Artistic Perspective Entertainment, LLC (A.P.E.) is an American based film & video entertainment company located in New York City formed in Philadelphia in April 2004 by writer/directors Jimmy Lee & C.S. Vernon.

Lee & Vernon formed A.P.E. after meeting as film students at Temple University in Philadelphia. Each had directed two music videos while in school. C.S. Vernon directed Proper's "Como Te Llamas" and Boy Wonder's "Destiny". Jimmy Lee directed two music videos for Kid Crumbs, "Killin' It" and "Anticipated", and the documentary "Kenyatta". Lee & Vernon met during their final semester & began their partnership a month before graduating. Projects produced in the first year of A.P.E. included music videos for Cassidy (The Pump, Birthday Bash DVD documentary), Capriciouz (Happy Guy) and The Official 2004 Philly Music Awards Highlight Video. C.S. Vernon relocated to New York City in October 2004, while Jimmy Lee remained in Philadelphia.

A.P.E. Films produced the "Take It Outside" P.S.A. music video for the Philadelphia Fire Department in 2005 in conjunction with the national "Take It Outside" campaign aimed at getting smokers to stop smoking indoors (the leading cause of fire related deaths). "Take It Outside" was written and performed by rap artist Cal Akbar (Rodney Jean-Jacques), an actual Philadelphia Firefighter. The music video received much attention on local news and played to 67,000 spectators at a Philadelphia Eagles vs. Dallas Cowboys N.F.L. Monday Night Football game. It also spawned a city wide contest among the Philadelphia area high-schools to create a new fire prevention music video.

Jimmy Lee joined C.S. Vernon in New York City in October 2005. In 2006 A.P.E. produced TV pilots for Celebrity Fashion Designer / Stylist Indashio & "Entertainer Extraordinaire" Jori Jordon, Fashion Model / On-Air Personality Toni Belafonte and Hip-Hop Legend Grandmaster Mele Mel. A.P.E. also produced and directed the music video "M3 - The New Message" for Mele Mel. The music video was released as Mele Mel joins the rest of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five as the first Hip-Hop act ever inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It also comes on the 25th anniversary of "The Message", one of the most significant songs in Hip-Hop history. A.P.E. also produced Coco's 2006/2007 demo reel and handled post-production for the Coco 2007 Exotics Calendar DVD (On-Air / Web Personality Coco is the wife of rapper/actor Ice-T) .

A.P.E. is currently doing post-production for Coco's 2007 Black Men Magazine DVD, producing a documentary for reggae artist Louie Rankin and some camera and performs some camera and editing work for MTV2 Fight Klub. The company is also producing the C.S. Vernon written/directed short film "Apartment 309". In April, A.P.E. will release its first DVD, "APE Films presents 'Get Your Shine On'". The DVD stars Jori Jordon with music by frequent A.P.E. collaborator, Hip-Hop producer Faust. It also features top Hip-Hop artists The Wu-Tang Clan, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Doug E. Fresh, Remy Ma and Fight Klub host International P in addition to many of the other acts that Lee & Vernon have worked with previously. Vernon is also script supervisor for the feature film "The Grasslands" shooting later this year. A.P.E., in partnership with Mele Mel, will also publish their first book, "Grandmaster Mele Mel - My Blogs".

Trivia

C.S. Vernon was a judge on Monday Night Fight Klub for Remy Ma vs. Lady Luck Battle 1.

Prior to working with A.P.E. Films, Cassidy (The Pump) and Cal Akbar (Take It Outside) were two thirds of the Hip-Hop group Larsiny (third member Shiz Lanski) and were featured on Ruff Ryders Vol. 2

Jimmy Lee directed his first music video in 1991 (Baby Heather's "Give It Up") and didn't direct another one until 12 years later (2003 - Kid Crumbs' "Killin' It).

Actress Shannon Foster, who appears in Cassidy "The Pump", Proper "Como Te Llamas" & "The 2004 Philly Music Awards" was also a college roommate of C.S. Vernon.

Before working with Jimmy Lee on "Killin' It and "Anticipated", Kid Crumbs was an original member of the Grammy Award winning group "The Roots". He appears in The Roots music videos "Pass The Popcorn" and "Anti-Circle". He also has a cameo in Mele Mel's 2007 music video "M3 - The New Message".

According to Mele Mel, his name has always been spelled M-e-l-e Mel. It was misspelled M-e-l-l-e Mel on the initial records, and the mispelling "just stuck". He is now using the correct spelling, M-e-l-e Mel.

Company Websites

Artistic Perspective Entertainment Website

Artistic Perspective Entertainment Myspace Page

C.S. Vernon Official Myspace Page

External links