Canadian hip-hop artiste Jane from Finch (JanefrFinch) is trying to turn her life around. A life un-imaginary to many but yet not unique. Once known as ‘Creature’ a ferocious and angry former gang leader from one of Canada’s most notoriously violent neighbourhoods known as Jane and Finch, Latoya Jane open up by sharing her life story as a gang banger in a documentary that is currently being pitched in film festivals around the world.
Interestingly, JanefrFinch recently recorded the single ‘Flossa‘ with Jamaican Dancehall artiste Blak Ryno citing the Jamaican music industry as a music society she hopes to make a positive impact because the music she says, “has helped her to recognise who she is and has changed her.” Jane, is trying to step away from her past, transitioning into a ‘girl’ or young woman seeking a second chance. She is clinging to Jamaica because of her Jamaican background and her love of the music.
The documentary has given us intimate access to a world where Latoya Jane’s friends and brother were murdered, she attended more than forty funerals. It also captures her daily struggle to bring ‘Creature’ under control played out in her ongoing inner conflict between good and evil, the odds for the ‘Latoya’s’ in that world that are stacked against them and how society creates even more gangsters in the ‘perfect societal storm’ that encompasses family and environmental issues as well as public apathy.
Jane’s story started as a news piece but as more people such as former Detroit gangster ‘Spider Jones’ wanted to have his activities recorded, it became a documentary that brought to the fore, the issue of gang violence that plagues cities. The documentary is recorded using an DSLR camera combined with homemade videos and photographs, providing a very personalized perspective and brutally raw view of those living in communities that are marked by perpetual violence and despair.
Latoya’s aim in allowing this documentary to be filmed is an effort to not only show how ‘creatures’ are made, but how they can be prevented and rescued. This is done by contrasting people from divergent socio-economic positions in life that share the same core essence to their being. It is in this way we see how different outcomes of people with the same personal issues is realized in our society. Latoya’s desire to bring in the ‘girl’ is about subduing the ‘creature’ that is harboured within all of us.
Which will prevail in this real life drama between good versus evil? Will it be the gangster or the girl?
#NIPnews:
more on JanefrFinch
10 Questions with JanefrFinch
JanefrFinch Introduces Herself to Jamaica Music Industry
Leave a reply