Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Free Hiphop Now Syndicate

Free Hiphop Now Syndicate


"DIRTY"--The Official ODB Biography Premiering in NYC 11/10

Posted: 03 Nov 2009 05:32 AM PST


New York, NY -- On Tuesday, November 10th, ImageNation Cinema Foundation will present the New York Premiere of the Zu Films' 'Dirty' One Word Can Change the World. Directed by Raison Allah, DIRTY is a personal tribute to one of the most enigmatic, controversial and tragic figures in Hip-Hop music history, Russell Jones, aka Ol' Dirty Bastard or ODB. DIRTY features interviews with Ol' Dirty Bastard (ODB), his family and friends, and other Wu-Tang Clan Members: RZA, GZA, Method Man, Ghostface Killa, Raekwon Da Chef, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, Cappadonna, ODB's Brooklyn Zu, Sunz of Man, Kllarmy, the Black Knight and more of the 36 Chambers.

This special premiere will open with a live performance by ODB's group Brooklyn Zu and will close with a panel discussion with director Raison Allah (ODB's brother in spirit and cousin by blood), members of the Wu Tang Clan, Brooklyn Zu and Terrie Williams, author of Black Pain: It Just Looks like We Aren't Hurting. Panelists will discuss ODB's life, the genius of his work, and will touch on how the Black community handles mental health and substance abuse issues.

DIRTY is an in-depth documentary that traces ODB's life from his childhood in Brooklyn to his eternal influence on music, time spent in prison and, finally, to his untimely death just two days before his 36th birthday. ODB one the founder members of Wu-Tang Clan, whose 1993 debut CD, 36 Chambers, received enormous critical praise and is now widely regarded as one of the best and most influential albums of any genre of that decade, as well as one of the best hip hop albums of all time. Perhaps the best-known member of the group, ODB was armed with a seemingly crazed, slurred, half-sung/half-rapped delivery.

About Zu Films

Stephon Turner (Raison Allah) formed ZuFilms to bring the story of Russell Tyrone Jones (aka Ol' Dirty Bastard) to the world. As filmmaker Michael Moore braves the

controversial political landscape to ferret out truths, Allah takes his camera where no outsider has previously accessed. Currently, ZuFilms is developing a feature film based on its successful documentary, Dirty: one word can change the world. The company will also release three tribute albums, which will include performances by the next generation of the Wu Tang Clan. Also in development is a revolutionary Internet television network, MglobalTV.com, which will feature streaming live content. For more information, visit www.mglobaltv.com or www.brooklynzu.com.

About ImageNation

ImageNation is presented by the ImageNation Cinema Foundation, a Harlem-based media arts organization, founded with the goal of establishing a chain of art-house cinemas, dedicated to progressive media by and about people of color. Through a variety of public exhibitions and programs, ImageNation fosters media equity, media literacy, solidarity, cross-cultural exchange and highlights the humanity of Pan-African people worldwide. Designated space by the City of New York, ImageNation will open its first movie theater, the ImageNation Sol Cinema (ISC), on 125th Street directly across from Harlem's World Famous Apollo Theater. The ISC will be Harlem's first and the nation's only art house movie theater dedicated to Black and Latino independent films. For more information, please visit www.imagenation.us.


Who: ImageNation Cinema Foundation
Raison Allah, Wu Tang Clan members, Brooklyn Zu and Terrie Williams
What: New York Premiere of DIRTY: the Official ODB Biography
When: 7pm, Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Where: The National Black Theatre, 2031 5th Avenue (125th & 126th Sts.)
How: Purchase online at www.imagenation.us or call 212-340-1874
How Much: $15 in advance / $20 at the door

Artist Of The Week – Guante

Posted: 02 Nov 2009 09:30 AM PST


The Midwest is one of the country's true hotbeds for hip-hop right now and Minnesota is the state that's leading the way. After former Artist Of The Week Sketch Tha Cataclysm moved out there he immediately told me about Guante, a Minnesota-based emcee and poet who is originally from Wisconsin. I checked out some of Guante's work and was really impressed. His most recent album is El Guante's Haunted Studio Apartment, and he just finished up recording a collaboration with Big Cats! titled An Unwelcome Guest. He's also working on a one-man spoken word theater show he hopes to debut in the spring, tentatively titled The Fist that Lives in Your Neck. Guante's work qualifies as both unique and intense. A good example of this would be the way he describes An Unwelcome Guest, saying "it's a concept album, a zombies-superhero-love-story-parable that deals with issues of displacement and violence as a tool for social change." This week I caught up with Guante to find out more about his work, his causes, and why there's a good chance he's on a first name basis with his pizza delivery guy. Read more...