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Creative autonomy is priceless, especially if achieved through one’s own volition. damon dashCo-founding Roc-A-Fella Records is tangible evidence that he is very familiar with building his own entity. Decades later, he has no choice but to continue building his empire.
More recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the serial entrepreneur gave himself the luxury of creating when most couldn’t. Dame made the trek to Kanye West’s ranch in Wyoming, bringing with him talented collaborators who were as committed as he was. With the help of new cast members Lucien Watson and Valor Gosch, they filmed a 4/20 themed feature film, throwing stoneswithin six days.
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“My freedom and independence come at no cost,” the 51-year-old said. “I had to learn what it meant to be independent. So when you’re looking at crap, it doesn’t make sense to be proud of someone else having you, right?”
Directed by Dash, throwing stones tells the story of two friends, Marquis and Joel, who are navigating their own personal journeys. Along the way, they need some tough love and good grass to break through.Throughout the film, visuals illustrate the consequences of consumption marijuana for a more immersive viewing experience.
VIBE interviewed Dame, Lucien, and Valor to discuss throwing stonesreactions to the film, future plans, and anecdotes from the set.
VIBE: I know throwing stones Inspired by your desire for Black people to explore cannabis opportunities because it’s been demonized in our communities and people have been locked up for it. Talk about the process, how you came up with the story, and what you want people to feel in the end.
Damon Dash: I just wanted to make a cool marijuana movie, a drug movie. It’s really not that deep. My purpose in using stoner films is to raise awareness about the cannabis industry and culturally ensure we are not left out. During COVID, I’m still trying to write a film that I can shoot during COVID since I have my own studio and my own camera. I ended up choosing Kanye [West]pasture. There’s a lot going on, and with the variables, meeting Lucien and his crew personally required me to get creative. We decided to just create because there was a lot of heavy lifting going on. We decided that this script might work if we tweaked it and adapted it to this environment.
I noticed that some aspects of it catered to those who watched it, such as the camera getting blurry.
sprint: My thing is, when you smoke, when they smoke, you feel them smoking. It’s almost like a 3D thing. My plan is to show it in the Metaverse and get people excited to watch it. When they smoke, their vision becomes “high”.
Lucien, you play the Marquis. Your relationship with Joel and his relationship with the mother of his child ended naturally. Is there anything you had to do to fit in that role? Or is it easy for you?
Lucian Watson: Everyone there made it super easy for me. It’s not difficult. They told me to “be yourself” and at first I was like, “Are you sure?” Because I’m kind of weird, but it’s all true. The spark of relationships, how well we get along on and off the camera. We still respect each other like we did on day one. So no, it’s not “work”, it’s fun.
Filming it over eight days. We know that movies usually take a long time to —
sprint: six days. It took six days because I know how to make a film. If I’m not the real director—
Watson: This is my first time. I don’t know how long a movie takes, but I don’t feel rushed. Chemistry just makes us blend and work. No one’s ego stands in the way of progress. It’s a well-oiled machine.
sprint: I’m the kind of person where if I hit someone’s block and I see them pushing a lot of work and creating, it’s hard for me to stand on that block and not do things. So it’s just being independent, being creative.
how do you feel about the call for critics throwing stones 2022 version half-baked?
sprint: I like that. It’s an honor, and it also means we own the franchise. In fact, Lucien can act, and he’s a good guy who pushes his sh*t proactively.we are doing a throwing stones Part Two We’re already talking about bringing this shit to London. Tubi is a great platform because it’s almost like syndication. You can do it, and you can benefit from all the traffic they get. What’s interesting is what we’re doing with this movie and this series in Web3. If we have six days, what will it be like when we have enough time without the stress of COVID?
VIBE: I think the chemistry between Marquise and Joel could be made into a TV series. Have you guys explored this idea?
Watson: Yes, we’ve been exploring.
sprint: If you noticed at first, it’s also in the cartoon, so it works. The documentary that made it is as much fun as the movie.
VIBE: Ma’am, you’ve made a big push for independence, and you’ve obviously done a good job of it. Who do you think is the most influential person in advising you on how to start this journey?
Lady: Let me explain words: they mean a lot. When you say the word independence, if you look it up in the dictionary, I’m sure freedom is somewhere. Freedom is independence. Independence is freedom. Your copyright and all these things that you own are called your master. When you relinquish your master, then whoever you give it to is now the master of that product. I am so equivalent. If someone said, ‘Yo, I’ll give you $10 million, or offer two years and you give up two years of freedom,’ I’d say, ‘Take that million dollars. Ten, whatever. My freedom and independence come at no cost. I had to understand the meaning of independence. So when you look at the wording, it doesn’t make sense to be proud that someone else has you, right?
So, monetary value becomes irrelevant once you understand what it means to be alive, to live, to be rich, to be healthy, to be free, and to be able to move wherever you want. Because I know when you’re behind the cage, you give everything you have in the bank to start over from behind the cage. You do not care. You will give up every dollar for your freedom. So why give up? Just do what you do. Don’t expect no one to do it for you. Don’t blame anyone for your problems. We grew up fucking sissy men. I want to make a movie where I don’t get mad at someone for not paying. I just want to make my film. I don’t get mad at someone for not putting it out. I’m going to turn it off. It doesn’t have to be the same size as other people’s, as long as it’s mine, as long as I can make some money and make it bigger. So I don’t know, no one has given me this advice specifically, but I’m just looking at people who have a lot of money and don’t feel free. They feel bankrupt.
Valor, you have an interesting arc throughout the film. You move in with your girl and her kids that aren’t yours and Marquez yells at you for it.You met his uncle who also gave you hell and then went to the end, You are the boss and kick your girls out. What was it like playing that character and communicating that transformation?
High value: This is the hero’s journey. We all go through it. I think part of that is being able to surrender to failure. You’re going to screw up, you’re going to conform, you’re going to make bad choices. My character made a bad choice on a girl. He grows from it. The interesting thing about that character is that we had to make him on the spot because of the nature of that movie we were shooting. We only have so much time, so many places and so many people, so it’s a lot of fun. His initial arc will go from someone who doesn’t want to be a family man to someone who submits to someone he shouldn’t submit to and then tries to find his way back.
sprint: Val, talk about why you weren’t going to be in a movie, I just put you aside and you became a star.
gosh: The making of a film is a film in itself.I’m in Wyoming because I’m actually Wound. I got a call like, “Hey, you need to get aboard the Gulf Stream in the next two hours.” And I started, and the whole plan was that I was going to be writing there. We have about 50 pages and I’m supposed to make 10 pages a day in advance. I walked into the room and heard the main leader leave. For some damn reason, he had to see his dog.
Watson: Consider the spontaneity of one of the main characters leaving because he misses his dog.
gosh: Dame looked around and he said “Who knows the script?” He looked at me and just let out a fucking evil laugh. He’s like, ‘Why don’t you do this? He started laughing harder and I could see the cogs in his head. I know the script — I’m writing it. I know this story better than anyone here. I resisted at first, then he started yelling and the whole crew joined in. ‘worth! worth!‘ I thought to myself, ‘F**k it, ok, let’s do this’, and that became the thread of the film and the production. Lucien made fun of me and I realized I had to be tough so I called him Vanilla Tupac because he looked like an off-brand Tupac. Everyone was quiet as this Jewish white guy said that to a black guy who didn’t seem very accepting.
sprint: It’s like a left hook.
gosh: Then Lou started giggling, and the air returned to the room. That was the beginning of our friendship on and off film.
I know you’ve done some screenings. What does it mean to you when people who watch a movie rate it highly?
sprint: If you notice, in general, I don’t care what other people think. As a director, I’m actually asking people what they think. I really care. People love it. People love it. If you understand what it is, and you look forward to seeing a good stoner film, as it’s been a long time since, and understand the process and circumstances in which we made it, that’s art. Editing is also a very complicated part of it for me. You’ll see how everything fits to the beat. I was so excited when we edited.
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