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Eighth Annual Festival

African Underground: Hip Hop in Senegal

6:14 min
Documentary
Director: Magee McIlvaine, Ben Herson, and Chris Moore
Producer: Nomadic Wax and Sol Productions

Winner of the Roots & Rhymes Award

FILMMAKER BIOS

Magee McIlvaine, Director

Magee was born in Canada and grew up between East Africa and Washington, D.C. While still in High School, Magee made his first film - a political documentary on the tiny kingdom of Swaziland in Southern Africa. Since then, Magee has increasingly focused his work on international politics and the use of music — particularly Hip Hop — as a political tool. Magee continued to make films throughout his time in college. In the past year, Magee co-founded Sol Productions, a nonprofit film production company and together with his two film partners has filmed the presidential elections in Venezuela, Senegal and France. Together with Nomadic Wax and Trinity College, he co-founded the first ever International Hip Hop Festival and Conference and is currently working on a film about this groundbreaking event. Today, Magee is working on three additional documentaries.

Ben Herson, Director

Ben Herson is the founder and director of Nomadic Wax - a global Hip Hop record label and production company dedicated to recording, documenting and presenting Hip Hop and underground music from around the world. Herson is also a producer and musician. He has released over a dozen globally acclaimed albums and has recorded and produced numerous singles on compilations worldwide. Ben has also played the drums and percussion for numerous reggae legends, and has produced for Senegal’s top MCs co-founding and spearheading the critically acclaimed African Underground series of African Hip Hop. In 2004, Herson also co-founded the Trinity International Hip Hop festival, the first free international Hip Hop festival in the United States. In 2007, building upon his work in Senegal, Herson developed a seven-part documentary series on youth, Hip Hop, and politics in West Africa, titled African Underground: Democracy in Dakar.

Chris Moore, Director

Chris Moore grew up in the tiny ski town of Holderness, NH. Chris co-founded Sol Productions with Magee and two fellow students. Since then, Chris has co-directed and co-produced three feature documentaries on three different continents. His first feature was ¿Puedo Hablar? May I Speak?. A groundbreaking documentary on the hardcore politics of oil-rich Venezuela and its charismatic and controversial president Hugo Chavez, this film has toured universities across the US and Europe. Chris lectures on democracy and conflict resolution, and the role filmmaking can play in both of those areas. Chris continues to tour the world with ¿Puedo Hablar? May I Speak? and has begun work on a fourth film based out of Cambodia.