Guess who’s back? You guessed it, the boss of the Brainiac’s, Naledge Born. And after finishing up graduate school in Cali, he’s just announced his brand new project, Naledge is Power: The Social Work of Hip-Hop, which is in collaboration with 3Arts. It’s not only an album, but also a book and film — all helping out the community, to boot.
Naledge is Power: The Social Work of Hip-Hop is a music compilation, book and film project that examines hip-hop culture and its impact on African American youth in Chicago.
One part educational and one part entertainment, this multi-sensory project will explore the opportunities that urban youth and their advocates have when using hip-hop music as a means to achieve greater success academically and within their social development. This film project will paint a vivid picture of Chicago’s hip-hop community and the advantages that creating rap music play in assisting the city’s youth in tough times. It will specifically chronicle three artists I have personally encountered while working as a youth advocate on Chicago’s south side.
Funds raised from 3AP will be used to help with the completion of the film portion of this project. I am in the process of finalizing location shoot and participants. The accompanying music album is already recorded and will be mixed and mastered in December 2014. Production costs include camera, lighting and sound equipment, transportation, editing, and day-to-day costs for two experienced camera operators. The goal is to shoot the project in early 2015 and screen the film at Chicago’s Little Black Pearl upon completion. I also plan to publicly debut the film at DCASE’s 3rd Annual Chicago Music Summit in 2016.
Learn more about Naledge’s latest endeavor here.