Just as hip hop reached out to the world in the 80s and 90s, the world has taken hip hop and is reaching back into America. The influence of non-American hip hop culture is evident and celebrated is music, film and activism. The Global Underground Hip Hop Film and Music Mini Fest will celebrate this international spirit in an all day/all night day global hip hop event on April 26, 2008, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan that will last from 2 PM to 2 AM.

From global hip hop label Nomadic Wax and sponsor World Hip Hop Market, the Global Underground Film and Music event will celebrate world culture and positive hip hop with film screenings drawn from the global Diaspora. The films will be shown from 2:00 PM until about 9:00 PM at The Performance Project at University Settlement, 184 Eldridge Street, New York, NY. This event is free and open to the public. Free wine will be served from 5 PM - 9 PM.

Nomadic Wax will then host the official Global Underground after party at Drom, 85 Avenue A (between 5th and 6th), New York, NY. The live music event will feature MCs, DJ and live percussionists from countries including, Senegal, Mexico, Brazil, Sierra Leone and more. The performance will begin at 10:00 pm. Entrance to the after party will be $10 to the public or $5 for those who attended the free film event.

The films shown will include:

African Underground: Democracy in Dakar (Follows the controversial 2007 elections in Senegal from the perspective of youth and Hip Hop artists)

Puedo Hablar (Following the 2006 presidential elections in Venezuela)

Diamonds in The Rough (A group of young people from Uganda use Hip Hop to spread their revolutionary message of hope and change.)

Chocolate City (Explores the rapid gentrification of Washington, DC, through the eyes of a group of local women displaced from their city center homes to make way for massive reconstruction)

Love Bites (Film adaptation of an absurdist play Benign Eleven exploring American society's issues and the reasons behind the 9/11 attacks)

Estilo Hip-Hop (Hip Hop in Latin America as a voice and an agent of social change)

African Underground: Democracy in Paris (The attitudes and concerns of France's immigrant and Hip Hop communities during the elections of 2007)

For more information, contact Ben Herson This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it