May 3, 2014
The Final Product.
Our schools, our partners,our students.
If you look close enough before the dunk, I make my quiet cameo.
seen from Japan
seen from United States
seen from Argentina
seen from Argentina
seen from France
seen from France
seen from China
seen from France
seen from Canada
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from France
seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from China
The Final Product.
Our schools, our partners,our students.
If you look close enough before the dunk, I make my quiet cameo.
48 Hours to make SHAQ's Dream Come True!
Once upon a time in October of 2013, entering my second month as dream director...
My comrade and lil sis Syreeta Gates tagged my name to an instagram post that legendary artist MadSteez posted. This guy has tens of thousands followers and a bigillion likes on most of his photos. He posted an image of a brick wall requesting wall space in Newark to paint a mural. I simply wrote on his post and told him I had plenty of Brick walls he could choose from.
I was of course talking about the lovely bricked hallways of Shabazz High. I also did not think Mad Steez would even look at my post. He would eventually see my post and respond to me in less then 20 minutes. Next thing I know, we are emailing each other and talking about painting a mural of SHAQ for a Reebok commercial in the next 48 hours!!!!
At this point,I made sure to put a few things into place to ensure I am able to Dream Direct Mr Mad Steez and his producer crew. They wanted to capture an awesome commercial for the release of Shaq's Brick City Sneaker. I asked if the shoot could take place at the two schools I was servicing and included the students I worked with.
Mad Steez and his crew was totally down to making this happen. He was ready to fly out from LA to come to Newark the next day to work. The final decision was to do the shoot inside Eagle Academy's school and playground and the mural of Shaq at the School for Sports and Careers MALCOLM X SHABAZZ, but not in the hallways.
This process was a rush! Getting two principals on board to turn a dream project for Reebok into reality in two days was work! The goal was have A giant image of Shaq on the front of the School on the main street.
What Principal do you know would come out close to midnight to start the project! Shout out to the crew! Mad Steez Fresh off the jet and into Brick City! We are making history!
The great thing about this process was my ability to make everyone's dream come alive every step of the way. Mad Steez agreed to having the art teacher bring her classes out to learn about portraits and murals.
Producer and Director Sway & Dre came out to show love to the aspiring video production students. The students were in aww meeting the guys responsible for most of RICK ROSS and MMG music videos.
Stay tuned for part two of this story!
I was able to make a bit of a difference in a short period of time. Word started to spread in the city. This would have more schools interested in The Future Project.
The chosen ones.
Malcolm X Shabazz Dream Team.
First 48 @ Shabazz High.
I decided to do a listening tour and wanted to just have conversations with everyone from day one. I wanted to get a feel on how people felt about dreaming. These conversations help me to gauge my volume of passion when I am in any talks with students or faculty. It was a great thing to do. As I administered different services for the school, I simultaneously engaged in meaningful conversations about dreaming and doing.
THIS IS WHAT THE FINAL 24 Hours looked like before school started.
#WINNING #BULLDOGNATATION