Mars Project (2012)

A decade ago rapper Khari 'Conspiracy' Stewart was diagnosed with a psychological disorder, but he has rejected the label and is pursuing a spiritual path.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Conspiracy battles Josh Fisher at K.O.T.D.



This is another perspective of the “King of the Dot” rap-battle where Conspiracy battled a man by the name of Josh Fisher. There are always lots of cameras at these events, whether it’s the K.O.T.D. camera crew, a buddy with a camcorder or the entourage for one of the boys competing. I attended the event, documenting elements of Conspiracy’s life and putting together the visual treatment at the top of the page.

Although Conspiracy lost the battle, I think it’s difficult to say (especially in this particular bout) who was the winner. If one were to judge Conspiracy’s technical performance; you could say he stammered more than J.F. and lacked confidence in the delivery of some of his lines. In contrast, there is Mr. Fisher who brings the most banal, tired old conventions of a “battle rapper” (although I definitely chuckled at his Eryka Badu line). Fisher comes out on top because he finds the easy laugh. At events like these, it’s better to be part of the crowd than to stand outside of it. And this what K.O.T.D. (and probably some other leagues) seems to champion: the same tired homophobic slurs. I’m amazed at how popular the movement has become and who champions it (for example Conspiracy’s twin-brother Mindbender often judges these events and himself is a massive promoter for K.O.T.D.). Equally as surprising, are the number of established artists in Toronto (and North America for that matter) who actually despise the movement as brain-dead, populist rap; a chance for “Mr. No-name” from the sticks to fling insults at “Rapper B” all in an effort to win meager accolades (although hundreds of dollars are sometimes wagered). Don’t get me wrong, I love a good rap battle, but I grew up going to these things where guys would rap to a beat (selected by a DJ) and who wouldn’t come into a match with a pre-written repertoire. The field seems divided in this regard. Some believe that the “freestyle artists” of yore brought in pre-written material anyway, while many more established generations think this practice is bastardizing the art form. I fall into the latter category, but can also appreciate an “a cappella” performance from time to time (even this is chronically over-utilized by mediocre verb-smiths).

Monday, May 23, 2011

Rewrites and rewriting a documentary

The ultimate goal is to shoot the film with a series of re-enactments based on Khari’s account – especially how they relate to the “possession,” the circumstances and events leading up to it as well as his life coping with these issues. Individual scenes are scripted around Khari’s retelling of events (through his voice over) and he will, ideally portray himself on the screen. Archival footage will be employed in innovative ways within the narrative of the film (e.g. A wall within a given scene will come alive with a previous interview). The idea of “Conspiracy” starring in his own dramatic-documentary aims to portray these experiences as a great contemporary tale, even if it is borne from his riddled mind. This presentation aims to give Khari a platform to tell his story through the film, somewhat embellishing his image as a fantastical character and at the same time questioning the cause(s) behind his afflictions and his identity.

If you're still wondering what I'm trying to get at, let me suggest Robinson Davor's brilliant documentary Zoo, which focuses on some truly shocking occurrences and behaviors of "Zoophiles" in Seattle, Washington. It's so beautifully shot and manages to gracefully tackle subject matter that is otherwise taboo.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Rich and Khari 2002



Editor-in-chief of Ugsmag David "noyz" Jaguttis recorded a performance with Rich Terfry a.k.a. Buck 65 doing a performance in Edmonton where Khari was also at. Apparently some folks were bugging Khari, so Buck stopped the performance to call out the hecklers.

Mental Reverse/Spiritual Rebirth



This is a Canadian classic! Technically their second album, M.R/S.R. had some previously released tracks from a cassette and some 12"s they put out. Very few of these CDs are available, though I think Conspiracy might have a small cache left. Significant for Conspiracy because of his song "Exodus" which he refers to as another catalyst for his condition – negativity feeding more negativity; almost a calling for evil to mess with him. Conspiracy's twin-brother the wonderous Mindbender has a link on his site mindbendersuniverse.com

Saturday, May 21, 2011

History of Madness Show




David Reville (an Associate Producer on the feature film we're working on) and the School of Disabilities Studies at Ryerson University put on a show every year featuring artwork by students of the History of Madness course. Conspiracy rapped at the event and The Mars Project was shown. See more photos of the event here...
(photo: Clifton Li)

EXCLAIM! Magazine Review



Thomas Quinlan is a writer who's always writing about the more esoteric hip hop happenings in Canada and he reviewed The Mars Project short. I think he's spot on when he says "Khari is an interesting individual with a lot to say, so five minutes is not enough time to do the subject justice." See the original review here...

Khari "Conspiracy" Stewart was already a legend in the subterranean depths of Canada's hip-hop underground as one half of Supreme Being Unit with twin brother Addi "Mindbender" Stewart prior to his notoriety, gained from freaking out Roots drummer ?uestlove and posting random, rambling pronouncements on hip-hop message boards. The Mars Project, a five-minute documentary short from new Canadian filmmaker Jonathan Balazs, gets to the root of it all with an examination of the life-changing moment in Khari's life when, in the summer of 1997, he first opened H.P. Lovecraft's infamous occult book The Necronomicon and found himself cursed by an intergalactic being named Anacron. This otherworldly presence has since informed his music at every turn; his recent solo album, Sex is the Key to Immortality, discusses his fight to be free of this influence with songs like "I'm Cursed by a Demon" and "Demon Slayer," and helps to explain his possibly psychotic online outbursts. While Khari emphatically denies this haunting has anything to do with his massive drug consumption or potential mental illness, they are certainly possibilities that should have been given serious consideration but are only touched upon in the doc. And that's where The Mars Project falls short. Khari is an interesting individual with a lot to say, so five minutes is not enough time to do the subject justice. Investigations into the possibilities of possession and the probable alternatives would be a good addition to a longer study of the same subject. Still, it serves as a great introduction to the topic and goes a long way in offering insight into what makes this oddball MC tick. The DVD release also contains an even shorter tour documentary with DJ Weez-L, the man manning the two turntables for Edmonton MC Cadence Weapon, plus an artsy film short I still don't understand and a hard copy of a Conspiracy interview Jon did for UGSMAG. - Thomas Quinlan

Friday, May 20, 2011

Dis the Haters


Dis the Haters was a project that Conspiracy and my moniker Jon Brando recorded last summer. Many of the beats on here are a mish-mash of custom tracks I made for him as well as orphan songs hanging out on my hard drive. I honestly have mixed feelings about it as a whole, though there are a couple of choice cuts on here that I am proud of. I know that a few of the tracks were written while Khari was in the psychiatric ward at St. Michal's Hospital. If my memory serves me correctly, he rapped the title track "Dis the Haters" to me in his room at the hospital. The cover image is my face and his face superimposed over each other, so that's why it looks doubly scary. Below is one of the promotional tracks we recorded.

Sex is the Key to Immortality



Sex is the Key to Immortality is the album Conspiracy made with Edmonton rapper/producer Chris Plus. In the original Mars Project film, I think I give the impression that this album was a culmination of the psychic torture that Khari had been experiencing, an explosive message aimed at terrifying or insulting Anacron (one of Khari's intangible, psychic attackers). As I have discovered and come to realize is that metaphysical themes of intergalactic spirituality and consciousness have been prevalent in much of Conspiracy's albums. He raps about these subjects because they're all too pervasive in his everyday life and have been for half of his life. Although he has a huge amount of material, this is one of his more professional recordings. It's available as a free download now on bandcamp.

Conspiracy = The Ol’ Dirty Bastard of Canada



Around the time that Khari was spending time in a psychiatric ward at St. Michal's Hospital, I asked his twin-brother Addi "Mindbender" Stewart to submit a piece to Ugsmag; partly because I think there were a lot of things that Addi had to purge himself of, but also I wanted a different perspective of the whole mess, as told by the person closest to him. For the record, Addi does not suffer from the same afflictions that Khari does, which is one of the reasons why this story is so perplexing, fascinating and unbelievable. Addi is the real life doppelganger of Khari, pretty much different in every way...except for the way he looks and sometimes the manner that he speaks or raps. Read his article here.

The Tales and Tribulations of Khari “Conspiracy” Stewart

In the fall of 2008, Khari decided to move to Ottawa, back to where he had spent half of his childhood, but also a place where his rap persona "Conspiracy" had developed along with his twin-brother "Mindbender" and a group of like-minded friends who made music under an umbrella crew called the Nextraterrestrials.

A couple of months after moving, having been off government imposed medication in Alberta, he started to "go over the edge" so-to-speak. He had trouble holding down some jobs and had worn-out his welcome with some relatives in Ottawa, so he decided to move to Toronto (where he continues to reside, we see each other often). At some point after coming back to the city of his birth; he was profiled at a local mall by security who tipped off the TTC. These officials subsequently handed him over to the Toronto Police Service who booked and sent Khari to the Don Jail (his second "visit"). At the jail, authorities and probably his duty-council realized that this ominous Jamaican fellow had more issues than criminal delinquency. He was sent to a psychiatric ward at Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital and spent a few weeks there getting straightened out.

The following is the original English version of a little piece I submitted to a Czech hip hop magazine, courtesy of my friend Lukas who translated it and posted it up on their website. If you can read or speak "Bohemian" you can have a look at that version here, otherwise read on...

Conspiracy - The Ol' Dirty Bastard of Canada [Note: Lukas went with the title of a piece Mindbender wrote about his brother at roughly the same time]

Khari “Conspiracy” Stewart is a rapper from Canada who is part of the Supreme Being Unit (S.B.U.) a group that includes his twin brother Mindbender. In the late ‘90s, S.B.U. gained notoriety for two albums they released: The First Great Pyramid and Mental Reverse/Spiritual Rebirth. Riding on the popularity of underground hip hop and his work, Conspiracy traveled across the country, making contacts with other underground cats and continued to build an underground following.

By 2000, Conspiracy was living in Vancouver where his hedonistic lifestyle finally caught up with him. The situation became so dire that Conspiracy’s mother asked him to come home to Edmonton – a place where he had already spent most of his childhood and where she thought he would be removed from the drug culture that threatened him. It was in this humble northern Alberta city where I met Conspiracy and where The Mars Project saga began.

My experiences with Conspiracy began in the Edmonton rap scene years ago through Max Prime. Conspiracy was an official member of a local crew of rappers the Low Budget Affiliates (L.B.A.), which include: Max Prime, Chris Plus, Add-Vice, Chaz, DJ Nato and DJ Weez-L. When Max Prime and I began working with each other, he schooled me on Conspiracy, introducing me to songs L.B.A. had recorded with him. He also linked me with Conspiracy’s first solo project: Screw the Underground I’m Going Commercial. The sound quality of the recording was rugged, but listenable and it blew my mind – I could hardly believe that this album was produced in my city. Conspiracy was no longer the anonymous shadowy figure at the back of the club, but a creative genius of the highest order. With every show he did and every conversation we had and every poorly recorded mix tape I bought from him, I began to realize that Conspiracy was a unique individual outside of his rap endeavors.

In the summer of 2007 I had started writing more extensively for Ugsmag. Conspiracy had unexpectedly separated from L.B.A. and at the same time, declared that he was finished performing his songs live. I knew that something was awry, but I would never know the full extent of his issues until I interviewed him. In a surprisingly candid conversation, I learned of his excessive tastes in extra-curricular drugs and a possession by the pervasive, intergalactic consciousness named Anacron. The Mars Project is an extension of this interview – a short film I produced that focuses on Conspiracy’s music career and his “metaphysical, magical” experiences.”

According to Conspiracy, during the summer of 1997 he picked up a book called The Necronomicon (said to have been written by the occult author H.P.Lovecraft) and claims to have been cursed by it. While it is true that an ancient and dangerous book called The Necronomicon had been referred to in his literary works, Lovecraft never actually penned a physical version of this mystical piece of literature (although purported versions are sold in bookstores and specialty shops). Despite the apparent and refuted existence of a Necronomicon, Conspiracy continues to believe that this book ushered the possession by Anacron and other spirits into his mind. He describes himself as a medium to these “prank-caller” phantoms and claims that he needs to achieve full “illumination” to properly fight these psychic intruders.

Regardless of whether you believe in these supernatural phenomena or write them off as the tendencies of a lunatic, Conspiracy’s perception of them are very real and have interfered with his life for over a decade. Western medicine has diagnosed him as suffering from Paranoid Schizophrenic disorder – a diagnosis that would be hard for anyone to swallow. Anacron is as real to Conspiracy as the words on this page appear to you, so one can only imagine how difficult it would be for him to simply shed away these spirits as mere problems of perception. With this said, Conspiracy continues to produce music – though I think the belief in Anacron has been a mitigating factor in his recent output. However, with the proper resources and prodding, he can and will produce. Sex is the Key to Immortality is a reflection of Conspiracy’s will to fight these demons through his creativity, but it is also the result of hard work and ingenuity on the part of Chris Plus as well as the rest of the L.B.A.

In order to fully and capably understand Conspiracy, you must resolve yourself to the fact that no one can truly understand the man. He is clever, surprisingly calculating and he has an uncanny ability to warp any shreds of truth into beautifully descriptive fables that you want to believe. I suspect this is a circumstance of a brain that Conspiracy has had difficulty harnessing and one that is especially sensitive to the chemicals he puts into his body. He has been the victim and the beneficiary of this mind and I believe that his views are an intrinsic part of his character. As debilitating as it may seem, his mind has been inspiration for so much that I think it is irresponsible to write him off as another loon or crack-head. While his symptoms are indicative of a condition that our medical establishment calls Schizophrenia, underneath these vestiges of insanity lie an intelligent and imaginative human being. Conspiracy – like all of us at one time or another – has strayed down uncertain paths. I have no idea what the solution is, but I do know that it has to come from within Conspiracy. He has yet to make an outward and sincere effort to make changes or admit that he has problems, but I hope his most recent stay at the psychiatric ward at Saint Michaels Hospital in Toronto will set him straight.

- J.B. May 2009

Original trailer...


Fellow filmmaker and classmate Justin Oakey cut together the trailer for the film. In keeping with the sinister nature of the subject matter and the low-fi quality of footage, the trailer does a good job of never explicitly explaining the film. One user notes "I have no idea what this film is about, but I like the camera work. The play of light, the exposure and the way the camera follows the guy really works to develop tension." I can't remember if it was the strength of this trailer or if it was the short that I posted (very briefly; don't try and find the whole version), but the year I finished the original in 2008, the Toronto After Dark Film Festival showed the film before Donkey Punch. Being in second year and having a film in a sold-out festival was pretty cool, though I look like a boob in the press photo and the girl I took with me to the screening never talked to me again (true story!). I look at this film as "the little short that could" because it has shown at more film festivals than any of my other work to date. Still haven't been able to recoup the costs of it though. Soon enough.

The Mars Project DVD


Fast-forward to the summer of 2008, I had completed the original, 5 minute version of the film and had produced some limited edition DVDs to distribute to fans, video stores and libraries. I don't know if any copies are still floating out there. I've heard that what versions were publicly available have been stolen, which on the one hand, is a total drag because all I want is for people to see the stuff (the entire point of the game!), but I would be remiss if I wasn't filled with some pride in the fact that somebody thought that it was worth the risk to snatch this super-limited edition copy of the film. If there's interest, I'll have another run of these made and put the profits to the production of the feature-length that we're working on currently.

The interview that started it all...

After my first summer back from film school, I was pursuing a number of rappers to add to my interview portfolio for the online rap mag Ugsmag. Since I had interviewed his twin-brother months prior, I thought it would be apt to speak with the other half of the group Supreme Being Unit. I had known Khari for a few years and I had seen him lurking around Edmonton for years prior, but this was the catalyst to the Mars Project saga. When I came back to school with the task of directing a short character profile documentary, I knew I had to give at the very least, a glimpse into this troubled man's life. Read the original interview here.