Of ROOFHEADz and HOODIEz

Tulsa emcee Jermany Brown (MuGen Crew) portrays principle character "Marquee" in this promo shot.

In the development of "Roofless," the narrator "Tella" has gone thru many incarnations.  In every case, we've always pictured him in an ancient ceremonial hoodie lined with the fur of a sacrificed animal. (These thumbnail character sketches by TuTchT IMAGING.) 

As you can see in this concept art for “Roofless,” we explore & twist many archetypes, stereotypes and clichés throughout the course of our show.  The recent “Hoodie awareness” thing that is sweeping the country got me thinking about our use of hoodies in “Roofless” and other works we create.   We have characters who try their hardest to appear thuggish…hoodie.  We have characters hiding behind the façade of in-control-hardassness when they feel insecure…hoodie.  On the other end of the spectrum, when we wanted to create an all-knowing spirit being (in the form of a DJ of course. lol) as narrator we gravitated towards the historic image of an educated, holy man who is very aware of his place in the universe i.e. a monk, scribe, griot, shaman, rabbi, etc. Yeah…hoodie.      – Its always dangerous to try and judge what lies beneath something that has been covered…or even to assume why it has been covered. 

The reasons for covering the head can range from fear, evil intent & insecurity to piety, reverence & self-awareness.  Or hell, it could just be raining.

As creators of art, we feel the need to say, “let’s all take a deep breath and take the time necessary to explore what’s underneath what we see on the surface…before any more fatal shots are fired in this country.”

Whoever you were, whatever you were covering, Rest in Peace Trayvon Martin, our brother.