Paper Chasers

A film crew sets out on a journey across the country to discover how money is made in the world of hip-hop. Director Maxie Collier takes us inside the process as he selects his Paperchasers crew and travels across the United States, interviewing people making a living off hip-hop, from street rappers selling tapes out of their trunks, to clothing designers, a hairdresser, DJs, record producers, and recording artists. They’re all out to make money, and Collier wants to learn how it is done. In Atlanta, the crew catch rap superstar Ludacris and his crew just months before they sign a record deal and blow up. Collier documents his crew’s struggles to land interviews with media bigwigs like Rap-A-Lot’s J. Prince and Def Jam founder Russell Simmons. Collier also captures the fluctuations in his personal relationships with producer Yvette Plummer, also the mother of his son, and soundman Marquez Edmond (aka “Marquez the Greatest”), as the pressures of making the film wear on the bare-bones crew. Paperchasers, featuring appearances by Fat Joe, Damon Dash, Flava Flav, and James Brown, had its world premiere at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival.