Music

Watch Crooked Tonight at 9:30PM on AUX BOX OFFICE

by Allan Tong

A young man named Sensational dreams of escaping the ghetto by becoming a rap star. Fate helps him when he meets Xane, an Hispanic kid from the ‘hood, at an open-mic competition in Brooklyn. Turns out that Xane went to an Ivy league college, and sells weed to folks like rich boy Brad Lombardi, who has a cushy A&R gig at a major label.

When Xane nearly gets busted by an undercover cop while delivering his stash, he decides to make a career change. Xane becomes Sensational’s manager, and tries to land his client a recording contact at Brad’s label. Meanwhile, Sensational is evicted from his apartment, and winds up counterfeiting cash then dealing crack.

Xane introduces Sensational to Brad, and secures a meeting with Brad to play him Sensational’s demo. However, Brad is more interested in Sensational’s drug connections than his music. Ever pragmatic, Sensational offers to help Brad score a kilo of coke in exchange for free studio time to finish his demo. Xane knows nothing of this, and Sensational risks losing his manager, not to mention his life and freedom. Will Sensational close the deal and finish his demo?

This is a low-budget DIY kind of movie full of swagger and grit. Part-doc and part-fiction, Crooked is a modern urban tale about a poor boy trying to crack into show business, while fighting the temptations of the lucrative but dangerous drug world. Though technically raw, the live music performances carry the film and make the story real to life. The life of an artist struggling in today’s jungle of a music industry. Watch the trailer below: