WHERE WE'RE FROM: The elements documentary
WHERE WE’RE FROM captures the rise of underground Hip Hop in Los Angeles during the 90s and 2000s told through Elements, a group of four friends that promoted a weekly club that honored the “elements of Hip Hop” – MCing, DJing, dance, and graffiti art. Part of a generation that found community and refuge through Hip Hop, Elements’ audiences returned week after week because they knew they would witness craft and skill, something that at the time was getting lost with the injection of cash and promotion of negative stereotypes into Hip Hop culture by major record labels and commercial media outlets.
Directed by DJ Bonds and DJ Breeze, executive produced by Damon Bonds – the three founders and producers of Elements - WHERE WE’RE FROM is structured primarily in interview style with stories from artists, DJs, dancers, radio personalities, promoters and partygoers including live concert footage, MC battles, dancers & DJ performances intertwined with footage from the era, most of it never before seen.
Interviewees include: Aceyalone, Abstract Rude, Myka 9 of Freestyle Fellowship, Tai Jai of Souls of Mischief, DJ Icy Ice, DJ Rhettmatic, and Mr. Choc from The Beat Junkies; Cut Chemist, Chali 2na, Akil, and DJ Nu-Mark from Jurassic 5; Evidence and Rakaa Iriscience from Dilated Peoples, Immortal Technique, DJ Mark Luv, Large Professor, Divine Styler of Scheme Team, The Soul Bros, Talib Kweli, DJ Maseo of De La Soul, Jeru the Damaja, Planet Asia, Fidel Rodriguez, Asia One, Otherwize, DJ Rasta Root, Dave New York, Polo Molina and more.