Professor A.L.I. Crowdfunding & Crowdspeaking Campaign

This album is curriculum that I’ve developed as an artist in hopes that it will be a part of my new Blend-Ed Hip-Hop history course

I’m teaching an innovated Blend-Ed course on Hip-Hop history in the spring. This course will be taught at 5 Bay Area independent schools and already has garnered the attention of many prominent educators as well as the enthusiasm of many students on these campuses.

Once I was pegged to teach this course and as I began to develop the syllabus, the artist in me decided that I could authentically present the material I was teaching in the voice of an artist and I took my time this past summer recording 28 tracks on a double length LP, each song carefully written to introduce the history of Hip-Hop as a culture and art form as well as the various themes we will study in the course.

The good news is that the album is completely recorded, however I am at a standstill since I need money to mix the album (roughly $3000) and to master it ($2000) as well as to print physical copies and to distribute the album online, not to mention try and publicize it in the appropriate spaces to garner the attention it deserves ($5000+)…. this leaves me with a barrier that I’m relying upon those with means to help support me in this endeavor.

I am very proud to say that this album contains my best work. From lyrics to the production, it will awe the listener and I’m hoping truly inspire the learner to understand Hip-Hop’s place in the world. Besides containing 21 new songs, the album also contains 7 remixes of classic material, remastered, with new lyrical content and instrumental production –also on the theme of Hip-Hop.

Disk 1 is the history disk and takes Hip-Hop back to North Africa and the narrative of a woman name Zaynab bint Ali, and following that narrative takes the development of oral traditions and histories in West Africa, through the Caribbean during the slave trade and into the American south. Disk 1 ends with an interview with the late Malcolm Shabazz conducted by Professor A.L.I., shortly before his tragic death.

Disk 2 explores themes that are intertwined with Hip-Hop, such as authenticity, blackness, globalism and the internationalization of the art, independent artistry v. labels, the objectification of men and women, misogyny, racism, the influence of great thinkers in the civil rights movement on Hip-Hop as well as environmentalism.

These songs are recorded and truly represent the best of my work. Its my hope that with your help we will be able to finish the mixing, mastering, press up and have the album available for the course and distribution worldwide.

Thank you for supporting my art.

Risks and challenges

I’ve recorded the album, aside from mixing and mastering sessions being pushed back I don’t foresee any other hurdles. I’ve given myself a lot of time between the end of the kickstarter to the intended release date of 12/5/14… hopefully I get funded so we stay right on schedule.

Thanks.

Professor A.L.I.’s Links

: Headtalker / Facebook / Kickstarter