ABOUT

Firstly, we would like to sincerely apologise for the offence caused by the content relating to this project. Our intentions were never to hurt anyone, that is the last thing we wanted. This project came from a good place and it is unfortunate that we have tarnished it with our ignorance.

This project started as an idea from high school, not to profit from or to ridicule anyone's culture, but to celebrate hip-hop. It came from a place of love. We believe music is one of the most powerful art forms and hip-hop is one of the most powerful genres. Our relationship started from a love of hip-hop and we have so many memories around the music. Also, it was never intended to be a 90’s book, that was a reference that started somewhere external to us.

We have received a lot of warranted backlash to photos found on the internet from nearly 10 years ago. Whilst in NO way is this deemed acceptable by us and nothing we can say will change the past, it was from a place of ignorance and stupidity, not hate.  We know this does not make it ok but ask that you get to know us and judge us on the people we are, not on one moment in time. 

We never expected this book to get worldwide attention, nor did we realise the gravity of the position we had put ourselves in with our wording and content. We regrettably had to turn off our social media so that we could focus, educate ourselves and decide on a course of action. We realise now that this is not about a book, but a much bigger problem in the world.

While taking the time to understand the issue better, we have been reaching out to some of the people affected to get a better understanding of the situation and how we might be able to offer some form of resolution. So far the feedback has been very constructive and as a result, we have:

1. Looked at how our content and actions can be perceived given this exposure to the different cultural issues, in different parts of the world, and have begun removing or rewording our content accordingly. While we are working hard at it, we may have missed something but are continuing to adjust as we understand and learn.  
2. Requested that Kickstarter takes our campaign down. Unfortunately, we are unable to edit this campaign, nor can we remove it ourselves.
3. Begun working on a communication pack for suppliers detailing how they should represent the book/brand and respond to customer questions.
4. Implemented a social media policy that outlines the voice, tone and type of content we want to be posting and specifically what we should not be posting.

The honesty and insights we have received thus far have been valuable and we welcome any further feedback into how we can best adjust in the future. We are hoping to have open and honest conversations with people who have been directly affected so we can continue to learn and grow. We will continue to better ourselves as people and a business.

What we are hoping for in the future, is that this project and experience can be turned into something positive by making it a platform for educating ourselves and others and not spreading hate. We want music to bring us all together, even if it is in a children's book. 

We are doing our best to make a change and hopefully, this book can be a catalyst to bring people together around an art form we are obviously all so passionate about.

Please also note, no contractors were involved in the marketing of this book.

Once again, we sincerely apologise for causing anyone offence and hope that you are able to forgive our ignorance.

To discuss this post or anything else please email us here - feedback@thelittlehomie.com