February 7, 2009

Meet Kiwi

looking back, one of the most influential stages of my life was the time i spent as an undergrad at ucla. not because of the classes i took, but because of the people i met and the inspiration they hit me with. one of the people who had a huge impact on me was this brotha they called kiwi.
"I felt like there were many parallels of his experience that I could relate to myself, in terms of reclaiming our culture, finding identity and purpose through music, and standing by the idea of art for the people (as opposed to art for art’s sake)."
--- Kiwi on Chris Iijima Photobucket
having seen him spit on stage and featured in the classic film beats, rhymes, and resistance, kiwi was one of the first superstars of the community that i really looked up.  along with artisits like faith santilla and wendell pascual, kiwi really opened me up to the power of creativity combined with grounded political expression.  i can honestly say that i would not be making films today if it were not for this dude...
kiwi was one of the first people to see a cut of a song for ourselves and has been supportive of the project ever since.  i'm so honored that kiwi will be performing at the premiere of Song on the 28th!

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