00:17I arrived in the United States about 10 years ago. I arrived as a student to go to school,
00:27to go to college, but that was the story for my parents. Personally, I came to America to pursue music,
00:37specifically hip-hop music, and of course, my parents wouldn't allow me to come to America
00:45just to come make music, so I had to tell them I was going to study, which I did, and
00:51I graduated
00:51from a college, but all the while, I was working on my musical career, so when I graduated,
01:00I moved full-time into making music.
01:08Rakim, KRS-One, Public Enemy, specifically Chuck D, and, you know, but then also, like,
01:17A Tribe Called Quest, you know, De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, you know, that era as well,
01:24and then more recently, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, Common, you know, so that's always been,
01:31you know, the kind of artist that I've been a fan of, and I've always kind of followed in that
01:36line.
01:38I think a reason is because those guys have a connection to Africa, in a way, they speak about
01:45what people would call conscious music, so, you know, in Africa, those kinds of topics,
01:53they resonate more for us, because our conditions are more, you know, I guess, are more political and social,
02:03so when we hear music like Public Enemy or KRS-One, it means more to us than, say, the bling
02:10-bling music
02:11that kind of was coming out around the same time.
02:14This is our last song, Dr. McDowell, thank you for having us.
02:18This song is called Best I Can.
02:21If you feel we did the best we can up here, please make some noise.
02:29When this song comes on,
02:32I don't care who you are, young, old,
02:34I want to see your hand go up for this one.
02:37Thank you so much for coming out.
02:39Yes!
02:47Hey!
02:50That's my people right there!
02:54Yes!
02:56Hey!
02:57Hey!
02:59Hey!
03:12Hey!
03:30Popping it an old wise man one storm is shouting like
03:32Poppa yo papa, ain't feelin' a commit
03:34I'm a fever come up, ain't feelin' doing
03:36I saw a tough one, I'm a yanku, but I could see
03:38I'm not brought from a storm, I'm a rival
03:39The International for Cavallaro, you need subtitles?
03:42Holler at me, that's the future, we salute you
03:44Let's see, we saw him as a kid, I feel like a kuti
03:46Blitz this bridge, and I got tortured to listen to rap
03:48Playing the jimmy with a fiktora, the best of fresh air
03:51You waiting for, not the same old suckers on the radio
03:53They need to get away, I'm no pun intended
03:55I don't even check for haters, I'm above the standard
03:57Mount Davis played, the pitch is bruised
03:58To get us through, I'm gonna get the bridge too
04:00So the whole world won't hop on, we can't
04:02No good drama, let's go
04:32It was an album that I was really hoping that I could connect both of the worlds that I grew
04:36up in
04:37So, you know, Africa was a big inspiration for me
04:41As well as Brooklyn, New York, where I live now
04:44My goal was to try to combine these sounds
04:48That, you know, taking the high life, Afrobeat, Sukus, you know, all that sound
04:55And mixing it up with just straight boom-bap hip-hop, you know what I mean?
05:00From like the golden era, like the 90s
05:03So, you know, I was thinking DJ Premier, Pete Rock, you know, those are the producers that I look up
05:10to as a producer
05:12And I was also looking at how do I combine that with some of the African music that I grew
05:18up with
05:18So that was kind of the biggest inspiration for me on the record
05:21You know, obviously, you know, there's some topics that are dear to me, you know, like, you know, just unfortunately
05:28how the continent of Africa has continued to be depicted in a very negative light
05:35So that always inspires me to try to push in the opposite direction, you know, to show the reasons why
05:44Africa is in the conditions that it is in
05:46You know, it's not because of our own doing
05:49A lot of it, you know, is from, you know, colonial exploitation, corporations still exploiting, you know
05:58So all these things are important to me and I try to make sure that I slip it in the
06:01music I make because it's important
06:04However, to me, I'm still a musician first
06:08I'm not an activist first, I'm not a politician first
06:11So I try to make sure that the music itself is extremely on point
06:18Then I try to slide in whatever information that I may deem important, you understand
06:24So that's kind of been the way I've been making music for many years
06:28So I start with the music first
06:30And then the inspiration I get from the music, I try to put in some of the information that I
06:35know
06:41Well, it was the visual component for my album Native Son
06:47And I decided to go make the film because I felt that people need an opportunity to actually see my
06:57background
06:57And see kind of where I come from
06:59People know me in terms of where I live in Brooklyn, New York
07:04But nobody really knows my other environment in Ghana
07:08So I decided to go there to make this film
07:10But I was also trying to make this connection of the story that's on the album
07:15Which is a journey with this other little boy's journey
07:18So, but overall the idea was really just to capture Africa beautifully
07:23You know, and that was our goal was to go shoot a real beautiful movie
07:26And, you know, just tell a very heartfelt story
07:30And so that's kind of how the movie came about
07:33I was looking for an opportunity to have the music have a visual
07:38And so, you know, when we got the opportunity to go do it, it worked out perfectly
08:08Oh, yeah!
08:11Oh, yeah!
08:28Oh
08:29How do you laugh?
08:32How do you laugh?
08:33How do you laugh?
08:33Oh, okay
08:35How do you laugh?
08:40How do you laugh?
08:40I guess Totodama is in the house
08:43I did not know
08:46But, you see
08:50I told you we were going to take you to the clubs, right?
08:53some of you are a little too young to go to the clubs though so we're going to keep it
08:59very very
09:00peachy yes for the kids but uh you know over here while you're chilling in the club listening to a
09:12lovely groove like this you may just hear a small voice come out
09:34i think i'm cool club he asked me say when car music beat this i tell i'm saying
09:45in the highlight in the highlight in the highlight in the highlight in the afro big
09:54in the afro big in the afro big in the so cool in the so cool in the so cool
10:05in the so cool
10:25Oh, oh, oh, oh, hit her.
10:31Hit her.
10:36Okay, okay, okay.
10:42Are you feeling this rhythm?
10:47Okay, I know there's more than two people over here.
10:50I said, are you feeling this rhythm?
10:54Okay.
10:57Well, well, well.
11:00I don't know how y'all feeling out there, but we are definitely having fun up here.
11:05And I will let you know how we boogie to this kind of music.
11:11See, people don't just stand around and stare at you when this music is happening.
11:16Do people do that?
11:19Just stare at you?
11:22No.
11:23They get down like my man right there.
11:26Yes.
11:27And I will show you how we get down over here to this rhythm.
11:32It's really simple.
11:34It's called the three step.
11:36I see you.
11:37I see you.
11:39It's called the three step.
11:41It's so easy.
11:42If you can count on, do, drop, you can dance.
11:47So let's show them.
11:48We go on, do, drop.
11:51One, two, three.
11:53One, two, three.
11:54One, two, three.
11:56One, two, three.
11:58One, two, three.
11:59I see you.
12:00You're going the wrong direction.
12:01You're going the wrong direction.
12:02You have to follow us.
12:04One, two, three.
12:06One, two, three.
12:07One, two, three.
12:09One, two, three.
12:10One, two, three.
12:11One, two, three.
12:11I like that crew over there.
12:13One, two, three.
12:14One, two, three.
12:16One, two, three.
12:18One, two, three.
12:19One, two, three.
12:20One, two, three.
12:21One, two, three.
12:21One, two, three.
12:21Excuse me.
12:22Excuse me.
12:22Excuse me.
12:23I want to go join the party over there.
12:25Excuse me.
12:43But the
12:47One, two, three
12:48To the left, to the left, to the left
12:50To the right, to the right, to the right
12:52To the left, to the left, to the left
12:54To the, to the, to the
12:56To the, to the, to the, to the
12:57To the, to the, to the
12:58To the, to the, to the
13:00To the, to the, to the
13:02To the, to the, to the
13:07Everybody get up there
13:10Hey
13:15Hey
13:15Hey
13:15Drop, hit him, hit him, hit him, hit him, hit him.
13:48It was for Afro-style communication and Setsis, La Cité de l'image et du son.
13:57Voila.
13:58See you later.
13:59Merci.
14:00Bye-bye.
14:00Bye-bye.
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