Jack Davis (1914-1992) TV Studio (undated) Source

Escape From the Planet of the Apes (1971)

If you want any info about the crew or production, check out the YT description.

By senior year in high school, I was unsure again on if rap was really for me. My first dream as a child before I found hip hop was to be a director, and I got gifted a little handheld digital camera. I would use it to make shorts, just little 2-3 minute storyline videos. I made one about drug abuse called 'passing time' that became really popular around the school, and with teachers too. This allowed me to basically spend my time working on film, as in off moments I'd slip away to the TV studio and work on editing. There were 2 iMacs in Mr. Neo's new office, which was a converted large closet that had a window put in to look in on the 'studio'. This is where I did most of my editing as it was quieter, and I could talk with Mr. Neo who became my mentor. My friend who was the woman's voice in the opening commentary sketch took the other one. I remember junior year I had a pregnancy scare with my ex, and I came into school a mess thinking my life was over. He went around to my teachers to tell them what was happening, and listened to me while I talked about my anxieties - in general he never judged me. He came from a similar background as me despite being a family man and having a good life. I knew I had something special with film cause in my class there were some people from my neighborhood who I didn't really get along with, who would still approach me saying it was dope. This made me focus, I started writing my sketch comedy series. The radio show stopped when the TV studio moved rooms, so this was my next 'project' to go on. The comedy team grew, it expanded from the original friends I had to various people who'd help with filming, organizing. We'd all hang out and sometimes film content, but otherwise it was a fun time. Overall the main locations filmed were my dad's old trailer (the start), Mishnock, and the school auditorium. My hero at this time was Trevor Moore - the fact that he and his friends focused on their comedy, performed it, and managed to get a show from it made me look to parallels in my own life. My life became about comedy, that I'd use to deal with the stress of the things around me and events happening. But still it felt like something was lacking - it felt like I was tricking people by acting as the comedian when in reality I was a pretty serious, stressed person. So I tried to create sardonic/sarcastic comedy that was very self-deprecating, something which continued in my music for decades afterwards. I don't think self-deprecating humor is funny honestly, even if I don't believe I am the things I am saying in a joke like that this is something I've eliminated from my vocabulary. Using the digital camera I started filming the sketch comedy show - this is around when I created the Awkward Bot character in 2009. He was intended just to be a funny robot, who was awkward and had a lot of errors to deal with. We filmed three episodes for the show, though we did film other sketches. I'd spend a lot of time listening to commentaries from films I liked and honestly it made me realize how similar I was to successful artists. I don't mean like talent, I mean just in general my personality, how I joked around with my friends, what I focused on, I'd see so many connections with people there. It was weird but also it made me feel not alone. The main sketch I posted above was probably one of my best, it was about a man going through perpetual puberty and finding love. It was filmed in my neighborhood with my best friend from there who I will call Kingman. We filmed it on a rented old VHS camera that I had to convert the footage digitally, and the sound fucked up, but to this day everyone remembers this sketch. Honestly writing these helps me start my day sometimes. By the time I got to college I didn't have my comedy group with me, and film didn't feel the same. Honestly, I did it for fun and the more I went to college the more I realized this. I think this is why I focused on hip hop after college, I realized even if on my own it still felt right.