About Me
I graduated high school in the Summer of '94, much like THE WACKNESS' Luke Shapiro (although I never sold weed. I swear.). 1994 found New York at a crossroads. And it found hip hop at its creative apex. I suppose I was at my own crossroads in '94, for I latched onto this music and never let go.1994 featured debut albums from artists like Nas, Notorious B.I.G., Outkast, and Method Man. Although these albums weren't necessarily made with me in mind, they spoke to me nonetheless. There was a restlessness to the music, a sense of provocation with which I identified. It's not so much that these albums had the right answers (they rarely did); it was more that they were asking the right questions. That, and they were cool to dance to. Rap music, like New York itself, was at a very different place in '94. For me, that's what is so interesting about setting the movie 13 short years ago – assessing those similarities and differences. When we take stock of this recent past, we have a more fully-realized understanding of the present. Or, as Ghostface Killa put it back in the day, "if you forget where you come from, you never gonna make it where you're going." That sentence encapsulates a lot of what making this movie meant to me. I hope it's a sentiment that comes across in some small part as you watch THE WACKNESS. And I hope the same restless spirit that pervaded those great '94 hip hop albums lives on in the film. Most of all, though I hope it's cool to dance to. You know, in that movie kind of way. ( http://www.myspace.com/thewacknesfilm )
