one morning after staying up to re-watch the groundbreaking Hip Hop classic Style Wars. That nite, the art, voice & face of KASE2, the single-armed art pioneer featured in the doc, was replaying in my head. By A.M., DJ Son of Soul’s early morning post appeared in my feed, announcing that the proclaimed “King of Style” KASE2 had passed.
Eklipz and I knew. That was the day for GRAF to be born, and shared with the eyez and ears of the soul dwellers who feel, know & live our culture.
BlessUP to Supa 83, Spott Music, IE, Kinky Kreations & Origin for the fresh sounds and vizuals.
And in reMemory of KASE2, and the true midnite writers and concrete scribes, we present :::GRAF.
NAS & DAMIAN MARLEY :: PATIENCE
Sabali, Sabali, Sabali,
yonkontê Sabali, Sabali, Sabali,
kiye Ni kêra môgô Sabali,
Sabali, Sabali, yonkontê Sabali,
Sabali, Sabali, kagni Ni kêra môgô…
Some of the smartest dummies
Can’t read the language of Egyptian mummies
An’ a fly go a moon
And can’t find food for the starving tummies
Pay no mind to the youths
Cause it’s not like the future depends on it
But save the animals in the zoo
Cause the chimpanzee dem a make big money
This is how the media pillages
On the TV the picture is
Savages in villages
And the scientist still can’t explain the pyramids, huh
Evangelists making a living on the videos of ribs of the little kids
Stereotyping the image of the images
And this is what the image is..
You buy a khaki pants
And all of a sudden you say a Indiana Jones
An’ a thief out gold and thief out the scrolls and even the buried bones
Some of the worst paparazzis I’ve ever seen and I ever known
Put the worst on display so the world can see
And that’s all they will ever show
Lyrics courtesy Ezeelyrics.com
So the ones in the west
Will never move east
And feel like they could be at home
Dem get tricked by the beast
But a where dem ago flee when the monster is fully grown?
Solomonic linage whe dem still can’t defeat and them coulda never clone
My spiritual DNA that print in my soul and I will forever Own Lord
Sabali! Sabali! Sabali yonkontê.
Yeah, Sabali.
(Sabali! Sabali! Sabali kayi.)
Thats patience. That’s what the old folks told me…
Discovering the World before this World. A World buried in time.
Uncover with rhymes. It gets no realer.
Who wrote the Bible?
Who wrote the Qur’an?
And was it a lightning storm
That gave birth to the Earth
And then dinosaurs were born? damn
Who made up words? who made up numbers?
And what kind of spell is mankind under?
Everything on the planet we preserve and can it
Microwaved it and try it
No matter what we’ll survive it
What’s hue? what’s man? what’s human?
Anything along the land we consuming
Eatin’, deletin’, ruin
Trying to get paper
Gotta have land, gotta have acres
So I can sit back like Jack Nicholson
Watch n-ggas play the game like the lakers
In a world full of 52 fakers
Gypsies, seances, mystical prayers
You superstitious? throw salt over your shoulders
Make a wish for the day cuz
Like somebody got a doll of me
Stickin’ needles in my arteries
But I can’t feel it
Sometimes it’s like ‘pardon me, but I got a real big spirit’
I’m fearless…. I’m fearless
Don’t you try and grab hold of my soul
It’s like a military soldier since 7 years old
I held real dead bodies in my arms
Felt their body turn cold, oh..!
Why we born in the first place
If this is how we gotta go?
Damn.
MOOZ-lum (2010)
written and directed by Qasim Basir
starring Evan Ross, Nia Long, Danny Glover
winner of the 14th annual UBANWORLD Film Festival for Best Narrative Feature
Amid a strict Muslim rearing and a social life he’s never had, Tariq (Evan Ross) enters college confused. New peers, family and mentors help him find his place, but the 9-11 attacks force him to face his past and make the biggest decisions of his life.
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Yelling to the Sky (2011)
written and directed by Victoria Mahoney
starring Zoe Kravitz, Shareeka Epps, Gabourey Sidebe
As her family falls apart, seventeen year old Sweetness O’Hara’s future feels uncertain. At the abusive hands of her father, her mother and sister take off, leaving Sweetness to fend for herself. Determined to correct the mistakes of the past, Sweetness takes control of her life.
Yelling to the Sky has been hitting the film festival circuit, no theatrical release date yet available.
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New SHAD Video “KEEP SHINING”
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HALF NELSON
directed by Ryan Fleck; written by Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden
Smart, moving and politically engaged Half Nelson is one of the most exciting American independent films in years. Strong performances from a cast made up of Ryan Gosling, who earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, Anthony Mackie and introducing Shareeka Epps with an original score that includes Canadian indie rock group Broken Social Scene, enable director Ryan Fleck to weave together a moving story of redemption in an unforgiving world.
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FIVE FEET HIGH AND RISING
Victor, a twelve year-old boy growing up on New York City’s Lower East Side experiences what growing up is all about.
a film by Eva Vives & Peter Sollett
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Established in 1972 to address the under representation and misrepresentation of women in the media industry, Women Make Movies is a multicultural, multiracial, non-profit media arts organization which facilitates the production, promotion, distribution and exhibition of independent films and videotapes by and about women. The organization provides services to both users and makers of film and video programs, with a special emphasis on supporting work by women of color. www.wmm.com
Women In Hip Hop Doc
In the groundbreaking NOBODY KNOWS MY NAME, director Rachel Raimist tells the story of women who are connected by their love for hip-hop music.
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THROUGH THE EYES OF A CHILD
by Quentin Vercetty
Open minded. Ambitious. Prolific. Optimistic. Philosophical. From Art on walls to Words on stage, Quentin Vercetty expresses his “Change-Reaction” through a myriad of ways. Not content to be a street stat, he navigated through the maze with his pursuit of creativity and scholarship. Check his opus “Through the Eyes of a Child” and read his story at www.youdunknow.org.
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Justice is a poet, dealing with the loss, violence and being alone. Lucky is a postman, trying to be a father and to make it in music. Together on this road trip, Lucky and Justice discover their dreams, their hopes, and the love for each other that will heal them.
Starring Tupac Shakur and Janet Jackson.
Poetry by Maya Angelou.
FOR COLORED GIRLS
a film by Tyler Perry based on the award winning play
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When The Rainbow Is Enuf
by Ntozake Shange
Trailer:
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BETTER MUS COME
An urban love story unfolds against a backdrop of political turmoil.
Set in 1970′s Jamaica the story of “Better Mus Come” follows Ricky, a young man from an inner city community fighting against all the odds to escape the prevailing hardships of life in the ghettos of central downtown Kingston.
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RAISING VICTOR VARGAS
a film by Peter Sollett
A Lower East Side, New York teen struggles to find some sanity while surrounded by an eccentric grandmother, a crazy new girlfriend, and a longing younger brother.
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CIDADE DE DEUS (City of God)
a film by Fernando Meirelles based on the novel by Paulo Lins
Two boys growing up in a violent neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro take different paths: one becomes a photographer, the other a drug dealer.
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GIRLFIGHT
a film written and directed by Karyn Kusama
starring Michelle Rodriguez in her break out role
At 18, Diana has a chip on her shoulder; she’s close to expulsion from high school for fighting, her mother is dead, her dad is surly, the popular girls at school set her teeth on edge, she knows men can cause pain. When she picks up her younger brother at a Brooklyn gym where he boxes to please his father, she decides she wants to train. Hector, a coach, reluctantly agrees to teach her. It’s soon clear to him that Diana has talent; he pushes her. She spends time with another young fighter, Adrian, who has a girlfriend, but Diana intrigues him and stirs real feelings he tries to articulate. She, too, must accommodate her toughness and ironic detachment to her feelings for him.
Trailer:
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“DJ L’Oqenz is a powerful force to be reckoned with. Her passion for music and undeniable skills on the turntables have made her a sought after commodity at home in Toronto and abroad. A true lover of music, she is not confined to one genre. Spinning everything from Hip Hop to Jazz – L’Oqenz has the ability to fuse them all effortlessly.”
L’Oqenz teaches youth how to ‘Scratch and Spin’ at St. Albans Boys and Girls Club in Toronto.
Visit these links to learn more about St. Albans and the wide variety of programs and services (arts, sports, media, leadership, daycare, mentoring, tutoring ect.) offered for youth of all ages:
About St. Albans Boys & Girls Club
Fall 2010 Youth Groups, Programs and Drop in Schedule
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MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY
a film written and directed by Barry Jenkins
A love story of bikes and one-night stands told through two African-American twenty-somethings dealing with issues of class, identity, and the evolving conundrum of being a minority in rapidly gentrifying San Francisco—a city with the smallest proportional black population of any other major American city.
Trailer:
Click to watch Medicine for Melancholy
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BRICK LANE
a film by Sarah Gavron based on the novel by Monica Ali
A young Bangladeshi woman, Nazneem, arrives in 1980s London, leaving behind her beloved sister and home, for an arranged marriage and a new life. Trapped within the four walls of her flat in East London, and in a loveless marriage with the middle aged Chanu, she fears her soul is quietly dying. Her sister Hasina, meanwhile, through letters to Nazneed, tells of her carefree life back in Bangladesh, stumbling from one adventure to the next. Nazneen struggles to accept her lifestyle, and keeps her head down in spite of life’s blows, but she soon discovers that life cannot be avoided – and is forced to confront it the day that the hotheaded young Karim comes knocking at her door.
Trailer:
Available at the Toronto Public Library
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a film written and directed by Andrea Arnold
Set in the decaying landscape and council estates of Essex, Fish Tank is the compelling story of a 15 year-old girl. Having been expelled from school, Mia spends her time break dancing in a derelict flat near to her family’s home and drinking whatever alcohol she can lay her hands on. Her young life, already spiralling out of control, is complicated further when her mother, Joanne, brings home a new boyfriend, Connor. There is an instant connection between the two and Mia finds the love and friendship she’s been yearning for. But could things between them go too far?
Trailer:
[Warning: brief nudity and sexual content]
