I just wrote an article for LA Weekly. It’s about L.A. mobile DJ crew, Uncle Jamm’s Army (UJA), founded by Rodger Clayton aka Ace of Dreams aka Mr. Prinze. From the late 70’s to the mid 80’s, The Army was king. Nobody was doing it like them, nobody. After working on this piece, I started to speculate that West Coast DJ’s were way ahead of East Coast DJ’s, from how they set up their turntables, scratching, blending, to how they approached the use …
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For TMG readers that don’t know, this artist is my boy. I’ve written about him here. After years of fits and false starts, DJ, producer and emcee DJ Zesto has at last released his debut album The New Laughing Gas. In January of last year he dropped the single, “The Pleasure Principle” and then he dipped back into obscurity. With the occasional tweet or Instagram post, homie is an elusive figure. He’s an 80’s baby who’s old enough to have experienced the before and …
Born With It is a short film about an African-Japanese boy who identifies as Japanese, but the world sees him differently. Written and directed by Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour, Jr., the story explores isolation, alienation, and racism. Aside from the heartbreaking, yet revealing documentary Hafu, Born might be the first of it’s kind: it’s a scripted film, Japan is a vital character, and it exclusively centers a half black half Japanese kid struggling to make sense of who he is. It’s a tiny film that needs to be seen. Emmanuel and …
D Young V stay-making work and wheat pasting the world with it. He’s also written about his travels through his Bombing series, here, here, and here. His work is timely to put it modestly, especially if we’re about to elect an orange-faced-tycoon who wants to turn our country into a Mad Max dystopian paradise. DYV gives a quick update on his travels, future projects, relocating to Oakland, working with artist Eddie Colla, and more. Cheers. Clink. TMG: How has traveling …
At full disclosure, I went to college with filmmaker Sean Weiner. He even filmed, directed and edited a video for a Stolen Music Imprint posse cut. He finished it and we got a copy, but it never saw the light of day for a lot of forgotten reasons (It was well over a decade ago). It looked dope, but I remember hating my verse. The short documentary film, 11.15.91 is about Weiner dealing with race, identity, and becoming what you are, instead of …
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