Yesterday, my boys Mark Valino and Giles Monette from A.H.R. Films (Art. Honor.Respect) invited me to be their second camera for an interview with 9th Wonder before the screening of his autobiographical documentary called The Wonder Year. After meeting 9th, watching his film, and taking part in his Q&A, my respect for him as a producer, a musician, and as a human being, skyrocketed to the levels of ‘ULTIMATE respect.’

The man holds it down with 7 instruments, can bang out beats within minutes on just his laptop, is a college professor teaching hip hop and black history, and just got inducted into the Zulu Nation last year… and claims it is better than winning his Grammy. Reeeeeeeeespek!!

“Hip hop went in two directions — one that followed Kool Herc, hip hop on the entertainment side of things, and the other that followed Afrika Bambaataa, the culture of hip hop and the movement. I believe I went in that direction.”

I love it. And that’s the type of hip hop I f*cks wid. Ya heard?

Ya’ll should check out his doc, directed by Kenneth Price. The Wonder Year was great, but I still feel there was so much more opportunity to showcase other voices and opinions about 9th. I would’ve loved to hear testimonies from his students, or his family members. Either way, it was pretty inspiring to see that Kenneth Price created this film for his Masters, and how simple it was for him to approach 9th and ask if he could work on this project with him. Obviously as I learned this, my brain cells started exploding.

Check the trailer out here: