I'm A African!

Calling all Homo sapiens!

I'm currently working with a video production team in London on a series of music videos for my album The Rap Guide to Evolution, funded by the Wellcome Trust and Crowdfunding. The result will be part hip-hop swagger and part educational nature documentary, showing the animal roots of human behavior and the unity of all living things by descent, and we need your help!

We need some additional footage for the "I'm A African" video - yes that means footage of you. If you would like to be a part of it, all I need you to do is download the song, familiarize yourself with it, and play it on your stereo in the background while making a video of yourself rapping along to the lyrics as close to in time with the rhythm as you can (keep the camera still!). Don't worry if it's not all perfectly in time, or if you just want to do a segment of the song rather than the whole thing, but keep in mind that we can only use the parts that are in time!

If you can memorize the lyrics great, but if not you can get them from Bandcamp, print them off, and place the cheat-sheet near the camera so you can read them while facing the lens. Please make sure the scene is well-lit, the background isn't too cluttered, and the camera captures you from the torso up or closer. iPhone4 is okay, or Quicktime via webcam (make sure the recording quality is set to "Best" under preferences), but if you have an HD video camera that would be even better, and of course all ages, races, genders, and body-types are welcome, that's the point!

If you would like to take part please email me at info [at] babasword [dot] com with the subject "I'm A African!" to confirm your participation (first come first serve!) and I'll respond with instructions on how to send me the files. All submissions must be received by April 15th!

**Note: this deadline has now been extended until April 30th, but please get them in soon!

Then once we get everyone's clips we'll cut back and forth between me rapping and all of you rapping to illustrate the evolutionary fact that we are all African under the skin. So say it loud and proud: I'm A African!

--

Disclaimer: I can't guarantee that everyone who sends me a video will appear in the final cut, as this will be left up to the discretion of the video design team and it will be based on video quality, timing, expressiveness, and the need to represent diversity of ages, races, genders, etc. However, we will stop accepting footage once we have enough to work with, so your chances are much better than average.

Legalese: we don't have physical consent forms for you to literally sign, so please be advised that sending us footage via email in accordance with the instructions attached means you consent to your image being used in the video for us to distribute and promote as we see fit, and for us to use in material for the purpose of promoting the video and the Rap Guide to Evolution project as a whole, worldwide, in perpetuity, etc, etc. That way you can't sue us if you get cold feet after sending something in!