Kings Link Records

“Gadzooks, that was an excellent piece of work. I watched it twice. I
am not normally keen on…. but I hope you share these comments with Anthony
and whoever else worked on this fine video.

The song is good on its own, and with the music it’s very good. I think
the song and music are a good composition. They are very nice to listen
to. The song has a beginning, an end, and a message you understand
after you hear it. I have never been a music person and generally only
listen to music that is either very pleasing and simple, or that is
strongly nuanced. I like this song a lot because it is both a nice,
simple message, and a composition that has some twists and turns. It’s
a message from Anthony, saying “Thank you,” and it is both pleasant and
interesting, it commands attention on its own.

When you add the videography and the choreography, you have an excellent
piece of art that makes me happy to be part of the modern world that
created it. I liked the video as a whole as much as I liked “The Fifth
Element” as a science-fiction film. I think about as much skill and
thought went into making this video as went into that film. But your
video is part of the modern world, rather than a facsimile of it. I
like that I came from the age that the video came from. (On rereading
this I note that it did not even occur to me that the piece was made
where I live. I would like to mention also that I think of the piece as
being modern, not as local, or as Hip Hop, or as ethnic.)

There is no way to separate the palette used to create a video like this
from the work itself. It is made from pieces of moving pictures and
sounds from the artists’ world.

But the video is a sophisticated piece of work, and the palette does not
draw attention to itself. The artists are using the palette for their
own purposes. The pieces of the collage are placed together so that
they disappear, the entire artwork speaks in its own language. The
video as a whole does not overpower that Anthony is singing his message.

You also cannot separate the timing of the choreographed movements, and
the images generally, from their placement along with the lyrics and
music. These things, put together, are a new art form, like a new
language or a new dance. I feel certain you or whoever edited it did
this by feel, working with it until it felt right. That is what makes
its creation a fine artwork, just as a sculptor who knows clay, or a
painter who makes his own oils, can create a work that other artists
will marvel at long after it was made. There is an obvious
sophistication in the use of these tools and I find it exciting to see
this thing being created by its inventors.

I cannot express well enough what an excellent piece of choreography and
film editing this is. The entire video is like a dance that
accompanies Anthony’s song. The sounds and the sights and the movements
cohere naturally around the topic of the song, and become part of the
message.

And the song is about Anthony going about his life and knowing that it
is good, and then giving that back to the world and the people in it.
Things were perhaps a bit hairy for him, but he came through it with his
life and all his marbles. I like that he specifically mentions that
people show us stupid shit to make us stupid, and that it doesn’t work
very well on us. Other people, young people, are going to see and hear
that message. A certain number of them will brush off that influence and
choose to expect more of themselves because they saw this video. This
is a fine and uplifting piece of work.

I have the sincerest respect for those of you who thought to make this
video and who created such an astonishing thing to have on my screen.
As you know, I am from the Barrio and I have Puerto Ricans in the
family. You and Anthony are a credit to the whole city and most
definitely to the Puerto Ricans. You are creating something new,
something from nothing, using what you find around you, and it’s very
fucking sharp. I would characterize this video as a very good work of
modern art.”

Theron