About
with Madlib, 2000. Photo: Egon
Left, right, some ask from which angle
Straight up the middle, reality's the riddle.
Jungle Brothers ‘Beyond this World’
Hip hop defined entire periods of my life.
It inspired me to seek out people, places, experiences, and music. It informed my language, my aesthetics, my work and my identity.
I directed rap videos, shot album cover photos, and hung out around the world with luminary rappers, DJs, producers and journalists.
At times, my experiences drove me to cry tears of joy.
Yet I often felt alienated, an eternal outsider with an insider’s access.
So I’m starting this website with some questions:
What was a kid from a beachy Southern California suburb doing at places like the Roadium, the Compton Indoor Swapmeet, KDAY 1580AM, and La Casa Camino Real?
How did I go being from a teenager making pause tapes in my bedroom to standing on stage with NWA, with a thank you in my name printed on the back cover of NWA’s Straight Outta Compton LP?
And how did these experiences become a career? First directing music videos and shooting album covers for some of the most legendary hip-hop artists in history to directing commercials for some of the most massive brands in the world to directing movies?
It’s all a paradox. And that’s why I’m here.
I hope that this website will help both of us make sense of things.
Thank you.
Andrew
Contact.