Press Release
Chicago-based soul singer, poet and activist Jamila Woods broke into the national spotlight with the release of her highly lauded debut LP, HEAVN a little over a year ago and now it’s available to purchase for the first time via Jagjaguwar and her original label home, Chicago’s respected hip-hop incubator Closed Sessions. Praised by the likes of Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Fader, Spin, W Magazine and so much more the album ended up on many year end lists including a spot on Pitchfork’s top 50, a nod for being one of the best R&B albums of 2016 from Rolling Stone and more. To commemorate the official release of the album Ms. Woods along with Chance the Rapper and Chicago based VAM Studio have released a Chicago Public Schools student directed video for “LSD”, a single off the album.
JAMILA WOODS RELEASES CPS STUDENT WRITTEN / DIRECTED VIDEO FOR “LSD” FT. CHANCE THE RAPPER
Together they conceptualized the “LSD” video to include aspiring filmmakers from Chicago Public Schools. They opened up treatment submissions to all CPS high school students, ultimately selecting one student’s treatment to guide the video. That winning student, Prosser Career Academy senior Ashley Huicochea, was able to shadow the directors (Vincent Martell & Sam Bailey of VAM Studio) on the set during the shoot, while the six student runners up were able to shadow other key parts of the production. The video for “LSD” is absolutely a celebration of Chicago, of the richness of its people and neighborhoods. It’s vibrant and colorful, but it’s also a meditative video. While Chicago is a city with its challenges, this video paints a portrait of resilience, buoyancy, and charm.
In addition to the video, check out a making of the video documentary that was created to get a deeper look into the process’ that occurred behind the scenes with interviews from Ms. Woods, VAM folks and the students up top. You can see her live this fall at ACL, AFROPUNK, London, Paris and more (full dates below).
A MAKING OF THE VIDEO DOCUMENTARY
FULL LIST OF STUDENT WINNERS
Ashley Huicochea – Prosser Career Academy- 12 (graduated)- Treatment Winner/Director Shadow
Precious Ingram- Simeon Career Academy- 10/11- Wardrobe Shadow
Patricia Frazier- Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep- 12 (graduated)- Camera Shadow
Sara Gieger- Kenwood Academy- 12 (graduated) – Camera Shadow
Cleo Shine- Nicolas Senn High- 12 (graduated) – Camera Shadow
Emilio Nieto- Lindblom Math and Science Academy- 11/12- Art Direction Shadow
Jaylon Guyton- Bulls College Prep- 12 (graduated)- Art Direction Shadow
PHYSICAL ALBUM AVAILABLE OCTOBER 6TH VIA JAGJAGWUAR / CLOSED SESSIONS
LIVE DATES
October 8 – Austin – ACL
October 14- Afropunk – ATL
October 15- Austin – ACL
October 27 – Jazz Cafe – London, UK *headlining
October 29 – Ideal Bar- Copenhagen, DK *supporting Jordan Rakei
October 31 – Melkweg – Amsterdam, NL *supporting Jordan Rakei
November 1 – Pitchfork Avant-Garde – Paris, FR
November 2 – Vooruit Balzaal- Gent, BE *supporting Jordan Rakei
November 3 – Gebäude 9 – Cologne, DE *supporting Jordan Rakei
November 4 – Crossing Borders Festival – The Hague, NL