The video
One of the bright spots of going to grad school to get my MFA IN Creative Writing was meeting a strong-minded classmate named Chee in my second year at Brooklyn College. Born and raised in Indian, migrated to the U.S., Chee was not very PC and was quick to disagree during class discussions and was frustrated like me when classmates didn’t get our stories’ cultural references.
And if you got a few beers in the emerging emcee, he would get deep into any topic including race and politics. I learned a lot more about South Asian culture than ever did at Queens College (which has a large South Asian demographic) and the shared issues we faced/es as “people of color.”
Anyhow during the winter break of 2006, right before my last semester, I tagged along for the filming of music video for a song that would end up on his Oblique Brown project. We went from Little India in Jackson Heights, Queens, where I got access into places i doubt I would be welcome if I hadn’t been with Chee, and discovered a semi-hidden graffiti mecca called 5 Pointz, in Long Island City.
Chee is currently residing in LA doing non-profit and working on his music — three albums for sale as well.
