[MEDIA=6]

Filmed December 2, 2007
Triple Rock Zaxxon Machine
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Brothers Brandon Allday (left) and Medium Zach (right) are the Minneapolis hip-hop duo Big Quarters. When I arrived to play the Triple Rock Social Club, whose menu sports overly-enthusiastic descriptions of vegan cuisine, Big Quarters was in the middle of its set at an early all-ages show. As they performed, I learned from informed parties that these MCs teach hip-hop classes to schoolchildren. Impressed by their show and posi-aesthetics, I introduced myself and filmed them standing next to a Zaxxon machine.

During Big Quarters’ portrait, “Cock the Hammer,” a Cypress Hill song unrepresentative of the duo’s community-mindedness, is audible in the background. At 2:50, Medium Zach holds up a bag filled with what appears to be marijuana. This is a trick of the camera. The bag is not filled with marijuana, an illicit drug unrepresentative of Big Quarters’ community-mindedness, but promotional buttons.