First of all, I want to say it has been an honor to help export Detroit Rap music to the world. And document the culture. Thanks for watching, tuning in and thanks for caring. Thanks for loving music. That’s where this all started.
AuxiliaryCinema.com is a video log of mostly Detroit Hip Hop and Rap music videos. I’ve always loved music, and in my search to find the best rap music in the world I looked everywhere else first, (New York with Jayz, Biggie, Beatie Boys, & Def Jux, LA with SnoopDogg & 2Pac, N.W.A. or Oakland with Hieroglyphics, to Minnesota and Atmosphere) until I realized the best music came from my home state of Michigan & Detroit specifically. Even though I first heard Slum Village banging out a friends dorm room my first year of college, I’ve listened to Motown Music all my life. But strange enough, even when I was in a rap group in high school, most Detroit rap somehow flew over the small suburb town where I grew up. (besides Eminem and Kid Rock) But by the time I got into college Detroit was still the most interesting subject within proximity to me, so I kept going to live shows.. Now along with the music, there were already super dope videographers in the city that inspired me even before I decided to pick up a camera, guys like Drummer B & NicNotion w/ Live from the Drum Set, Gerard Victor, Mario Butterfield, Jerry PHD(in recent years) – Because of Detroit music notoriously being blackballed from radio stations, those guys were how a lot of the music found me out in the suburbs. So special thanks to them, because I could consume the music they documented over the internet and Youtube. & The music inspired me so much I wanted to get involved.
After my high school rap band, I did a few music videos in college but after that I moved to Grand Rapids to start my career in video production all while knowing all the fun was to be had in Detroit. Not long would pass until a master networker reached out to me in the early days by the name of Moe Dirdee, and wanted to pay me to film his rap battles in Redford, Michigan at the Bullfrog bar. I knew anyone throwing a monthly rap show in or around Detroit that people actually attended- had to to be worth checking out. And it was. I met a large chunk of the rap scene at that time (2008), and I got to work.
Years later, I can say I’ve traveled the world documenting Detroit rap culture, & best of all I did it representing the city. I really grew up around Ann Arbor & even though I’m not from the city directly; I’ve still been able film with some of the best rappers/writers/DJs/producers of Detroit, such as Fat Ray, Moe Dirdee, Marvwon, Guilty Simpson, Apollo Brown, House Shoes, Black Milk and Danny Brown just to name a few. I wasn’t releasing material under Auxiliary Cinema from the start. My friend Charles Van aka SelfSays, recited the words in a rap, I liked the way it sounded and meaning of being able to provide support or produce in different useful ways. I’m always looking to add onto my tool kit and further my video skills. The rap music from Detroit still inspires me to keep pushing for this progress.
Amongst the majority Detroit-made music videos on this website are promotional videos, photography sessions, and some live clips dating back to my college/professional start in 2008. And also a handful of rock band music videos are on this website. These are entirely my productions, all filmed, edited and directed by me, unless otherwise noted.
I’ve produced over 90 music videos since 2009 and I know people have produced more (in the city, & with more talent for that matter) but my hope is that one day this collection will still be considered a worthy contribution to the Detroit scene. Even though I’m not from the city or live within the boundaries, my interest in it has made me an adopted child of the city. Motown is the music that moves me. Inspiration is everything. Thanks for watching.
AUX Channel on Youtube is a great place see all newer music videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/AUXCinema
And here is a link to the older set of archives, before Auxiliary officially formed: Click Here to go to my first Youtube Channel. Mostly everything in both of these archives can be found through this website. auxcinema.com
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