I recently had the pleasure of working with Curly Castro on a video for his latest single, They Call Me Castro.  Produced by Blueprint, the track is from his upcoming Fidel LP, that should be available sometime in Jan. 2012.

When it comes to hip-hop, I grew up on groups like Public Enemy, BDP, LL Cool J and De La Soul, leaning more toward the politically charged (Dead Prez, Nas) and the rough and rugged (Wu-Tang). So I was pretty blown away when I heard Winston’s Appeal, Curly Castro’s full length from earlier this year, which combined all those influences and filtered it through his own effortless yet raw style. Yeah, it was about lyrics and skill, but it was also about content, which I respected. Old school with a reggae influence, slightly militant but not without heart and humor. So I was super excited to work with him on this video, because I think he brings back a lot of the edge that hip-hop originally had.

Much of the video was shot in Oct/Nov at the Occupy Philly site, on three separate occasions, including his live performance there from last November.  The archival black and white footage of the Black Panthers and the march on Selma, Alabama was taken from the National Archive and is listed as public domain. The nighttime performance footage was shot one night in West Philly, guerilla style.

And for those wondering if we’re related – well, we might not have fallen from the same family tree, but we come from common ground.

Anyway, I hope you dig it – I’m pretty proud of this one. And be sure to check out more music on Curly Castro bandcamp page.

And, if you haven’t done so already, please take a moment to follow Mighty Joe Castro on instagram and twitter. Thank you for your support!