Hip-Hop For President

Hip-Hop for President will be the first film to look at how the influence and personalities of Hip-Hop Culture have become a voice in American politics. The film begins with a look at the 2004 presidential election and the influential Vote or Die: Citizen Change campaign that was headed by P. Diddy and other celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Alicia Keys, and Mary J. Blige. The Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, Russell Simmons, and Dr. Ben Chavis launched the groundbreaking voter registration drive. The film will look at the results of these separate but combined statements by Hip-Hop culture to unite and register voters from outside the mainstream media machine.  The results and impact of the two campaigns upon the 2004 election will be juxtaposed to the efforts that will lead into the 2008 presidential election.

There will be pre-election interviews with the key figures and their thoughts on what will transpire for the presidential election of 2008. A coalition of core artists, journalists, and politicians such as Andersen Copper, Jon Stewart, Sway, Su Chin Paki, Al Gore, Rosa Clemente, and Jesse Jackson, Michael Bloomberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger will intersect with the high-profile voices of Hip-Hop. Russell Simmons, Sean Combs, Jay-Z, Nas, and Eminem, will set the tone for the film from the beginning. As a non-partisan film, Hip-Hop for President will look at the presence of Hip-Hop Culture within the Republican Party as it influences the election. A great example of this is what happened with the College Republicans in Gainesville, Florida. A group gathered outside Gainesville’s O’Connell Center before a Kanye West concert to show their support of President Bush. Hip-Hop is mainstream America, both Democrats and Republicans will look to better harness the power of Hip-Hop culture as it grows ever more influential heading into the 2008 election. This film will succeed in capturing those moments.

As the candidates begin to campaign, the film will travel with the politicians and document how they are positioning their race for the highest office in the land. Who will be the first candidate to address publicly the issues that are important to Hip-Hop? How will Hip-Hop’s adopted leader Bill Clinton factor in the voice of change in America?  Will Hilary embrace Hip-Hop culture as she has done in the past? Once a pivotal thread has established, Hip-Hop for President will document the high-profile, political events attended by Hip-Hop stars and Hollywood celebrities to endorse their chosen candidates. Some of the players are Eminem, Chuck D, Jada Pinkett Smith, Chris Rock, Tom Cruise, The Black Eyed Peas, Jack Black, Ben Affleck, Cameron Diaz, Brad Pitt for the Democratic Party. Vincent Gallo, 50 Cent, LL Cool J, Jessica Simpson, Angie Harmon, Vince Vaughn, and Bruce Willis, to name a few, in support of the Republican Party. The film will go inside the presidential race from every angle. Our cameras will be at all the primaries to analyze what goes on when the mudslinging starts. Through the eyes of the Hip-Hop generation, Hip-Hop for President will be a perceptive, political documentary.

Targeting the youth culture, Hip-Hop for President is a unique examination of the political landscape that affects every American citizen. 2008 will be a groundbreaking year in Washington, and the cameras of Hip-Hop for President will be on hand to document every aspect of it.

At the National Conventions, Hip-Hop for President will use two-man video crews to follow delegates and correspondents such as a Vincent Gallo or a Kanye West.  They will document the nomination of each presidential candidate and their speeches, while talking to celebrities on the floor and in the backrooms about the upcoming election.  The anti-war protests and pro-war rallies will be covered simultaneously during each of the conventions and overlaid during the most volatile part of the election: the nomination and acceptance speeches.

The film will shoot press corps footage of presidential candidates as they make their way through Florida, Ohio, and California. Sponsored production vans will carry film crews to these cities to get exclusive looks at the candidates as they make their way across the country. We will also be on the bus with each of the bi-partisan voter registration campaigns, The Hip-Hop Summit Action Network’s Team Vote and Vote or Die: Citizen Change. We will incorporate TV News and Sunday Morning shows, Fox News and Radio talk shows.

The Internet site: www.hiphopforpresident.com will play a big part in the development of the film. The Blog www.hiphopforpresident08.blogspot.com will be kept along with a myspace page http://www.myspace.com/hiphop4president site with video pod casts to seed the market about the film and the news from the candidates and eventual candidates. This film will truly make it cool to get involved in the voting process. VOTE HIP-HOP!

William Gibson ; Director
Director/Producer William Gibson worked as the producer and cinematographer on the feature film Rap Sheet:Hip-Hop and the Cops which has secured DVD distribution with Universal’s Screen Media Ventures for a July 2007 release. Bill will direct his next two  film projects, Hip-Hip for President with Rap Sheet director Don Sikorski and Angels over India: an AIDS awareness documentary.

Don Sikorski ; Director
Director Don Sikorski, made his directorial debut with Rap Sheet: Hip-Hop and the Cops, a complex story about the relationship between Hip-Hop and law enforcement. As the Writer/Director of Rap Sheet, Sikorski spent three years capturing over 250 interviews with some of the biggest stars and executives of the Hip-Hop industry. He is currently in development with the documentary film Hip-Hop For President and Article 32: Rules of Engagement, a film about a group of Marines called the Pendleton 8.

George Martinez; Producer
Hon. George “Rithm” Martinez is an award winning artist/ activist /
educator and the first Hip-Hop artist/ activist elected to political
office in the United States. He is also a founding board member and
current chairman of the award winning Hip-Hop Association (H2A). He is
also the co-founder of the award winning Blackout Arts Collective. He
is currently an adjunct faculty member in the political science
department at Pace University and former Assistant Director of
Intergovernmental Relations for the former Attorney General and
current Governor of New York State Eliot Spitzer. George has
production credits in both radio and television and has been cited in
over 150 news papers and magazines world wide.
For more info contact:  http://www.myspace.com/hongeorgemartinez

Larry Dell; Director of Public Relations
Formerly, Larry was Senior Public Relations Manager, IDT Corporation responsible for PR campaigns for telecom and entertainment divisions. Placing stories in national publications, Larry wrote and pitched press releases, maintained relationships with editors and reporters and managed outside PR firms. As co-owner of Telecraft Productions, a New York City based film production company. Larry managed day-to-day company operations and  supervised productions. Produced television commercials for Young and Rubicam, Laurence, Charles and Free, Bohbot Communications, Hispania, J. Walter Thompson’s Hispanic agency.