Rik Cordero on Art, Commerce & Three/21 Media

illRoots has a nice interview with Rik Cordero in which he discusses his video company, Three21 Media:

illRoots:
What do [you] think separates Three21 from any other production company out right now?

Rik Cordero:
I think what separates us is that we care and we listen. I know that sounds cliché and generic but its true. We aim to capture the human condition [whether it's]... a bunch of guys rapping about the block or a battered woman or heartfelt song about a guy who’s brother is on drugs or if its Joell with the struggles in the hood, its about capturing that humanity and listening and caring, that’s what really separates us. We take that time to figure out what the artist is about, and translating what they are feeling...

When we first started doing music videos, we were criticized that they weren’t official videos and that just motivated me to say what makes that official and where does that elitism stem from. Is it something that the public has been conditioned to or is it something that has to be cost "X" amount of dollars to be considered a video or is it art for the sake of art.

There's some interesting looking stuff in here that seems to be marred by a poor transcription.  That's unfortunate cause part of what he's getting at is how the Internet enabled his business and allowed him to maintain an artistic approach to commerce.  He also discusses his business structure which is unclear but sounds interesting.

Official Site:
Three/21 Media