Oh yes, two of my favorite artists and close friends together again. The last time we were all in SF together was in 2002 for their collab show at 111 Minna, after we had all been on the road with Galactic doing the Sight of Sound tour. I was filming the whole thing and documenting the rockstar painter mashup.

This show promises to be extra crazy. Buildestroy will be creating projections for the show and installations. Also will premiere some pieces from the Ghetto Defender film with Doze. Come check us Bay Area Massive!

Youtube Video Preview of the Rubicon Sun show

Youtube Video of David Ellis’ Robotic Musical Owl from the Show

Virgin Islands has a strong roots and culture Reggae movement like none other. The artists are different from Jamaican artists, not to say in any way better, as all of my favorite singers come from JA, until now. My fam Child from Project Groundation has been consistently working with VI artists on his albums lately and they always come with some real talk and very intelligent analysis. Also the music and flow takes me back to the Reggae my parents listened to growing up but also very current and forward. Check for dem:

Midnite
Niyorah
Bambu Station
Pressure
Apostle
Abja

http://www.vireggae.com/culture.htm 

http://www.reggae.vi/ 

Any of the PGM mixtapes with VI artists are always real dope. Get them here

http://www.projectgroundation.com 

Bless Up!

My good friend John Narun was CD at Venano, Inc. on the project of creating a jumbo screen film for each song on the album to compliment the stage show. So with Jason Whitmore fresh off of the Ipod light streak spot he did at Exopolis we got to do the graffiti handstyle streaks that we’ve all been waiting to see. Who cares about abstractions, let the streaks have meaning. Oh yeah Sprint jumped everyone else on that one, except us, and ours was for Xtina so now what? Buildestroy didn’t animate any of this, we just caught tags and throw ups and abstracted wildstyle letters. My LA homie Trixter got down with me on this one too.

PS: It’s 4 minutes long and 23 MB, I won’t be hurt if you only last 1/2 way through..

http://www.buildestroy.com/XTINA.mov

Asif Mian aka EVAQ from Queens, NY is killing it. This video actually tops his last one for The Roots “Trilogy” (3 videos) which I thought was bonkers already. This kid is the one to watch, if I ever thought about having a partner in Buildestroy it would be him. Also this dude High Priest is from Anti Pop Consortium and now solo, so check his work out too. Niceness. I don’t know where to begin about how dope this video is so I won’t, it just is. My favorite part is the “Skuf” tags from 1999 in the background, Brooklyn stand up. It’s all in the details and Asif is extremely mindful of them. Grimey, perfect mix of live action and Vis-FX and all very in camera feeling. Pop yourself a bottle son.

Using dope 35mm footage shot in Tahiti mixed with green screen footage shot in LA, we made
a good day gone wrong. The spot shows one of the grim realities of global warming, the rising
of our sea level. Not good for surfing and not good for living. Now if only we had a government
that gave a damn, cause I know the people do. Every little bit counts.. 

http://www.buildestroy.com/SURFSUP_EUROPE_web.mov 

We did another motion painting piece. This time we wanted to have a bit of a story that would speak to the themes of the LALIFF Festival. This year the themes were focused on the idea of the Harvest, also of coming of age, and the youth. They also were also honoring a Mexican actor and had a night of Lucha Libre. We wanted to be able to speak to these ideas as well as tie in the concept of the dreamer and following your dreams and the struggle that ensues with this life path. The filmaker like the Luchador fights every day to make his film. The result is growth and the Harvest is of your creations.

We shot the painting in the stopmotion Barnstormers bird’s eye tradition for 2 days, and then edited and composited for 2 weeks. The environments were all 3D using our photography. The piece was a huge hit at the festival, and we had a great time making it. I painted alongside Miguel Perez on this one. My beautiful wife Jeni blesses the screen at the end. I shared the creative duties with Fidel at Kr8tive Guns and the sound was done by AZ. Thanks to LALIFF for the chance to make this. 

http://www.buildestroy.com/LALIFF.mov 

The picture says it all. An Emmy for “Dick in a Box” on Saturday Night Live!
Yeah only a cat in our camp would pull that off. Word, respects big Asa and Lonely Island! http://www.asataccone.com
Check for ASA’s music samples on Buildestroy’s website soon to come with his partner Drew Campbell from Adeline Studios. Two of my favorite producers, together making big moves this coming year. Plus he’s in the studio with Dangermouse making top secret madness.

My good brother MED relaunched our clothing line with our own retail store and the sickest tattoo shop ever seen. My crew is coming up large, we got Bay Area homie Metal Man Ed to come and recreate 4 NY MTA subway trains to scale, down to the rivet. Tuff City partnered with Montana paint to have one of the most extensive collections of aerosol paint for sale in New York. There’s also a legal wall there in the alley for anyone who buys a certain amount of paint can do a burner. On the roof they installed a life size side panel of the MTA train with windows and everything, for us to piece when we want. Some of the best tattoos, airbrushing, and piecing going down at Tuff City. Also a full music studio and the Buildestroy East Coast Headquarters housed at Tuff City. Check for MED, CES,and YES2. The Grand Opening in July was nuts. Right near the Bronx Zoo and Fordham University, so don’t be scared of the Boogie Down BX.

650 E. Fordham Rd. Bronx, NY 10495 • 718. 563. 4157

The TCS clothing line collabo with Buildestroy. Here’s some of the designs from Summer 07.

My boy Conner in NYC invited us to participate in a session that was a who’s who of tight mograff cats. The theme was “change” I chose to take that one real literal this time. Forever the sarcastic bastard sometimes I just can’t resist lowbrow humor. Especially when it involves cultural and political jabs at dead presidents and rappers doing the VO! Check it out:

http://www.twenty120.com/films/010.html