Thug Scholarship

"Part documentary and part performance art, Renz Julian: Thug Scholarship takes audiences on a musical journey through the life of rapper Renz Julian, a former college- and pro-football player turned musician and street activist. A native of California's Bay Area, Renz guides his audience through the gritty streets of Oakland and Antioch, revealing a powerful story of family and personal struggle set against an urban economic crisis. Renz chronicles the experience of growing up in a broken, drug-infested home during the height of the 1980s crack epidemic, his experience as a transient youth trying to make it through adverse circumstances, and the trials and tribulations that came with trying to break into the music business. Featuring appearances from other Bay Area music greats such as E-40, Mistah Fab, and J. Stalin, Renz Julian: Thug Scholarship is an intimate portrait of one of rap music's most significant up-and-coming talents--and of one man's unforgettable story of hope and triumph against all odds. "