'Tell It Like It Is’, multi-channel video installation, 15:31 min in loop, dimensions variable, 2018

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Tell It Like It Is is a multi-channel video installation in which three rappers from New York and New Jersey (MARX, BOBBY SANCHEZ and RAE RENEGADE) take center stage. Based on a series of declassified and leaked documents provided by Hannan, and using on of the most popular musical forms of expression today, the rappers created original songs in a collaborative effort that puts rap music and the visual arts vis a vis. All three songs created speak to their understanding of political and corporate oppression in times of mass surveillance and information saturation. What is true, and how do we tell the truth through the medium of rap music in today’s day and age?

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Like Hannan, all three rap artists share a common interest in secret information and power structures, but ar also informed by their diverse backgrounds and approaches to music and general artistic expression. Tell It Like It Is focuses on the stories these rap artists have to tell through a video installation that incorporates lyrics, music, music video, conspiracy theory, leaked documents and information that became part of the public domain only through the power of the internet, to celebrate all the things we’re not supposed to talk about.