Pop culture historian and creator of Black Femininity TV, Crystal Alejandro, is making a significant impact on the culture through her videos. Originally from the Virgin Islands, she is currently working on a documentary that aims to evoke nostalgia for the best moments of the Y2K era while also educating viewers about the era’s most influential dance moves and artists. With years of experience on YouTube, Crystal’s digital expertise has shaped her career, and she is now ready to showcase her documentary to the world. MEFeater recently interviewed her about the new documentary and the essence of BFTV.

Please tell us about your childhood; where did you grow up?

I was born and raised in St. Croix, which is located in the US Virgin Islands, and I was there up until around nine years old when we permanently moved to the United States. However, I did often go back home, you know, during summers, or if there was a wedding, just occasionally, went back home. So I have the best of both worlds. I spent the first half of my childhood on an island that was, you know, packed with so much culture, and my experience was so much different there. The other half of my childhood was spent in Atlanta, Georgia, another place full of culture and music, which is the mecca for African Americans in America. So yeah, I don’t know if you have any other specific questions about my childhood, but I was always drawn to pop culture because of my parents, and I’m also the youngest child.

Did you always want to be in the spotlight? What caused your obsession with media and pop culture?

I grew up a Viacom kid. I loved all types of music programming, documentaries, talk shows, and music shows. And when I was a kid, I always knew I wanted to work in entertainment in some capacity. When I moved to Atlanta, my uncle was very heavily involved in the entertainment scene in Atlanta. He worked with so many rappers and R&B singers of the early 2000s, so you know, I was exposed to the industry at an early age.

How did you get into YouTube, and how has the journey been so far?

In the mid-2000s, I received a digital camera and began recording various activities, including posting videos on YouTube. I later started creating skits and music video remakes. In high school, I became interested in media and journalism and began posting original stories and videos on YouTube. I also had a knack for technology and would upload TV clips to YouTube. However, I faced copyright infringement issues and took a break from YouTube for several years. I then pursued freelance journalism but eventually decided to return to YouTube, focusing on short-form documentaries. After a slow start, my videos on Wendy Williams and J-Lo gained popularity and jump-started my YouTube career. This led me to quit my job in March 2019 and fully commit to YouTube.

The journey has had its ups and downs. Transitioning from traditional work to being your own boss, self-employment, and making your schedule hasn’t been easy. None of this has been easy, but I would definitely say it shaped me into the person that I am today.

Tell us about your new project and the feature documentary you created and directed. What inspired you to make the documentary, and what is it about?

This documentary, “Black Teen Revolution: The Dance Pioneers of the Internet,” beautifully captures the era when black teenagers took over the internet and pioneered viral dance crazes. From Soulja Boy to the New Boys and the Rangers jerking, the documentary showcases the evolution of dance crazes from their origins to where we are now, including the Dougie, whip, and nae nae. It connects the point of view of former child stars, or some of the pioneers of these dance crazes, as well as cultural historians.

A year ago, Gabrielle Amani, the creator of MEFeater Magazine, and I discussed going to South by Southwest together. However, she couldn’t make it due to a pop-up event for her magazine. Initially, I almost decided not to go because I didn’t want to attend the film festival alone. But Gabrielle convinced me to go, saying that it would be a great opportunity to meet new people. Although I felt a little sad, I eventually drove from Houston to Austin by myself, a trip that took about two and a half hours.

During the festival, I attended numerous screenings, including feature films, new TV shows, and documentaries. On the second day, I watched a documentary called “Black Barbie” by Lagueria Davis, which told the story of the history of the black Barbie doll. It was inspiring to see a black woman producing her own documentary, and it made me realize that I could do the same. I had always wanted to direct or be involved in a documentary, and seeing this documentary motivated me to create the opportunity for myself.

After that, I watched a documentary about Donna Summer, another woman who greatly inspires me. Although the filmmaker for that documentary wasn’t black, Donna Summer’s story as a trailblazer was incredibly inspiring. Leaving South by Southwest, I was so inspired that I decided to make a documentary film by any means necessary. I had many stories that I had wanted to tell on my channel, and I felt that now was the time to start telling them.

What was this process like, and how different was it from your regular video creation and editing?

I had no clue what I was doing in the beginning, but I started doing my research and signed up for a master class. I watched many different master classes by film professionals and even did a Sundance course that provided me with a lot of information on creating a feature documentary. I spent three months researching, watching YouTube videos, and reading different articles. It was intensive research, and I knew it would be different from what I was doing on my channel.

With my regular videos, I do my research, type up my script, record the narration, and start editing, and then I upload. Although it’s not always simple, it’s a lot simpler than what this project was going to be. I had to seek out a fiscal sponsor to guide me. Even though I did extensive research on creating a documentary film, there were still a lot of things that I didn’t know. I had to find cinematographers and do all the outreach by myself to recruit all the individuals and talent for this documentary. I had to do all the research on the history of digital dance crazes by myself and had to create my storyboard and come up with all the unique questions for every individual that I interviewed. I had to schedule all the interviews and fly to all their cities to talk to every single one of them. I had to book the studios. It was not easy, but I got it done.

What challenges did you face while creating the documentary?

One challenge would be convincing the talent and interviewees that this project would be amazing and that I wasn’t here to play any games. Since I’m a first-time filmmaker, I don’t have any previous work for them to view outside of my YouTube channel. I want them to see my vision and what I’m capable of doing. It’s important to convince everyone that, although I don’t have any past filmmaking work to show, this is my first time, and I believe it’s going to be amazing. Another challenge I would say is organizing everything by myself. Remembering everything on my own is quite a task. Hopefully, in the future, I’ll be fortunate enough to have a bigger team that could help ease some of the stress and workload off of me. But for now, doing everything by myself is the biggest challenge thus far.

Who did you collaborate with as cast and in production, and why?

During this process, I discovered that there’s a distinction between a videographer and a cinematographer. For my documentary film project, I decided to go with a cinematographer. Although I knew many videographers, I didn’t have any contacts for cinematographers. Thankfully, a friend of mine, Nico Kartel, who is an outstanding photographer based in New York, connected me with Manny Singh, a cinematographer and editor based in LA. I also needed cinematographers in New York and Atlanta, so I found Joel Adrien on Instagram and connected with O’Neill Haye in New York. These are the three cinematographers I’ve worked with, but Manny has been with me throughout the project and is also editing the entire documentary.

I chose to work with people who are not very well-known but extremely talented. I believe that true talent often goes unnoticed, overshadowed by more popular figures. I’m excited to collaborate with individuals who are still under the radar. As for the documentary, I want to keep some of the talent a surprise. However, I’m thrilled to have Sydney Madden from NPR’s Louder Than a Speaker podcast and Dr. Shamil Bell, a community organizer and dance researcher from South Central LA, as part of the project. I also have my friend Masani Musa from Culture Unfiltered, who I connected with through social media. Stay tuned for the trailer release in a few months to find out more about the amazing talents featured in the documentary!

What message do you hope people get from the body of work you created, and what impact do you hope the production makes?

For my directorial debut, I just wanted a project that really reflected the work that I’ve been putting out on BFTV, you know, telling the stories that really highlight our culture and black people’s contributions to society and continue to amplify black voices with this documentary. You know, I really wanted to emphasize, you know, the influence that black American teenagers had in shaping contemporary pop culture and the digital world through, you know, dance crazes and self-expression.

What are your plans for your BFTV brand?

I am fully committed to promoting the Black Teen Revolution documentary by showcasing it at various film festivals. I funded the documentary myself and also received support from my fiscal sponsor. I have big plans for the future, including producing more documentary films for my channel and streaming platforms. Additionally, I aim to create short films and other programming for my YouTube channel, BFTV. This content will be readily accessible to my subscribers without having to wait for the full release of a feature-length documentary. Moving forward, I aspire to broaden the scope of my work to include documentaries, short films, and original music programming.

“Black Teen Revolution: The Dance Pioneers of the Internet” is coming to BFTV in 2025. Check out the campaign here.

Here is the documentary funding site: seedandspark.com/fund/black-teen-revolution. Follow them on Instagram: www.instagram.com/blackteenrevolution

Photographs by: Luke Stage

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