Bronx rap artist Kemba explores the growing weaponization of rap lyrics in the United States criminal justice system and | dG1fczBSWnV4LXh1blk
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:02 My name is J.M. Harper.
00:06 I'm the director of As We Speak, which
00:08 is playing in the US documentary competition of the 2024
00:13 Sundance Film Festival.
00:14 This film was always about telling not
00:18 the story of a single trial, but instead
00:21 about a 400-year history of Black lyrics
00:27 through generations and through genres
00:30 as it led up to hip hop and what we see today in the way
00:34 that lyrics are abused by the criminal justice system.
00:38 For me, the documentary was always
00:41 about how we could push the form forward,
00:44 not just for the sake of style, but because I
00:48 wanted the film to map as closely as it could
00:52 to the language of hip hop itself, which has always
00:56 challenged the boundaries of the English language.
00:59 I had the pleasure of working with an incredible lead
01:05 character, Kimba, who is this unique prism,
01:09 not only into the minds of the young men and women who make it,
01:15 but also into the history of the United States, of America,
01:20 as an idea.
01:22 I look forward not only to sharing the film with the world,
01:24 but hopefully also the real change that can happen in the US
01:27 and internationally to deal with what
01:30 is the very real and present issue that's
01:31 happening as we speak.
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