The305.com: Crazy Hood is a name that should be familiar to you if you’ve been a long time follower of The305.com and/or a longtime follower of the local Miami hip hop scene. They’ve dived deep into the music industry from the artistry side and in the marketing and promotions side. Well, you can add another notch to Crazy Hood as they are now jumping into film world with the launch of the Crazy Hood Film Academy, a subdivision focused on video production.
Just recently they directed a few videos including one with Mayday and another with N.O.R.E. And earlier today, they released a behind the scenes they filmed at N.O.R.E.’s shoot for “Finito”. I recently caught up with DJ EFN and Garcia, both who run Crazy Hood Film Academy. Garcia was deep into the filming world years ago, and just now recently resurfaced via this new venture. Click below to see what we can expect from these guys and their new venture…
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305: So explain what exactly is the Crazy Hood Film Academy?
DJ EFN: Crazy Hood Film Academy is the visual arm of C.H.P. (Crazy Hood Productions Inc.).
305: What inspired you guys to jump into the film side of things? And who’s part of the company/crew?
DJ EFN: Over the years C.H.P. (Crazy Hood Productions Inc.) has worked closely with many of Miami’s top directors and film companies prior to their reaching a certain status. So early on we knew the importance of visuals to our business. Several years ago C.H.P. artist GARCIA went to film school and had directed early videos for Wrekonize, ¡Mayday!, Heckler and others. Garcia put down the camera to focus more on his music and family life and it wasn’t till recently that I told him it was time to pick it back up. I myself started dabbling in visuals and was working with Dre Films on a series I called “DJ EFN Visual Mixtapes”. The series consisted of high quality made for web street videos. Both myself and Dre got a lot of acclaim from the blog world for our work but not long after, Dre got the call from Maybach Music to join their team. So it was only natural for myself and Garcia to partner up in what we now call the Crazy Hood Film Academy. We both collaborate creatively but Garcia is the director and editor and I am the executive producer and producer on the projects. We are not closed to collaborating with other people or companies and have already done so. We also work very closely with another Miami film company by the name of Film Heads which people will start seeing a lot of their work soon!
305: Garcia, you’ve definitely stepped back from the film side of things for a few years, so glad to see you back. What’s your take on the state of the music video industry now and the whole expansion of filming in hip-hop and music in general?
Garcia: Thanks man I’m glad to be back. As far as the question, I think its a good thing that every artist has a camera by their side now. For marketing aspects that’s great. The flip side to that is this: does every guy with a camera know what their doing? I mean honestly some of the videos we have been seeing coming out, could be done with so much more taste and creativity. I like what Dre films has been doing a lot with Ross because I know he knows his camera and takes pride in the editing process. Its apparent in what he shoots, and I don’t say that because I know him. But a lot of cats think just because they buy a camera they can call themselves a director. It’s far from the