LANSING, Mich. — An Emmy is one of the most prestigious awards in the industry, and right here in mid-Michigan, some Michigan State University professors helped a documentary about Flint rappers win that coveted award.
"He was the first one on BET, Breed was like, in the forefront of pushing the hip hop on the Flint." said Ira Dorsey, also known as Bootleg.
MC Breed was a Flint icon who inspired other artists like Bootleg and his rap group, The Dayton Family, to dream big. Bootleg said MC Breed taught him a lot about recording, mixing and mastering. As well as the business side of the industry.
His story inspired MSU professor Geri Alumit Zeldes to shed light on his inspirational story.
"I stepped out on faith. I put it in God's hands, and I said that, you know, maybe it'll do something, at least is going to tell people the story," said Bootleg.
But the Breed & Bootleg documentary did more than "something." It won an Emmy.
Members of the Breed & Bootleg team were in disbelief over winning the award. Camera operator Kishawn Gilliam says he didn't know that documentaries could win Emmy Awards. Bootleg says he "took it on a journey through the ghetto" when he finally got his hands on the Emmy.
But more than anything, they are grateful for the opportunity to showcase the hard work of Breed and keep his name alive.
When asked to explain the documentary, Bootleg said,"It's going to make you cry, it's going to make you laugh, it's going to make you upset. It's going to take you through range of emotions, but it's a beautiful, well told story.
Gilliam, who is a Lansing native, says this award motivates him to do more in the mid-Michigan community.
"People need to know where your roots are. If you know your roots, you know yourself. So I really want people to watch this to learn that, 'Hey, I'm from Flint,' or 'Hey, I'm from Lansing.' Like, there's still a lot of things we can do," he said. "Because look how far we came, we got an Emmy out here. We can we can keep going. So that's what I want people to get from it is that we can keep going and more than that, we can do it all together."
The Breed & Bootleg team is still entering the documentary in multiple film festivals, and they're hoping the Emmy is the first of many awards.
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