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 )
