ORIGINS: Hieroglyphic Being | Resident Advisor

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Club culture might play a large role in your life, but for most people partying is a pastime. For Jamal Moss, nightclubs are his saviour, his surrogate family and his creative fire. He grew up in Chicago in the 1980s amid complicated circumstances. Adoption, bullying, rebellion and, ultimately, homelessness led Moss to find solace in strange places. He was a regular at spots like Medusa's and the Reactor, where he began a musical and social education that continues to this day. House music became a gateway to other worlds and states of mind. These raw experiences eventually shaped Moss's music and DJing, as he made the sort of direct connection between his life and art that very few people are able to achieve. His noisy, abstract transmissions as Hieroglyphic Being speak to the complex yet endlessly creative figure behind them—Moss has released over 30 albums and countless singles in a recording career that stretches back to the mid-'90s. In this latest ORIGINS film, we retrace Moss's steps as an "urban refugee" in Chicago, a story not of a victim but a survivor who thrived.