WEB STUFF: Jabari Presents- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Months before 'Thrift Shop' blew up the global charts, the very cool film maker, Jabari Johnson caught up with rapper, Ben Haggerty- better known as Macklemore- to talk about his journey so far.

 Macklemore has been working as an independent artist, releasing music for years. A lot of the time when a record by a non-mainstream artist song blows up, people tend to think that the entertainment fairy godmother waved her magic wand and made it so. But in this film Macklemore, along with his long time collaborator, Ryan Lewis talks the ferocious belief and work ethic required to build a career as an artist. He also talks about his battle with drug and alcohol addiction.

This is an awesome piece, a great insight into the story behind the music and lovely to watch it now, knowing that all the hard work paid off.

And here's 'Thrift Shop'...

WEB STUFF: Jabari Presents- Issa Rae

Film maker Jabari Johnson interviewed writer Issa Rae. He caught up with the creator of the popular web sitcom series Awkward Black Girl for his own web series called Jabari Presents. Issa Rae talks about her inspirations for creating the show and what the future holds. It's really interesting piece- it's very inspiring to hear about the origins and rapid growth of a show that only exists online. I might just give up on TV altogether! I'm finding more and more great shows- the type of shows that I never even realised I wanted to see. Obviously, the Internet offers certain freedoms that TV cannot. Issa Rae  mentions that she has turned down offers from TV production companies for ABG, fearing that they would want to change the show too much. And while the Internet allows for a lot of quite crappy programmes it does also allow for some true gems with characters and issues that you just wouldn't find anywhere else. Knowing where to look is the key- Awkward Black Girl and Jabari Presents are two really good starting points.