Skiz (aka S.H. Fernando Jr.) strikes a singular figure in the media/arts community.

After graduating from Harvard and the Columbia University School of Journalism, he began his career as a music journalist for The Source magazine. He parlayed his knowledge and expertise in the field of hip-hop into the critically-acclaimed book, The New Beats: Exploring the Music, Culture & Attitudes of Hip-Hop (Anchor/Doubleday, 1994), which has become an important document of the culture behind rap music. The New Beats has since been published in England, France, and Japan.

Not content to just write about the music he loved, Skiz borrowed $1000 from producer Bill Laswell, and started his own label, WordSound Recordings, in December 1994. "I was frustrated with the corporate/money mentality that manipulated the music," says Skiz, a long-time club and radio deejay, who, by then, was deeply involved in music production. "When I put a record out," he continues, "I wanted do it on my own terms."

Such a no-compromise, D.I.Y. approach has translated into 40 full-length releases on WordSound over the last seven years (10 produced by Skiz himself), including a handful of singles on WordSound's vinyl-only, sub-division Black Hoodz. Running the gamut from dub and hip-hop to drum 'n bass and weird electronica, WordSound boasts an eclectic catalog, known world-wide for innovation, experimentation and passionate creativity.

Skiz has run the label single-handedly from his home in Brooklyn and more recently Baltimore, all the while creating music under a variety of pseudonyms (Spectre, Slotek, The Eye). In his spare time, he continues to write about music for such publications as The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Vibe.

Most recently, he contributed to Spin magazine's Alternative Record Guide (Vintage Books) and Vibe magazine's History of Hip-Hop (Three Rivers Press). He also served as a moderator at the 4th Annual Red Bull Music Academy for DJs, held in New York City in September 2001.

"Along with music and writing, film has always been one of my great passions," says Skiz, "but I've never had the time, the money or the know-how to actually get into it myself." That all changed in 1998 when Skiz began formulating the idea for "Crooked." He says, "Despite all the great stuff we were doing at WordSound, I felt that we had fallen through the cracks.

It wasn't through lack of talent, rather a lack of marketing budgets and hype. Art is constantly losing out to commerce in every field, and I felt everyone could relate to being an underdog on a mission to prevail against all the bullshit." Using first-hand, insider's knowledge of the music industry, and a wealth of personal experience, he felt felt compelled to tell the tale of a true artist who collides with the corporate powers-that-be in his quest for self-expression.

As a journalist, reality was important to Skiz, thus, everything that happens in "Crooked" is based on real events. "Sensational lives so close to the edge that half the things that have happened to him I couldn't even dream up," says Skiz. "His life and just the character that he is provided natural fodder for the story" All of the other characters in the film--from drug dealers to graffiti writers to A&R reps--are also non-actors, simply playing themselves.

Skiz traveled half-way around the world to his homeland, Sri Lanka, to begin the script, which was finished 12 rewrites and over a year later. In addition to writing, producing and directing the film, Skiz did all the casting and location scouting, and much of the shooting and original score. A highly personal first effort, Skiz describes it as "My homage to all the independent voices of dissent that rebel against the staus quo."

(Biography Last updated 30 September 2003)