Introduction & Vision
Greetings, beautifulls!
My name is Mystic, aka the DU Goddess from Digital Underground. I am a GRAMMY-nominated hip hop artist who is also an activist, scholar, community educator, and home chef. I am known for using my art to promote healing, support movements for justice, and build community. I have been releasing projects for over 20 years, now own the masters for my previous albums, and am seeking to continue controlling my destiny and art. I am preparing to release a new album called Dreaming In Cursive: The Girl Who Loved Sparklers, and I need your support to help create the videos for the project, which are collectively called A Black Love Trilogy.
My forthcoming album is part of my “healed Black woman music,” and I am releasing it through my independent label, Beautifull Soundworks. Walt Liquor produced the whole project, and it is entirely recorded, mixed, mastered, and ready for distribution. It is go time for this project, and this is where you come in!
I am here humbly asking for your support. I invite you, the beautifull community, to become part of the journey to create the videos that will help get my new album to the greatest number of people in the world possible. Doing this will involve creating visuals that are part of my vision for releasing a project envisioned as a holistic sensory experience that represents all the parts of me and includes music, food, and visuals.
Videos are crucial elements of album releases in 2022 and are necessary to reach and create more points of connection across cultures and borders. We will make videos for three songs from my new project: “Butter (Green Light),” “Still (Love),” and “Always Love (Always).” These visuals make up A Black Love Trilogy and will have interconnected storylines. They will explore the power of a Black love relationship from inception, when everything is good, to redemption after you have almost lost love but work instead to claim the healing and the possibility. This project is a story where love always wins.
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Black love, both intimate and collective/communal, has been instrumental in my healing process from the traumas that I have experienced in my life, and I want to share this. We need more visual representations of Black love connected to our lived experiences that are accessible instead of the extremes that often depict toxic love or videos that represent relationships as transactional. As Black people, we are diverse and dynamic and the stories that get uplifted should represent this.
Towards my desire to contribute to uplifting Black love, my role with these videos is as an artist, co-scriptwriter, co-producer, co-director, and head of production. I have a dream team of all People of Color that includes but is not limited to crew and creatives from the AAPI community, the Latinx community, and the Black community. I have two experienced co-directors/editors/colorists on board, Lan “Yellow” Nguyen (Yellow One Productions/Teyana Taylor, Nipsey Hussle, Schoolboy Q., Fashawn, etc.) and Keida Brewer (Swannworks Films). There are two stylists, Angela Fautt-Gatdula and Taj Williams, who have both styled me for everything from shoots to album covers to the GRAMMYS for over 20 years. Sai Jackson is handling makeup and hair. Representing my beloved crew and Digital Underground family, Ray Luv will be my co-star and play the role of my lover and partner. Locations include Agency Oakland (an intentional space that centers BIPOC artists and cultural producers) and the Tyranny Allen Gallery. Additionally, two production assistants will be on the team as paid interns through the Media Academy at Fremont High School (a Career Technical Pathway) and Measure N funds. Indeed, this is a beautiful and deep team!
What We Need
A Black Love Trilogy includes three videos, and the same crew will be working on them all. Producing all three videos will cost approximately $13,000, including everything from pre-production to post-production. We are looking to raise a total of $18,000, which includes platform and payment processing fees associated with running this campaign and the perks that cost to produce and ship. The graph below shows that compensating creatives is the largest single expense category. You can see that funds will cover COVID-19 testing, PPE, and other safety items. Additionally, you see expense categories for props, wardrobe, location rental, food for the crew, travel and hotels, ground transportation, and internal administrative expenses.
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What You Get
You can get such lovely perks such as:
- An early download of Dreaming In Cursive: The Girl Who Loved Sparklers
- Recipes created for the new album or even access to a private Ms. Mandy’s Kitchen cooking group opportunity
- Vinyl for Dreaming In Cursive: The Girl Who Loved Sparklers and/or double vinyl of my debut album Cuts For Luck And Scars For Freedom, or even a digital download of all three of my albums with a personalized thank-you voice message
- An organic #GoddessOnTheGrill dinner for four cooked by Mystic
- Early access to videos, attending online video watch parties, or even a live virtual performance
- Collector’s stickers, follows and shout-outs on social media, or personalized thank-you videos or cards
- Limited edition t-shirts and hoodies
- An “associate beautifull producer” credit in the videos, or a thank you in the PDF art for Dreaming In Cursive: The Girl Who Loved Sparklers
- And more!
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I believe in universal abundance and our beautifull community, but I also know you want and deserve to know what happens if we do not raise the campaign goal of $18,000. If we do not reach the goal, we will use whatever is raised towards producing A Black Love Trilogy, the cost of claimed perks, and the campaign platform and processing fees (approximately 10% of whatever is raised). We will at least film “Butter (Green Light)” and then promote it and use it to uplift Black love. If we meet and then exceed our $18,000 goal, the funds will go towards the creatives working to make this vision happen, promoting A Black Love Trilogy and the album, submitting to film festivals, and spreading love in the community. There will be updates posted here so that you, the beautifull community, know what we are doing.
I believe in us, even in these challenging times. Your contributions are the critical bridge for turning my vision into a collective vision and a reality that uplifts Black love. We all need more love, and I invite you on this journey to create visuals that help spread love into the world.
The Impact
Your becoming part of the team and the beautifull community through supporting A Black Love Trilogy will allow me to create visually stunning music videos that uplift a Black love journey in a COVID-19 safe way. Your support will help creatives of color, help amplify my art, and help open more opportunities for me to sustain myself as an independent and liberated artist who believes the world needs more love and representation from women in hip hop. These music videos will be uploaded and sent to all available video platforms and film festivals when they are complete, so there will be opportunities to spread this art far and wide. With your support, we can spread love around the world.
Risks & Challenges
There is indeed some risk around filming A Black Love Trilogy, but I have a committed and experienced team. The top challenge is the continuing impacts of COVID-19, which has been devastating in so many Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities. We have been in pre-production for quite some time, and everyone has been flexible around changes and is committed to getting these videos done no matter what. We are scheduled to shoot the first two videos in April, with the third filming in the summer, and all will have COVID-19 safety protocols in place. However, we will push the timeline if needed to keep ourselves, our families, and our communities safe. We are a team that cares about each other, and we remain committed to safety and overcoming any challenges as a collective.
Other Ways You Can Help
If you cannot financially donate, I still sincerely appreciate you learning about what I am trying to bring to life and amplify as an artist and a Black woman. Spreading the word about this campaign is a beautiful offering in itself. Please do share it on your social media, with your family and friends, your coworkers, and anyone else you know who may be able to contribute to or help amplify this A Black Love Trilogy campaign. Don’t forget–you can use the share tools right here on Indiegogo to share too!
With love and gratitude,
Mystic
