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STATE OF SOUND / STATE OF HIP HOP
Complex / Pigeons & Planes docu-series — Europe & East Asia
A two-part global music documentary project with Complex’s Pigeons & Planes — following scenes across Europe and East Asia to capture how rap, R&B, and club music move through cities, subcultures, and tight-knit creative communities.
Field Docu-Series
Shot on trains, rooftops, back alleys, and studios across Europe and East Asia, State of Sound and State of Hip Hop: East Asia follow artists, DJs, and scenes in motion — with Khris leading camera, interviews, and on-the-ground BROLL to translate local textures into a global story.
Series One
State of Sound — Europe
Episodes filmed across European cities, tracing how sound systems, club culture, and DIY communities build their own infrastructures for music — from late-night studio hangs to early-morning train rides.
Series Two
State of Hip Hop — East Asia
A multi-country look at how hip hop travels through Seoul, Manila, Tokyo, and beyond — focusing on local dialects, diasporic identity, and underground communities shaping where rap goes next.
Production Archive
Field Notes & Editorial Stills
A visual archive of the reporting, travel, interviews, field production, and editorial rollout behind both series. The final images document State of Hip Hop: East Asia as it originally appeared as a featured story on Complex.com and Pigeons & Planes. The article—researched, reported, and written in full by Khris Virgil—was built to connect the individual episodes into a broader editorial narrative about regional identity, language, collaboration, and the movement of hip hop across East Asia. The original feature has since been removed following updates to the Complex and Pigeons & Planes websites, so this carousel preserves part of that published record.
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