THE VIDEO IS FINALLY HERE!!!!

AND…

Zach “DOC” Battiest and Spencer Battiest song ‘The Storm’ has currently been nominated for three Native American Music Awards.

*Best Rap / Hip Hop Recodring
*Debut Artist of the Year
*Song / Single of the Year

Online public voting will continue up until the Awards ceremony on Friday, October 7th, 2011.

VOTE HERE –  Native American Music Awards - VOTE HERE

Winners will be announced at the 13th Native American Music Awards ceremony scheduled for Friday, October 7th, 2011 at the Seneca Niagara Hotel & Casino in Niagara Falls, NY.

The Battiest Brothers Debut “The Storm” Music Video, a Tribute to the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and Celebrate Launch of Unconquered Media on September 17 at Paradise Live Theater at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

Twilight Wolf Pack Actors Chaske Spencer and Kiowa Gordon Plus Genevieve, Randy, Jaffar and Jermajesty Jackson to Walk the Red Carpet at 9 p.m. as Part of Festivities

Hollywood, Fla. – Spencer and Zachary “Doc” Battiest will host a celebrity watch party on Saturday, Sept. 17 at Paradise Live theater at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in celebration of the debut of “The Storm” music video. The production is an elaborate visual accompaniment to the Battiest’s first single of the same name written as a tribute to the Seminole Tribe. The song is currently available on iTunes and Amazon.com. The party will also serve to launch Unconquered Media, a Hollywood, Florida-based company owned by Spencer and Zach ‘DOC’ Battiest.

A variety of celebrities including the Twilight film series’ “Wolf Pack” actors Chaske Spencer and Kiowa Gordon plus Genevieve, Randy, Jaffar and Jermajesty Jackson (niece and nephews of Michael Jackson) will walk the red carpet at 9 p.m. and attend the party immediately following.

Directed by Steven Paul Judd, “The Storm” music video was filmed entirely on Seminole land and in historic tribal locations.  An all Native American team conceived and produced the stunning visuals designed to capture the viewer’s imagination. Both the song and the video were created as an homage to the Battiest’s parents, grandparents, and tribal leaders incorporating a love of the ancestry, tribal culture and personal insight of their upbringing.

“Our Tribe’s young men, the Battiest brothers, show what hard work and dedication can achieve,” said James E. Billie, chairman of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. “I’m happy that the Seminole Tribe along with Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino believe in the future of our young tribal men. We are excited to welcome our friends from all around the world to join in the celebration of the launch of Unconquered Media and the release of ‘The Storm’ music video.”

Though relayed from the point-of-view of a modern day Seminole, the video respectfully pays tribute to the leaders of the past. The music video’s opening shots portray the Battiest brothers pulling up in a Bentley and later cut to emotional images of the duo performing their heartfelt lyrics in a re‐creation of a traditional tribal campsite on the Big Cypress Seminole reservation. Captivating and mesmerizing black and white still and moving images of prominent historical tribal members and their families are featured throughout the production.

One scene even captures the artists in a true natural rainstorm that is described by the brothers as “a shower of blessings from mother earth in the heart of The Everglades swamp.”

The original stirring song featuring the rhythmic rap of Zachary “Doc” Battiest blended with the soulful blues melodies of his brother, Spencer, was self-written and produced in their studio during a night-long session. The song’s lyrics capture the Tribe’s emotional history with its trials and tribulations describing fights with encroaching armies to mothers filling the mouths of crying babies with mud to protect tribal campsites from marauding soldiers to Osceola’s dramatic declaration of non-surrender. Key lines refute the clichéd current public caricature of the Seminoles and assert power and unity.

“….Before the Rez before the rock before we had our money, We once was warriors fam keepers of the land, No weapon formed against us could ever withstand, They thought they had our number when they tried to wipe us out… and …Since they couldn’t take us ‘way now here we stay, Standing strong with our heads up the Seminole way, Tradition flows like the blood in our veins, we’ll never forget from where we came, Unconquered even today…”

“The stereotypes deserve response,” said Doc Battiest.  “We are musicians, but we are also storytellers, Seminoles.  We owe much to our ancestors.  We owe much to our children.”

Spencer Battiest began performing with his brother, parents and grandparents in a touring gospel show when he was six years old.  He graduated to the world stage with the John Robert Powers Talent Agency and was awarded “The Best Teen Male Artist” at the International Presentation of Performers (IPOP).  He has since opened for such performers as Bruce Springsteen, Sting, The Police and other internationally acclaimed acts at Hard Rock Calling live concerts in London’s Hyde Park.

Doc, who took a hiatus in his teens from performing to concentrate on sports and lead a more “normal” life, returned to music with a vengeance at 16. Since then, he has been writing music, dancing, rapping, and attending to his first love, drumming and percussion.

“The most memorable music is music with a purpose,” said 20-year-old Spencer, a veteran gospel/ R&B performer with a performance resume that dates from pre-school. “We’ve listened to the stories and songs of our Tribe since we were four or five years old.  Our music and this video pays reverence to the unconquered spirit they represent and we wanted to pass these cultural treasures along.  We owe a debt of love to many.”

He added that the duo does not define its music as “Indian music.”  “We each have different influences and inspirations,” he explained.  “But this project was a labor of love and reflects an important part of both of us.”

Additional information about “The Storm” single and video and the Battiest brothers can be found at www.unconqueredmedia.com, www.thestormsong.com, www.spencerbattiest.com and http://www.youtube.com/user/UnconqueredMedia#p/a/u/1/1YlBX1Mrd6k.

]]> http://www.neyomfriday.com/2011/09/16/the-battiest-brothers-debut-%e2%80%9cthe-storm%e2%80%9d-music-video-and-celebrate-launch-of-unconquered-media/feed/ 0 http://www.neyomfriday.com/2011/07/20/the-storm-by-doc-feat-spencer-battiest-promo-3/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-storm-by-doc-feat-spencer-battiest-promo-3 http://www.neyomfriday.com/2011/07/20/the-storm-by-doc-feat-spencer-battiest-promo-3/#comments Thu, 21 Jul 2011 04:04:15 +0000 Neyom Friday http://www.neyomfriday.com/?p=1379

This is going to be… Historic!

Almost every race is represented in a great light with much fanfare in the entertainment industry and who do us natives have?

Doc (@btreesy) and Spencer Battiest (@sbattiest) are starting a revolution for natives in pop coulture today.

Native American film extraordinaire Steven Paul Judd (who has won a ABC/Disney Writers Fellowship, was a staff writer on the Disney XD tv show Zeke and Luther, is a member of the WGA (Writers Guild of America) and directed “Search for the World’s Best Indian Taco” which also won a 2011 North American Indigenous Image Award for Outstanding Short Film.) and the Seminole Media Youth Workshop group have given birth to this vision. (More on this later)

Release of the full length video will be ready in about two weeks.

DOC – Zachary Battiest and Spencer Battiest shot a bit of the video for ‘The Storm’ at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, FL this past week.

The video is being directed by film extraordinaire Steven Paul Judd who has won a ABC/Disney Writers Fellowship, was a staff writer on the Disney XD tv show Zeke and Luther, is a member of the WGA (Writers Guild of America) and directed “Search for the World’s Best Indian Taco” which also won a 2011 North American Indigenous Image Award for Outstanding Short Film.

Prepare. To. Be. Dazzled by all this Native talent!

No word on when the video will be officially released. Keep checking back here for updates and details.

The song is available on iTunes and Amazon.

Neyom Friday Presents – DOC

May 12, 2011 9 pm Eastern

Call-In Number (646) 595-3155

Doc ‘Zach Battiest’, a performance artist and talented music producer, runs his own sound studio in Hollywood, Florida.  As a child, Doc traveled with his family’s gospel tour all over the country developing his ear for music and his eye for dramatic stylings.  He spent his early teens honing those skills before taking time off from the stage.

He returned to his musical roots at age 16, when he began arranging, writing and performing hip hop and rap. Doc’s studio, Midnight Studios, opened in 2008 and was the birthplace of his first musical release, “The Storm.”  He and his brother, Spencer, wrote the music and lyrics and the CD was produced by Midnight Studios.

Doc was invited to perform at Hard Rock Calling in London’s Hyde Park in 2008 and 2009 where he thrilled an audience of 100,000 with his passionate drumming, dancing and athleticism.  A gifted musician, he plays the drums, bass and piano but writing and arranging is his focus. Doc, 22, is married with one child and is a proud member of the Seminole Tribe of Florida.  He and his family reside in Hollywood