Raquel Cepeda is an award-winning editor and multi-media journalist, producer and filmmaker.Cepeda is also a multi-cultural media consultant specializing in translating news and social/global issues into an authentic language that is palatable to younger generations—18-34 years of age—stateside and abroad.Cepeda is the director, writer and co-producer of “Bling: A Planet Rock,†an 87 minute documentary about American hip-hop culture’s obsession with diamonds—“blingingâ€â€”and all its social trappings, and how this infatuation correlated with the ten-year conflict in Sierra Leone, West Africa. The film follows three rappers—Paul Wall, Tego Calderon, and Raekwon—as they trek to the country to meet the survivors, perpetrators and diamond miners in the country. The film also features Kanye West, Juelz Santana, Jadakiss and former child soldier/author Ishmael Beah. Cepeda co-produced the documentary with a19, VH1, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). A modified version for television of “Bling…†premiered under the title “Bling’d: Blood, Diamonds and Hip-Hop†on VH1 on February 22, 2007 (3.3 million viewers).Image Entertainment distributes the theatrical version of “Bling: A Planet Rock,†which was released September, 2007 and is available for purchase at Walmart, FYE, Circuit City and Amazon.Raquel Cepeda also served as a creative consulting producer on "From Mambo to Hip-Hop," directed by Henry Chalfant ("Style Wars") for PBS (2007).Currently, Cepeda is in production on “BLOW US UP!,†a wartime concert documentary starring platinum selling rapper Paul Wall and TV Johnny who will journey into the past to see the future—in Iraq and Johnny’s homeland, Vietnam.Following in the tradition of the highly acclaimed “Bling: A Planet Rock,†“BLOW US UP!†uses the medium of hip-hop to engage a new audience in the history of two American wars, a generation and musical genre apart from each other.
Cepeda is also developing another international hip-hop project in South Africa under her production company, djali rancher productions, LLC, about bridging the gap between American and South African women.Raquel Cepeda's book "And It Don't Stop: The Best Hip-Hop Journalism of the Last 25 Years," the first ever “Best of…†anthology won a 2005 PEN Beyond Margins Award and Best Arts Book from the Latino Book Awards. Her writing was included in Da Capo’s “Best Music Writing of 2006†and in Jeff Chang’s anthology “Total Chaos,†where she wrote about Yoruba iconography in hip-hop’s visual aesthetic. Over the span of twelve years or so, Cepeda has contributed to People, The Associated Press, Paper, Village Voice and other nationally distributed publications, MTV News, USA Weekend, Vibe, GQ, SPIN, and many others.Cepeda served as editor in chief of Russell Simmons' Oneworld Magazine where she won awards for her redesign of the bi-monthly glossy, and was the founder and Executive Producer of Content and Editor-in-Chief of sayShe.com, the very first online destination dedicated to young multicultural women.
She lives in New York City with her daughter djali.
TRAILER FOR "BLING: A PLANET ROCK"
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