Stretch and Bobbito + M19s - Method Man & Ghostface 1994 Unreleased Freestyle

The March 31, 1994 Method Man / Ghostface Freestyle caught massive global attention on the Zoo York Mixtape skate video. As members of the Wu-Tang Clan, the two MCs are part of one of the most impactful Hip Hop groups of all time. Method Man and Ghostface Killah's unreleased freestyle from The Stretch and Bobbito Show in 1994 is remixed by The M19's Band and given an official music video directed by Ali Santana.

Nathan Schram - Oyelo

A pelican’s subtly surreal arpeggioing of limbs is our entry into the visual for Nathan Schram’s 'Oyelo'. The aching insistency of Schram’s viola underscores this Kafka-esque flight into immediate intensity. From this image of a single bird, a haunting journey of individuation begins.

Multidisciplinary Artist, Ali Santana’s strobe-like animation creates fragmented patterns that move in a frenetic kaleidoscopic choreography. What seems at first disordered chaos gradually takes on the infinite lucidity of fractals, conjuring the intuitive mathematics of murmuration formations, African villages, cornrowed hair, and constellations. 

Tension crescendoes as we move between light and dark; the sharp and the ephemeral; smoky and substantial. We are ultimately released from glitchy unreality to a colorfully undefined and beautiful beyond, and we fly in an astral network, ancestrally guided, before returning home.

This video art was created by Ali Santana as an artist in residence at Signal Culture.

A pelican’s subtly surreal arpeggioing of limbs is our entry into the visual for Nathan Schram’s 'Oyelo'. The aching insistency of Schram’s viola underscores this Kafka-esque flight into immediate intensity. From this image of a single bird, a haunting journey of individuation begins. Multidisciplinary Artist, Ali Santana’s strobe-like animation creates fragmented patterns that move in a frenetic kaleidoscopic choreography. What seems at first disordered chaos gradually takes on the infinite lucidity of fractals, conjuring the intuitive mathematics of murmuration formations, African villages, cornrowed hair, and constellations. Tension crescendoes as we move between light and dark; the sharp and the ephemeral; smoky and substantial. We are ultimately released from glitchy unreality to a colorfully undefined and beautiful beyond, and we fly in an astral network, ancestrally guided, before returning home. This video art was created by Ali Santana as an artist in residence at Signal Culture.

Spec Boogie - Bed Stuy

In this music video, Spec Boogie pays tribute to his hometown, Bed Stuy: one of Brooklyn's most culturally diverse neighborhoods in the midst of rapid gentrification. Shot, directed and edited by Ali Santana, this film captures the people, historical relics and businesses that may soon be gone due to economic displacement. Ali's use of community portraits, rhythmic editing and motion graphics, showcase the colorful and vibrant neighborhood that he'd like to remember, while vintage photos offer a touching glimpse into the neighborhood's past. Directed by Ali Santana. ©2010 Photos by Robert Cave Sr. Track produced by Von Pea of Tanya Morgan. Featured in: The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts 'Gentrification of Brooklyn' exhibit. www.MoCADA.org

In this music video, Spec Boogie pays tribute to his hometown, Bed Stuy: one of Brooklyn's most culturally diverse neighborhoods in the midst of rapid gentrification. Shot, directed and edited by Ali Santana, this film captures the people, historical relics and businesses that may soon be gone due to economic displacement. Ali's use of community portraits, rhythmic editing and motion graphics, showcase the colorful and vibrant neighborhood that he'd like to remember, while vintage photos offer a touching glimpse into the neighborhood's past. Directed by Ali Santana. ©2010 Photos by Robert Cave Sr. Track produced by Von Pea of Tanya Morgan. Featured in: The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts 'Gentrification of Brooklyn' exhibit. www.MoCADA.org

ELUCID - Automatic Writing

"If I learned one thing from the 'Automatic Writing' video experience it would be that there are only two ingredients necessary to accomplish any goal; vision and determination. Somehow the universe throws you in the path of whatever else required for the rest of your journey. This project was a true labor of love and testament to our resourcefulness. What started as late night random idea tossing via instant message (oracles, drapetomania, solar eclipses?!?) quickly morphed into a 4 page video treatment. Shot intermittently during the early months of 2009, without a penny's investment, Boombaye and I trooped through the streets and subways of New York City in true hip hop/guerrilla style shooting illegally on lo-fi equipment without a proper permit. Five months and a number of sleepless nights later, I'm ecstatic to present this piece to the world. Automatic Writing's message of self reliance and empowerment resounds even more so with the accompanying imagery. 'Close your eyes, it feels different here/ Sign of the times, almost in the clear/ I see spaceships on Flatbush, calling me back home/ Resetting the clock to begin again' Cuing inspiration from my personal musical trinity of Sun Ra, George Clinton, and Afrika Bambaataa, 'Automatic Writing' serves as a statement to the building of a new world. A future world. A better world. The idea of midnight trains, chariots, and even spaceships carrying oppressed people away from their suffering are common themes in American Black music. As a people robbed of their past, now living in the present as aliens in a foreign land that constantly seeks to disparage their identity, we have no choice but to embrace the future and the promise it brings."-Elucid elucidmusic.bandcamp.com ©2009

Spec Boogie - No Knock

The video for No Knock, directed by Ali Santana, captures the true essence of this track through creative storytelling that combines thought-provoking images by photographer Marilyn Nance, an eerie clip of poet Gil Scott-Heron and Santana's own unique digital animation. As these powerful images are flashed across the screen, the spirit of a strong community is invoked and the passionate lust for truth is brought to life. Directed by Ali Santana. ©2006 Photographs © Marilyn Nance.