Half A Mill Documentary "Player Hating: A Love Story" Interview With Director Maggie Hadleigh-West

My brief Interview with "Player Hating, A Love Story" Director Maggie Hadleigh-West

I went to Medgar Evers Tuesday night to see a screening of a film about a rapper. Turned out to be about Half A Mill. I honestly wasn't expecting much but the film was pretty good. I enjoyed it. After the screening there was a Q&A. I'm not fond of panels and most discussions that follow films about black folks. We always seem to end up in the same place upset and arguing saying nothing much that could actually affect change.

I couldn't take it and stood up and addressed the entire audience. In my brief rant I spoke about taking responsibility for one's self and for those who are around you. Being proactive and making a concerted effort to find something you can do to affect change. Someone kept asking, "but what can we do?" I pointed at the people on the panel and shouted they're telling you what you can do. Support them! I addressed the fact that if you truly want to do things you simply find a way to do them. I expressed that change is not always tied to a budget and it's important to understand that there is nothing small about any effort you make toward progress. You all want to have a perfect body but don't want to watch your diet and exercise. It ain't finna happen. I shared how one day I thought about how simply being nice to people in the street and smiling, speaking, kind gestures are powerful because there are people walking around everyday that simply do not want to live. All in all you have to actually care about people in order to want to help people. We are far too apathetic about things that happen around us that don't directly affect us. That has to stop. But we have to stop it. It's either do something or pretty much shut up.

Anyway... So much more to say but I won't. What I will say is that I support this film and I'd hope people will support it as well.

It's very interesting what gets support when it comes to the world of Hiphop and I'm not even discussing on a mainstream level because we all already know what it is.

This film deserves that support.

Quad Cinema: Fri. April 6 - Thurs. April 12
34 West 13th Street, NYC 10011 • 212.255.8800




Indie Screen: Fri. April 13 - Sat. April 14
289 Kent Ave. Williamsburg, BK, NY 11211 • 347.227.8030

Player Hating: A Love Story

Definition: Player Hating- Someone else is about to shine, and you'll do anything to keep that motherfucker from getting his cheese — it can be as subtle as negative flow (lyrics) or as extreme as trying to clap (shoot) him. -- Trent Bond, Half's Manager and former NYPD Detective

Half-a-Mill is a 26 year old hip hop artist from the Albany Projects in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. By the time he was seven, Half was sharing a gun with his brother, 'cause he was sick of people putting their guns in his face in the elevator of his building, and not being able to do anything about it. Half's been running with the same ten guys, since he was real little, and they're his crew. But he's the one that will take all of them out of the projects because he's been signed by the indie music label, Warlock Records. Half and his crew are doing most of the work to launch his first album Milion, but that's ok because there's the chance they'll blow up, and Half wants that so bad he can taste it, and he'll do whatever he has to do, in order to support himself, his family and his music.

Player Hating: A Love Story follows Half-a-Mill and his Brooklyn crew, The Godfia Criminals, as they struggle to launch Milion, in an effort to attain money, success and recognition through music. Player Hating delves intimately into the lives of young "thugs", and takes the viewer into an underground world of poverty, alienation, gangs, violence and music that most audience members have an inkling of, but few rarely see—unless they've lived it.

http://iareconscious.com/site/?p=1788

Getcha - I Are Conscious - Eklektic Gardens

Snatching up old films in the public domain, the song Getcha from I Are Conscious' mixtape Neo Retro Retro Spectro Graphiks Vol.1 was mashed up with the opening scene from, 'Dead Eyes of London'.

Album available for free streaming and download here: last.fm/music/I+Are+Conscious/Neo+Retro+Spectro+Graphiks+Vol.1

60 Second Review: Kanye West - Graduation

I just tossed up a new review on 60 Second Review blog for Kanye's latest album.
60 Second Review: Kanye West - Graduation

Lupe Fiasco - Dumb It Down

So what's really good with Lupe Fiasco? From interviews, sounds like he's a tad bit jaded by the way things have turned out with his rap career. In this business I guess you can only go but so far when corporations at the end of the day hold whether or not you will be famous in the balance. (One day we'll realize that the music we hear on commercial radio and most every media outlet is programmed. Possibly, on the same day we realize that we actually have power to affect changes in this world we're all a part of). How successful can you be with the use of 'their' money? Well, Lupe won't be dumbing down any song lyrics as he proclaims on 'Dumb It Down'.

Walk It Out! Good Stuff Andre 3000. Good Stuff...

"Your white tee, well to me look like a night gown, make yah mama proud take that thing two sizes down, then you'll look like the man you are or could be..." Andre 3000 - Walk It Out Remix...

I was in Slam Dunk the other day coppin some boxers a pair of jeans and some new socks when I heard what sounded like Andre 3000 on a track that ended with Jim Jones talking over it on the radio. From what I caught of the verse of Andre's was not surprising, a very tight and on point gathering of rhymes in a percise flow that only he could deliver. I think the track is hilarious for a lot of reasons. I think it's an interesting combination of individuals as well, kinda shows the diversity of Hiphop.

Walk It Out Remix

Cedric Butler: RIP Ced...

"Pressure - Epitome"	length: 02:52
play HiFi (mp3) download (3.29 MB)

How far do we go back? A few years. I’d say 02-03. Back when I used to host an event called Hiphop Affair in Harlem. He and Maza were featured. Since then we stayed in contact sporadically. Random meetings at events, you know how it is. Only in the last two years did we kind of confirm that we’d consciously stay linked. Steel sharpens steel. I am totally aware of the progress that the group Epitome has made. Proud that their single, ‘Pressure’ is still doing so well. (We featured pressure on freehiphopnow.com and included it on a digital mixtape for more exposure). My conversations with Ced were always productive and motivational. Forward thinking was the plan and taking advantage of all progressive opportunities was of utmost importance. I’m not the one to deeply mourn the passing of energy from here to there. I’m more for celebrating the life of individuals that have touched us and departed from this leg of their journey. I’m happy to say that I had the privilege to meet and be friends with this young man that refused to buy into the foolishness that would tell him or anyone of us that we won’t achieve what we want to through music and a positive way of living and thinking.

This snippet has no name…

Download mp3

Alright so I was writing again. You know what I do, I make a loop, I write to that loop. This right here is basically I think easy to decipher. It’s talking about… well you figure it out…

only a matter uh time for we make it to the finished line
sitting here lookin a picture of your flawless design
been workin the mines for a long time, a long wait
diggin in the crates, needle down deliverin fate…
what does it take to make the voices stop echoin
I’m trynah get settled in… black is what the pot kettled them
Excedrin, or music soothin savage beast
midnight run cut brief, infiltrated by the thought police
call me logan slowly downloading, mp3 endcoding
hard drive, wise exploding expose-in truth…
caught up in the grooves, amused by your muse
where they say the grass is greener it’s actually brown…
it’s underground, is what I have found
and for that fact I’m in love with her sound…