This weekend marked the arrival of the extended version of Trouble's Edgewood album, originally released earlier this year. The project, produced entirely by Mike Will Made It, served as a biographical work in its essence, lending aural exploration of the street politics that command the East Atlanta emcee.
Edgewood (41E Edition) added five additonal cuts to the original tracklisting and while it may have been a small disappointment for fans waiting to hear much more from Trouble, the emcee has fans covered with a short film to attach to the release. The flick, taking on the same name as the album is a biopic starring Trouble, with appearances from Mike Will Made It, Drake, OG India, and Duct Tape's Big Bank Black in a scripted account of the events that led up to his pivotal December 17th arrest back in 2008.
In giving the film a proper introduction to the masses, Trouble along with director Derek Schklar hosted a private screening Saturday evening for the film at Atlanta's Woodruff Arts Center, bringing together the likes of Mike Will, Joey Bada$$, Asian Doll, Slim Jxmmi, Pierre "Pee" Thomas, and even comedian DC Young Fly among others as friends, family, and friends of friends looked onto the growth exhibited by Trouble, born Mariel Orr, thus far.
It is growth infused into the very creation of the Edgewood film, which puts together all the puzzle pieces that were the music videos accompanying Edgewood selects such as the Drake-assisted "Bring it Back" and "Real Is Rare."
"It's all a part of the same cinematic universe," said Derek Schklar of the planning process in rolling out Edgewood. "We sat down for a month or two and created a world. Whether it was music or visuals, it was all part of the same world, telling the same story. It's a full body of work. The music videos are a part of that same cinematic universe."
I am not by any definiton a movie critic, but Trouble and Derek Schklar's collaboration is nothing short of pure art, outlined with a true story so rich that it needs no fictionalization with Schklar acknowledging that the only thing tweaked about the story is the use of iPhones in the movie, which was notably filmed in Trouble's native Edgewood Court Apartments and the same Gwinnett County home in which the armed robbery that got him locked up took place.
"This made for Atlanta," Trouble says before the film rolls. "I'm taking you into a visualization of my life."
Edgewood the film arrives on Monday, October 29th on www.HardeeStreet.com