Alias

Beyond the typical music video images of girls, guns, and gold, ALIAS follows aspiring rappers trying to escape the gangster life. ALIAS is an in-depth look into the world of street hip-hop and the hustle known as the rap-trap.In recent years, controversy surrounding rap music has been at the forefront of North American media. From the hype of the East Coast-West Coast rivalry that shadowed the murders of rappers Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., to the demonization of the music in the wake of a string of shootings at Toronto recording studios, it seems that political and media groups have been quick to place blame on rap for a seeming trend in youth violence. However, just as rap music is vilified, there is no denying that it has become the main form of expression signifying the voice of a growing Canadian underclass. Raw and uncompromising, ALIAS tells the story of aspiring rappers trying to escape the gangster life, while illuminating a side of urban Canada rarely seen before.The feature documentary ALIAS takes us behind the scenes into the internal workings of a world where life and death are defined by the rules of the street.Often associated with American cities, the presence of Canadian gangsta rap remains largely unreferenced. However, in Toronto’s Regent Park, Don Mills, and Jane and Finch neighbourhoods, the rise of rap music has brought increasing focus to Canada. For many who grow up here, rap is the only viable way out – a means to an end.The struggling artists inside ALIAS hope to defy the ‘trap’ with lyricism, and an in-your- face attitude, but the hard facts remain; they’re living a life too close to the streets where shootings, criminal convictions and death are an everyday reality. Through ALIAS, we put a human face onto this phenomenon.Raw and uncompromising, ALIAS reflects upon the prevailing social conditions of poverty, black-on-black violence and apathy in Toronto’s most marginalized communities as aspiring artists struggle to rap their way out of the hood.