Catalyst at the Harper Theater

Catalyst at the Harper Theater

CATALYST tells the story of how Duro “Shame Love Tempo” Wicks fell in love with hip-hop and helped give it a home on the Chicago music scene of the early 1990s. It examines what made hip-hop blow up in Chicago so much later than in other cities; how a tiny 100-watt college station became Chicago’s hip-hop radio powerhouse; and why social, political, and economic conditions ultimately proved to make Duro’s dream unsustainable, even though it was more successful than anyone ever imagined it could be.

The Cast

There are still a few more conversations to be had and stories to be heard, but so far the film has interviewed Anthony “DJ Tone B. Nimble” Fields, John “JP Chill” Schauer, Lori “DJ Rapture” Branch, PJ “Black Fist” Khan, Andrew “Gravity” Kirkland, Scott “Ski One” Styles, Omar “TherapyBeats” Johnson, Chris “Cool-Out Chris” Hawkins, Howard Bailey, Rob McKay, Amina Norman-Hawkins, Mary Datcher, Rick Wojcik, Mario Smith, Leigh Jones, Yung Savolainen, Angela “Ang13” Zone, Jonah “J Fabulous” Robinson, Johnnie “Bizczar Sinista” Robinson, DJ Duane Powell, Los “Aztec Dinero” Durand, Kevin Beacham, Darrell “Artistic” Roberts & Rico “Kingdom Rock” Sanders Sr. of the Chicago Hip Hop Heritage Museum, Kim Dulaney of the DuSable Museum of African American History, Leor Galil of the Chicago Reader and Duro “Shame Love Tempo” Wicks.

The Team

DIRECTOR/PRODUCER – Dave Steck

CO-PRODUCER – Duro Wicks

MUSIC & BEATS – Dug Infinite

EDITOR – Patty Schumann

SOUND MIXER – Thomas Ryan

ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE – Media Burn Archive, Robert Benevides

ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS – Chezik Tsunoda, DJ 33 1/3, Harley Hessel, Kiyoshi Najita, Lora Branch, Simone Koehlinger, Angali Fedson Hack

Links