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Baba's Building: Healing Through Hip Hop & Fatherhood

In January 2024, Spearitwurx launched Baba’s Building, a visionary intergenerational fellowship designed to uplift and empower Black fathers through healing-centered engagement. This powerful short documentary follows the journey of the men who came together to explore fatherhood beyond its conventional definitions—delving into deep healing, emotional restoration, and community reimagination.
Anchored by bi-weekly sessions, transformative mentorship, and collective support, the heart of the film captures the fellowship’s first in-person healing retreat in Shasta, California, held in April 2024. Through intimate storytelling, shared rituals, and raw reflection, the documentary reveals how the men confront intergenerational wounds caused by racism, sexism, individualism, and poverty—and how they begin to reweave their identities as fathers and as human beings.
“Baba’s Building: Intergenerational Healing Through Fatherhood” is not just a narrative about parenting. It’s a moving portrait of resilience, vulnerability, and transformation—a call to redefine fatherhood as a pathway to healing, connection, and collective liberation.

  • Shaka Jamal
    Director
  • Sizwe Andrews - Abakah
    Director
  • Sizwe Andrews - Abakah
    Producer
  • Mizan Alkebulan - Abakah
    Producer
  • Shaka Jamal
    Producer
  • Sizwe Alkebulan - Abakah
    Key Cast
  • Shaka Jamal
    Key Cast
  • Santos Soul
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    32 minutes 38 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 5, 2025
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Shaka Jamal, Sizwe Andrews - Abakah

ShakaJamal is a culturally innovative, award winning artist and filmmaker from Oakland, California. He is the founder of Olu8 Film & Culture and Olu8 Records; creative spaces for the production of dynamic sound, story and visuals. His passion for film and music grew through travel and while living in South Africa. Partnering with community members, non-profits and corporations, ShakaJamal’s work reveals the inspiring achievements of change makers—whose stories often go untold.

He is the camera operator for the Emmy Award winning documentary We AreThe Dream: The Kids of the Martin Luther King Oratorical Fest, produced by HBO and Mahershala Ali. He is also the first filmmaker from Oakland, CA to receive the Game Changers Fellowship which led him to premiere a series of short documentaries in New York at Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. His work has premiered both nationally and internationally, on television, and in numerous film festivals.

In addition, ShakaJamal is a 200 Hour Certified Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher and CFO (Chief Flexibility Officer) of Namaste Ready; a co-op that provides yoga and self care healing practices designed to activate and support the healing powers of the Black Community. His award winning film, I AM HOPE: Youth Yoga and Resilience, chronicles the effort to create a first-of-its-kind yoga and mindfulness program for Oakland Unified School District middle schools. He is a graduate of Tuskegee University and earned a Master’s of Fine Arts in Cinema from San Francisco State University.

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