A Career in Rewind: My time with KRS-ONE

So, to begin, I have been a filmmaker/music video producer/etc for a very long time. If you want to get technical, all my life. I have been writing and playing with screenplays since I was a kid. Things got pretty serious when I moved to Virginia. 2009 would be the official origin of actually making things that could be shared with other people. Of course nothing special. Little shorts for the most part for the 48 film competitions or for fun. I met Tyler through a group of friends that I was making films with. We sort of clicked and made a little documentary for his class. Tyler was attending ODU at the time and we were running around at parties talking about a studio idea and filming random things. We caught wind that KRS-ONE was coming to do a lecture and a concert at ODU. Some of the organizers reached out to us because KRS-ONE was looking for some people to shoot his stay there.

Now, before I get into the weekend part of the story, let me explain something very important. To me, KRS-ONE is THE most important rapper in all hip-hop history. If anyone gets credit for birthing the "woke" movement in the hip-hop community, it is him. I discovered his Self Titled album when I it came out and it opened me up to BDP and everything orbiting his work. KRS-ONE is not afraid to say exactly what he thought about the world around him and has a unique ability to articulate things you were thinking but couldn't put into words. His freestyle and battle style was arrogant while not being egotistical. To this day there has yet to be another rapper like him to ever grace the genre. So you can understand how this was by far the most incredible opportunity I have ever had.

For 3 days a few of us were blessed enough to follow KRS around. We had consistent philosophical conversations with him. His new book "The Gospel Of Hip-Hop" was just printed and was nearing its release. The book is KRS's philosophical view on hip-hop and how to use it for the sake of being a successful and good person. He spent a lot of time talking about what this meant and how it applies to everything in life. We also talked deeply about his hip-hop origin story. Which is so powerful that passerby's who didn't know him would stop just to hear his story. He literally went from being homeless to being one of the worlds most important rappers alive. He talked about loosing his best friend Scott La Rock on the day their debut album was released, By "Any Means Necessary." We had an opportunity most never had, which was getting KRS to open up about things he had never talked about in interviews. The first night he presented a moving lecture at ODU and rocked a packed show the following night.

In the end, the weekend changed my life. I had made a friend that I never thought I would even get to meet. We talked on an equal plain as I am a student of philosophy much like him. I too came from poverty and worked my way up the hip-hop ladder out of it. We simply clicked due to similar backgrounds. Ultimately, nothing really came out of all the footage. We let someone on our team handle the point of contact and he blew it. We trusted he was capable of it but turned out to be far more untrustworthy than we thought. Eventually inner team disagreements led to procrastination until the footage was lost. I commonly think about what could have been had we just put hard work in. But, we were young and didn't have a clear goal for the future. Since then I have not trusted anyone to handle things I know are important. I no longer work with anyone on that project and have no intention of speaking to them again. But I can't say that the whole weekend wasn't life changing. We had fun, we were friends, and KRS-ONE himself encouraged us to always be our best. I have honored him in that respect since then. In this series I will continue to post all the work I have done over the years. I always look back to this experience knowing this was the true genesis of my career. We did manage to cut and release this video for "Sound Of Da Police" and I still love it.

"Never give up, you are made for this, and you will do great things if you stay focused" - KRS-ONE said to me. His name means Knowledge Rules Over Nearly Everyone which is fitting for him. I think he uses that to remind himself that he doesn't have all the answers. But if you happen to find yourself in his presence, you will assume he knows everything. He exudes intelligence and a deep knowing of the "ether" that makes everything. Thanks KRS for the great weekend, I have never forgotten it. And I have yet to slow down, 9 years later I am still making hip-hop music videos and films.

Namaste,
XD

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