Say My Name

I stood up and took notice of hip hop in the late 80s after I made my first trip to New York. LL Cool J, Public Enemy, KRS One were all the rage but aside from Salt 'n' Pepa, MC Lyte and Monie Love there weren't very few women around. Last Friday I attended the screening of Say My Name which is a documentary film about female MCs based in America and London. The documentary was directed by Nirit Peled and took us through the journey of women in hip hop; from the Bronx where hip hop was born we saw pioneers such as Roxanne Shante, to Brooklyn's finest, MC Lyte and Erykah Badu and onto ex-patriot Londoner, Monie Love. The film also journeyed to West London where we saw Estelle and also to East London where up and coming sides of the grime scene in East London were featured. Say My Name looked at the struggles that female MCs faced in the world of hip hop. Not only did they have to fight to be taken seriously and to get a break, they also have to deal with violence from men as well as gang related warfare. I found the film to be very gripping and it really made me reminisce back to my teenage years, however there were a few bits that shocked me but I guess that just ties in with the nature of the genre. Say My Name is a gritty and thought provoking film that is not afraid to show the true nature of women in hip hop. The film was part of the Images of Black Women 2010 Film Festival programme which took place at The Tricycle Cinema in North West London.

After the film there was a Q&A with Ninit Peled and a couple of artists from the documentary where they discussed the ideology of the project. Nirit talked about her inspirations behind the film which was born from her love of music. She was empowered by hip hop but felt like she was not being represented in the genre so she started working on the film.  Initially it started off on small scale but it grew and grew until it was a full blown documentary with a wide range of stories. Nirit Peled was born in Israel but now lives and works in Amsterdam. She is a community based, cultural artist and film director, as well as co-founder of Mamamess, a production company she runs with her partner Dave Hemmingway

Next up for her is Say My Name in Africa which will look at lyricists in Angola, South Africa and the Ivory Coast. The documentary is currently being film so there is no release date as yet but I cannot wait to see it.

Check out the blog for Say My Name.

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Images taken by Mamamess

Adidas House Party

Now we all love that T-Mobile advert with people getting down at the train station but another commercial that has grabbed my eye is the Adidas house party. The three striped brand is celebrating 60 years in the business by throwing a huge house party and inviting celebs such as David Beckham, Estelle, Russell Simmons, Kevin Garnett, Missy Elliott, Katy Perry, The Ting Tings and skate boarder Mark Gonzales. Performing at the event are Norwegian hip hop band, Madcon with their hit single, Beggin. I really love the pop cultural references in the ad such as the graffiti, kids on skate boards and also on motorbikes. The ad is directed by Nima Nourizade who has made music videoa for Lily Allen and Mark Ronson. The advantage to Adidas not being as huge as Nike is that they hold a sense of allure and individuality. This gives them a sense of coolness that Nike could never match hence their strong affiliation with hip hop. The concert where Run DMC got everyone in the crowd to wave their Adidas sneaker in the air is legendary.

Check out the prologue of the advert below where we see the celebs being invited to the jam.

This scene below is where Kevin Garnett is challenged in a card game - the break dancing scene at the end is wicked.

It does make me wonder where creative agencies will go next with their concepts, they seem to be pushing the boundaries a lot and coming up with amazing stuff like the Virgin advert that never fails to blow me away every time I see it - which I wrote about here. Combine that to the T-Mobile ad that always makes me smile and the glamorous Marks and Spencer ones and adverts have become a lot of fun to watch. Spot al the celebs in the adverts and let me know if I have missed anyone out.