Pikesville|Local Event
"I Was the Weirdo" documentary screening at Baltimore International Black Film Festival
Acclaimed rapper/vocalist Priest Da Nomad, brings his debut feature documentary, ‘I Was the Weirdo’ screening to the Baltimore International Black Film Festival.
About Priest
A Columbia, Md. resident, Larry Ware II aka Priest Da Nomad, is one of the pioneers of independent Hip Hop in Washington D.C., and the re-emergence of the historic U street arts scene in the 1990s.
He first started publicly performing and rocking college parties in 1992 in DC nightclubs, when through a then mutual manager LaMont “Monte” Wanzer, Priest got under the wing of Hip Hop icon Bizmarkie, kicking off what would be a lifelong relationship until Biz’s death in 2021, and also appears on the “All Up in the Biz” documentary about Biz’s life.
Priest was at the forefront of the hip hop theatre movement as a member of the groundbreaking play “Rhyme Deferred”, along with the late great Chadwick Boseman and Apollo Theatre producer Kamilah Forbes. He has made appearances on BET’s Rap City, Voice of America and all DC area mainstream urban radio and college radio stations, as well as Sirius XM.
He has been written up in publications such as the Source, Billboard magazine, Sister to Sister, Rap Pages, Blaze, Washington Post, Washington Times, and numerous Washington City Paper articles, including a cover story by national best-selling author Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Priest was also the subject of a book “Hip Hop as Performance and Ritual” by ethnomusicologist Dr. William E. Smith, which dealt with jazz and hip-hop improvisation links to Africa. Branching out, he is the writer and director of the new documentary film, ‘I Was the Weirdo.”
About the Film
W E B S I T E
www.iwastheweirdo.com
I N S T A G R A M
@iwastheweirdodoc
T R A I L E R
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrSVJD42t64
The film follows Priest’s journey to shed light on the often-overlooked U Street ― Black Broadway ― hip hop and arts subculture in Washington, D.C. Through his personal story, it examines how this vibrant creative movement was both shaped and tested by the forces of politics, crime, Black cultural influence and the city's signature Go-Go sound.
Set in the heart of the nation's capital-widely regarded as the political center of the world, the documentary also underscores D.C.'s legacy as a dynamic incubator for influential artists, journalists, filmmakers and public figures whose reach extends far beyond city limits.
Generating a lot of buzz, the film won "Best Documentary" at the Cultural Connections Film Festival, “Best Documentary at the New York Hip Hop Film Festival” and the Audience Award at LightReel.