Birthmark

A gospel/Hip-Hop Experience
By Rickerby Hinds
Directed by Chari Arespacochaga

A young man struggles to remain connected to his Afro-Caribbean roots while assimilating to America after immigrating to LA at the birth of hip-hop culture.

For Kique (Afro-Caribbean), it is a matter of survival when he and his mother immigrate to South Central Los Angeles from Central America in 1980, after his father’s death. His efforts to assimilate into African-American life are exacerbated by the emergence of a new form of cultural expression called hip-hop that he must master or he might not make it. The passage of time and distance from his home combine to drive him down a destructive path only to be altered with the birth of his son who bares his grandfather’s birthmark reminding Kique of who he really is.