The Hip Hop Project Interview

MoviesOnline recently caught up with director Matt Ruskin and hip hop artist Chris ‘Kazi’ Rolle at the Los Angeles press day to promote their new film "The Hip Hop Project.”

From Executive Producers Bruce Willis and Queen Latifah, "The Hip Hop Project” is the compelling story of Kazi, a formerly homeless teenager, who inspires a group of New York City teens to transform their life stories into powerful works of art, using hip hop as a vehicle for self-development and personal discovery. The film traces the evolution of Kazi’s award-winning program, one that creates a safe environment and challenges young people to express themselves freely by writing music about the issues affecting their lives.

Russell Simmons, hip hop mogul and long-time supporter of the project, partners with Bruce Willis to donate a recording studio to the Hip Hop Project, and Kazi, along with two of his students, Princess and Cannon, strives to overcome daunting obstacles to produce a collaborative album. After four years of working together, the group produces a powerful and thought-provoking CD imbued with moving personal narratives and sharp social commentary.

Inspired by the teenagers' mission to heal themselves and their community, Pressure Point Films is donating all of its net profits from the film to non-profit arts organizations working with underserved children and teens, and to a scholarship fund benefiting the students of the Hip Hop Project.

Here’s what Matt Ruskin and Chris ‘Kazi’ Rolle had to tell us about their exciting new documentary film:

Q: What a perfect time for this film to open now, with everyone calling out for change in rap music.

A: Matt: That’s one thing about this whole debate, it’s an incredible time for the film to come out in the context of this national debate being sparked about the content of rap music and the affect on the culture. But what Kazi’s been saying, we’ve been filming with him for one and five years, he’s been doing this work for close to ten years. I’ll let him speak more about that.

Kazi: Yeah, I think it’s definitely a blessing. I’d like to say that this whole process has been very divine for us. Every thing that’s happened that you saw in the movie blew us away just as much, like a studio falling in your lap, and all of these big names and notable people are endorsing the movie. We just did our premiere on Monday, we didn’t think any celebrities was going to come, and a ton of celebrities came and everybody was just moved and inspired to want to help. We think that this project is definitely blessed, meaning that the world needs it and every obstacle or barrier that has ever come in our way in terms of getting it out there has been moved, so I like to say that it’s been very – this whole project is divine.

Q: Which celebrities came and what did they say to you?

Kazi: Everybody, Bruce and his support just is so great and his main thing is just that – like what most people are saying, is just like the story in that it’s us giving. This one little thing has turned into this whole big thing, and it just shows how when you give to somebody else you get a lot back. And then for a lot of the hip hop luminaries such as the Buster Rhymes and even Ice T, and Doug E. Fresh, who’s also in the film and has been my mentor, say the same thing. It just reminds them of the power of giving back, which is what this whole movie is really about. Even to have Bruce Willis and Queen Latifah, who we could have paid, we would pay for what they have given us, and they said, ‘Listen, no. We don’t want no money.’ A hundred percent of all the net profits from this film is gonna go back to non-profits working with young people, and everybody who hears that they just want to give more and more.

Q: Can you talk about how you started the project and then how you found out how a documentary was going to be made.

Matt: It’s the other way around.

Q: Talking about being a fly on the wall, how difficult was it to film talking to your mother. How do you think having a camera there might have changed her reaction to anything that happened?

Kazi: No, I think me and Jean had that relationship, but I do think that the cameras probably brought up a lot more pride, you know what I mean? So I think that that part of it, somebody was saying my West Indian (heritage) (chuckles) but I think pride is a very big thing. I don’t know about other cultures, but growing up in the West Indies that dignity and that pride, so I think that did come up, but it did spark a confrontation that – sometimes conflict is what’s needed to go (to) the next level, and our relationship is constantly evolving, we talk on the phone on the regular now, and Matt and I went to the Bahamas in December and I got to meet my father and he got to talk to my mother, and they haven’t spoken in years, and that started the healing process. But the movie is very authentic, and I often wonder how you can just be a fly on the wall too.

Matt: In that particular scene it was difficult, but we kind of treated it differently, we had the crew waiting inside the house and I just sat in a chair with the camera, and had somebody run film as needed. But it was difficult, and I think that he had the benefit of having experienced cameras around for close to three years at that stage, and it was the one day for her. So I think you can see how – that it had an impact on her. It’s that line of not wanting to interfere with people’s live and wanting to tell a story to the fullest, and if Kazi was comfortable, my sort of guiding principle was if he was comfortable with us being there, then I was going to shoot it if possible.

Q: If there was one thing that you could say to a lot of teens out there who are kind of in the same place as the kids in your school, words of inspiration, what would it be?

Kazi: I have so much I can say, but – I would say that for me, what my biggest lesson has been that when you go through the hardest stuff in life that means that you have a greater purpose, and as long as you don’t let it crush you and you seek more ‘why is this happening to me?’ and you seek out that answer, over time when the answer is revealed you see that it really made you a better and stronger person. And seek support, I think that’s a big thing. I had a lot of angels in my life who have done a lot for me and their support when I got weak helped me to see the different perspective that maybe these things are for a greater purpose, is what really got me through.

Q: The film has such ups and downs, but you seem to be hanging in there for most of the time, what was the one time when you almost felt like you’d just give up?

Kazi: There was many times.

Q: What’s the worse one I guess? Like the record isn’t going to get made, what was the worst?

Kazi: You know, maybe right around the time when it was time to go to the Bahamas, it was just like – stuff was just not moving and this was not moving –

Q: You mean in your life personally as well as the –

Kazi: I think the program actually became my life. One day I could feel like I could want to give it all up, and then I could go to sleep or I could watch a movie or see something, and then, wham, I’m back. I think my personality is like that. The worse things get, the more resilient I get. It’s not always that good, that’s not always good, sometimes you’ve got to learn when to walk away, so looking at the movie I think that was my lesson, that I would pass onto other teachers or parents or whatever. Sometimes that’s the hardest thing to do, but that’s when all of your work will manifest itself and you take a step back and let go.

Q: Do you keep in contact with Princess and Cannon and Ty (?)

Kazi: Well Princess is on her way to see me right now. But the whole group, we have - based on what Matt and Scott has created, is really a great platform for us to now continue to push all of our music, and use this as our platform to share the music around the world, so we formed a group called The Hip Hop Project, and we seek to perform and take this music around the world. And so Lakeshore is releasing our soundtrack next Tuesday, and it’s available right now on iTunes, but it will be available in retail stores, and people every time they walk out of the movie, they want to get the album. So everybody is a part of the alumni, the fellowship program, where they all come back and teach as part of the curriculum, and Princess continues to run the program.

Q: How is she doing now that she has the baby?

Kazi: We’ve really formed a big family and she’s the healer in her own family, and she has support of her daughter’s father, she has all of our support and the program pays her a nice salary, so she’s good.

Q: There was a lot of emotion in it because of the abortion, she put it in the music, so now that she’s gone through that process, do you think that’s helped her becoming a new mother?

Kazi: Yeah, totally, and she’s actually working on a book called "Me, Myself and I” where she shares a lot of the lessons in her journey, and I think most people, many people do know that this is what we should all use but sharing is a very important part in the healing process, because you receive back as well. People say, ‘Well, I was the only one and then that conversation happened,’ so in our book she’s constantly talking to other mothers, as well as, like I said, we have a very big family from the program, and other programs that we all connect to, so if I don’t have a person, somebody else have them and we’re constantly, always interacting with each other, and I think when you have that family structure or that support, it makes everything easier.

Q: Can you describe a little bit when you first met Bruce, and you heard that he was going to give you guys a studio. Were you like, oh yeah, right?

Kazi: Yeah, I was definitely shocked, but I definitely like I said, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of people when they first come into a spirituality and know that – wow, I’ve just always – they’re just so shocked and just so, I’m a very hype person, I’m actually cool right now, but I was always just high hype. I was like, ‘Wow, I just feel so excited.’ What do the call the word, surreal? So that’s what it was for me, it was like, I can’t believe it.

Q: But he came there and was he super friendly at first?

Kazi: Oh he’s a really smooth guy, really just smooth, it’s like really fazed him, his voice never was never raised above this level, (does impression of Willis) ‘Kazi, man, it’s just a small thing, man, I’m just giving you this, and I know you’re going to make much of it.’ You know, he was just cool, he was just very smooth and very cool, and we all were just very grateful and they brought him, and Russell came down together and Annabella Sciorra she all was there as well, and hip hop and a lot of stuff that goes on within the inner city is usually always highlighted when it’s negative, and it’s not always highlighted when it’s positive. For people like that, I think it’s a small thing, to give a $100,000 studio, one of his many houses, and Russell just to take – they were down there about an hour, an hour out of their day was an immense amount of support, and recognition for us and the work we’re doing at the Hip Hop Project at Art Start.

Q: How did you get to be so positive, because you have quite a background? There seems to be a lot of anger behind rap, but it was so moving how you could see them change when they broke down the barriers and started speaking the truth about their lives instead of being angry – did you notice a difference?

Kazi: I don’t really see myself as positive. I keep hearing the feedback and sometimes I’m really actually overwhelmed by the things people say. I don’t know, I guess you go through stuff in life and it made a certain person, and I mean I’m personally still striving, I don’t got it all together or nothing, and I’m just constantly striving, just constantly striving and just want to make it better. And I think some of it is that a lot of people along my way have really [inaudible] me out, and anytime I think about them I think that drives me a little bit more. The things that people say, just like wow, you know, and I think for me that’s a little bit of a push, that’s why I said about the resilient thing, the more people say stuff, or people that said stuff about me.

Q: You mean negative stuff?

Kazi: Negative stuff, you know, and I just feel like I want to prove them wrong.

Q: Why did you leave as director, because you wanted to do your own thing? Why did you pass the reins on to Princess?

Kazi: I never really left, I don’t think. I think that my position transitioned. So I’m on the board of Art Start, which is the umbrella organization where our Hip Hop Project is, the program is constantly growing and growing, so I change the position and basically Princess knocked me out of that spot anyway. Along the way she was leading all of the boys and asking me questions I myself could not answer, and I’m still there. I have a lot of further visions for where the program can go.

Q: Is it in different cities now?

Kazi: That’s one of the visions, but not as yet.

Q: They could use it right here.

Kazi: No Pressure Point [note: This is a British club and venue in Brighton where they have festivals and musical acts can perform. I think this is what he means] , they’re working on a companion curriculum to go along with the film and our DVD as well as I’m working on a workbook so that people can use the film as an educational tool, so it’s a companion to the film for educators.

Q: When this comes out on DVD there must be tons of stuff that is not in the movie – do you have a lot more of the sessions on how they made the CD?

Matt: Most of the sessions were filmed. Yeah, there’s going to be a lot more music, many scenes that didn’t make the film, as well as reaction around the world to the film, where are they now, and some making of features. There’s an enormous amount of material, we’re actually trying to narrow it down right now.

Q: Did you love this kind of music?

Matt: I grew up on it and I had actually lost interest in it almost entirely. When you find a new, fresh and creative art form that belongs to the subculture and the counterculture, and you watch it become almost entirely commercialized, I chose not to watch anymore after a certain point. I came in with no expectations to like the music, I just wanted to make the film. I felt that Kazi’s story was an important story, and worth telling, and I was very surprised that it reinvigorated my interest in the music.

Q: I want to know whose house that was when you all had that benefit – the guy was like, ‘I don’t know who these people are in my house.’

Matt: He’s got a poor sense of humor. He’s a very generous guy. I don’t know him personally, but he is involved with this charity network and has given to one of the other young people in the project, and has hosted a number of events.

Q: I was like, you don’t know who these people are?

Matt: They are very odd events but they are very necessary for non-profits.

Q: What made me laugh was the lady who rapped, rapped very slowly there, because she wanted to make sure that they understood the words.

Kazi: That was also a part of Art Start that I really liked was that you bring these different cultures together and then everybody can get exposure and access to each other.

"The Hip Hop Project” opens in limited release in theaters on May 11^th.