#underthemush

About | Under the Mush

Under The Mush (UTM) was an online magazine founded by Christie Neptune and co-founded by Cassandra Waldrop during their Junior and freshman years of college in 2007. With the help of college friends from Fordham University, community members, and family, Neptune and Waldrop ran UTM for five years. 

UTM  began as an online blog and monthly television show on Brooklyn Community Access Television (BCAT). It was relaunched in 2010 and made exclusively available online. The magazine ceased operations in 2012. UTM covered a range of topics in music, culture, fashion, and lifestyle in both video and print formats.

Artists featured included: Amanda Blank, J*Davey, 88 Keys, Kyle Goen, Kiran Goraya, Ninjasonik, Damien Lemon, Shani Peters, Nikayatu Jusu, DJ Eclipse, Jackie Christie, Mac Premo, Oliver Jeffers, and Johnny Go Figure, among others.

Video Archive: https://vimeo.com/underthemush

Contributors:

Christie Neptune, Culture

Cassandra Waldrop, Events and Culture

Christina Edwards, Lifestyle

Rocky Knights, Events and Lifestyle

Steve Beckford, Music

Marlena Batts, Fashion

Daiquan Stevens, Music

Christopher Neptune, Music Composition and Production

Kareem Wallace, Photographer

Aubrey Stallard, Photographer

Gian Carlo, Videographer and Editor

Anthony Slyvester, Videographer, and Editor

Brett Rodel, Editor

Publish Date: 2010

Fat Beats: “The Last Stop For Hip Hop”

Under the Mush interview with DJ Eclipse of New York’s renowned, Fatbeats.

DJ Eclipse Bio (Present): DJ Eclipse, renowned indie Hip Hop tastemaker, first gained national notoriety while djing for 3rd Bass front man MC Serch in the early 90's. His reputation grew in the mid 90's by filling in for Stretch Armstrong on his weekly 89.9 radio show on WKCR and then later for Mayhem on 89.1 WNYU. He joined Wild Pitch Records in '94 and became the National Director of Retail Promotion until their closing in '95. Then, DJ Jab, the owner of a small basement record store called Fat Beats, brought Eclipse in to help out on weekends. It wasn't long before Fat Beats became a worldwide company with Eclipse overseeing all of their retail operations. Around this time, NY also saw the birth of Eclipse's seminal crew Non Phixion, which played a pivotal role in the indie renaissance of the mid 90's. During these years, Eclipse established himself as the "go to" DJ for all the local Hip Hop events at Wetlands, S.O.B.'s, Vinyl and most notably, Tramps. In '97, after spinning at many of the "Break Beats" parties at The Point in the Bronx, Crazy Legs put Eclipse down with the legendary Rock Steady Crew as one of the RSC DJs. By 1998, Eclipse started The Halftime Radio Show with DJ Riz and Lynn Gonzalez where he can still be heard on 89.1 WNYU with DJ Skizz on Wednesday nights from 10:30 PM - 1:00 AM (EST). As a producer, some of Eclipse's notable credits include remixes for O.C. ("Time's Up" & "Born 2 Live"), Nas, N-Tyce, the Modern Jazz Quartet (Rebop-The Savoy Remixes), a couple party joints for AV8 & Nervous Records and the Fractured Breaks battle records series just to name a few. In addition to running the Fat Beats NY store, operating Uncle Howie Records with partner ILL BILL and touring with La Coka Nostra, Eclipse joined DJ Premier on his “Live From HeadQCourterz” radio show as a “relief” DJ when Primo is on tour.

Publish Date: 2011

The Come Up: Studio Sessions

Under the Mush interview with producer 88 keys in Soho Studio. 

88 Keys Bio (Present) - Grammy Award-winning producer and artist 88 Keys is a descendant of a long line of Hip-Hop’s most respected producers. An avid “digger” or record collector as a kid growing up in New York, a young 88 immersed himself in the music and honed his chops; literally chopping and arranging samples meticulously as he developed into a producer and engineer. 88 Keys would go on to master his craft and compose tracks for the most iconic artists in the culture, such as Jay Z, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, Kid Cudi, John Legend, Sia, Pusha T, Yasin Bey (Mos Def), Bilal and countless others. 88 Keys’ Grammy win was for a little song called “No Church In The Wild” featuring Frank Ocean from Kanye West and Jay Z’s classic Watch The Throne album.

Under The Mush Credits:

Filmed and Edited by Christie Neptune

Featuring 88 Keys, Johnny Go Figure Cameo

Publish Date: 2010

Film Made Right: Nikyatu Jusu

Under the Mush Interviews Emerging filmmaker, NIKYATU JUSU

Nikyatu Jusu Bio (Present): Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Sierra Leonean-American Filmmaker Nikyatu's films have screened at top tier festivals nationally and internationally. With a BA from Duke University and an MFA from NYU's Tisch Graduate Film school, she's earned various awards including NYU’s Spike Lee Fellowship Award, the Princess Grace Narrative film grant and Director’s Guild of America Honorable Mentions. Three of her short films were acquired by and aired on HBO. Her latest film Suicide By Sunlight: a project funded by THROUGH HER LENS and sponsored by the Tribeca Film Institute and Chanel, made its debut at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and is featured online at shortofttheweek. Nikyatu made her TV Directing debut with an episode of the original scripted horror anthology: Two Sentence Horror Stories, which premiered on CW Sept 2019. Her feature script, NANNY, was selected for the 2019 Sundance Institute Creative Producing Labs & Summit, the 2020 Sundance Screenwriter's Lab and Director's Lab, and the 2019 IFP Project Forum. Most recently, NANNY, was one of 35 projects selected for the 2020 Creative Capital Awards. Nikyatu is a tenure track Assistant Professor in the Film & Video department at George Mason University where she teaches Screenwriting and Directing and is currently in development on her first feature film.

Publish Date:  2010

OAR: Oliver Jeffers and Mac Premo

Under the Mush Interview with Visual Artists, Mac Premo and Oliver Jeffers

Mac Premo Bio (Present): Mac Premo, b. 1973, American artist and stuffmaker, graduate of RISD '95. Exhibited art in NYC, LA, Miami, DC and Belfast, Northern Ireland; represented by Pavel Zoubok Gallery in NYC. Mac has won 7 New York Emmy® Awards, including awards for best commercial, best photography, best set design and best PSA. A 2008 NYFA fellow in video, he currently makes art, illustration, commercials and dinner, most nights. Mac lives in Brooklyn with his wife and totally radical daughters. Also, he made The Dumpster Project (with a lot of help from some really good folks).

Oliver Jeffers Bio (Present): Oliver Jeffers is a visual artist and author working in painting, bookmaking, illustration, collage, performance and sculpture. Curiosity and humor are underlying themes throughout Oliver's practice as an artist and storyteller. While investigating the ways the human mind understands its world, his work also functions as comic relief in the face of futility. Jeffers’ engagements and practice are truly international in scope. His critically acclaimed picture books have been translated into over forty-five languages, and sold over 12 million copies worldwide. His original artwork has been exhibited at such institutions as the Brooklyn Museum in New York, the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, the National Portrait Gallery in London, and the Palais Auersperg in Vienna. Jeffers has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books Award, Bologna Rigazzi Award, An Irish Book Award, and a United Kingdom Literary Association Award. His seventeenth book as author and illustrator was released in September 2019, and he has illustrated several others. Oliver grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland; he currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Publish Date: 2010

Damien Lemon: Comedy on the Hump

Under The Mush interview's emerging stand-up comic Damien Lemon.

Damien Lemon Bio (Present): Damien Lemon is a graduate of Clark Atlanta University, Damien honed his comedy skills throughout his educational upbringing. He then moved to New York City, where he quickly made a name for himself in the comedy scene. Damien has opened for Aretha Franklin at Radio City Music Hall and Dick Gregory at Caroline’s on Broadway. He has hosted corporate events for companies including Interactive ONE, VIBE Magazine, and NIKE. On television, Damien has frequently appeared on VH1’s hit series Big Morning Buzz Live, providing pop culture commentary and hilarious insights. He is also a regular on MTV2’s Guy Code, helping the show become the most popular series in MTV2 history. Finally, Damien made his televised stand up debut on Russell Simmons Presents The Ruckus, which aired on Comedy Central. Damien can be seen performing all over New York City, including Caroline’s on Broadway, where he headlined a show as part of the Breakout Artist series.

Publish Date: 2010

Forget The Radio, It’s Ninjasonik

Under the Mush interview with Brooklyn based musical group, Ninjasonik.

Ninjasonik Bio (Present): Brooklyn-based duo Ninjasonik, comprised of Reverend McFly and DJ Teenwolf, established itself in fall 2007 with "Tight Pants," a song that generated an impressive amount of blogosphere buzz as an MP3 and YouTube video. Remixes of the song, along with other similarly styled songs such as "Internet Bitch," followed, as did a series of downloadable DJ mixes. In terms of style, Ninjasonik falls somewhere between indie dance and irreverent rap, comparable to other fashionable indie electronic/rap acts like Spank Rock, Uffie, and the KnuX. The duo also established itself as a performance act, hosting dance parties at the Knitting Factory and South by Southwest, among other venues.

Publish Date: 2011

Shani Peters: History Rewritten

Under the Mush interview with Visual Artist, Shani Peters.

Shani Peters Bio (Present): Shani Peters (b. 1981 Lansing, MI) is a multi-disciplinary artist based in New York City. She holds a B.A. from Michigan State University and an M.F.A. from the City College of New York. Peters has presented work in the U.S. and abroad at the New Museum, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem; Seoul Art Space Geumcheon in South Korea; the National Gallery of Zimbabwe; and the Bauhaus Dessau. Selected residencies include those hosted by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, The Laundromat Project (NY), and Project Row Houses (TX). Her work has been supported by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Rauschenberg Foundation, Rema Hort Mann Foundation, and the Joan Mitchell Foundation. Peters is a faculty member at The City College of New York, Pratt Institute, and Parsons School of Design focusing her teaching at the intersection of art, design and social change. She is a Co-Director of The Black School, an artist initiated experimental art school that has lead 100+ workshops since 2016.

Under The Mush Credits: Filmed and Edited by Christie Neptune