Production Begins on Ex-Gangster Biopic

The "A Band Apart" directing team Coodie & Chike are currently shooting their debut picture "The Noonie G. Story." The documentary is narrated by Chicago-born hip-hop legend Common, and captures Harold ‘Noonie’ Ward’s dicey gangster past and fascinating ascendance into the upper echelons of Chicago entertainment, business and politics.

Noonie is a former high-ranking member of the largest criminal organization in the United States (the Gangster Disciples) and is now one of Chicago’s entrepreneurial and philanthropic elite. Noonie’s organizational genius, once used for terror across the Mid-West, is now focused on positive, productive business and community development projects. Noonie’s inspirational story is the Spring 2005 cover story for F.E.D.S. Magazine.

Coodie & Chike made their directorial debut in 2004 with Kanye West’s 'Through the Wire' which became a Buzzworthy clip on MTV and earned Video-of-the-Year at The Source Hip-Hop Awards. Coodie & Chike have since directed West’s landmark 'Jesus Walks' and 'Two Words', featuring Mos Def and Freeway, worked with rappers Pitbull and Lil’ Jon on the video 'Culo', and directed Mos Def's gritty 'Ghetto Rock' video.

Filming in Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York, "The Noonie G. Story" offers unprecedented inside perspectives on the secretive, seductive, and sensational world of Chicago gang life. The narration conducted by Common adds a valuable dimension of Chicago urban royalty. The film is produced by Brandon Himmel. Award-winning journalist Adam Matthews helped shape the film's narrative and wrote Common's script.