Nomadic Wax + Stones Throw

Nomadic Wax is a record label, music/film production company and events producer specializing in hip-hop and underground music from around the globe. They choose to depict artists that have distinctive political messages which they push through their music and are active in stimulating change in their various communities because like Chuck D said, 'Hip Hop is the CNN of urban youth.' Having said that if all you were ever exposed to was MTV's watered-down take on hip hop you'd be excused for thinking that it was all about Cristal, bitches and bling-bling, which is about as far away from the rampant fire-brand use of the medium by the likes of Public Enemy and POC.



Thankfully in large parts of the world musicians and emcees are still using their music as a platform to effect social change and to enlighten the youth as to how the policies of the fat cats in power serve to do nothing more than have detrimental circumstances in the neighborhoods that they live in. That is why the hip hop scene in most French-speaking countries is so interesting, they are most certainly not afraid to stick two fingers up to their governments and let everyone know that shit is fucked up.



Up here at Idyllwild Arts Academy we've invited the makers of the film to screen their film and then to discuss the issues related with the students at our school. The demographic of the school is privileged to say the least and it is through events like this that we hope to show them that the world is a melting pot of chaos, oppression and violence but in between all that negativity there are creative voices that resonate and rise above all that bullshit and make lasting impacts on the world in which we live, it is this sort of creativity and energy that inspires me greatly and I have nothing but praise for the work that Nomadic Wax are doing in bringing this to our attention through their films. Check their blog for more truth.

We're filming a short documentary on their visit to the school and when that is done I will put it up here for those of you that are interested.


Photo by Chris Woodcock

This will form part of the Black History month celebrations here at the school and in addition to this we have a talk from Stones Throw label manager Egon who will be raising the curtain on the history of jazz, blues, funk and soul in the US as well as playing his favourite records to accentuate his talk. If any of you have seen the videos of him talking at the Red Bull Music Academy you'll know that he is an articulate individual whose knowledge runs deep.

I'm very excited about these two events and I'll be doing in depth interviews with both Egon and the guys from Nomadic Wax, which will appear on here over the course of the next couple of months.