University of Wolverhampton students' film tribute to murdered rapper

University of Wolverhampton students Abé Gabriel and Ryan Bayley formed production company, Raw Intake, to release the film, called The 2 Real Documentary: A Depzman Story.

It focuses on the life and tragic death of Joshua Ribera, an aspiring 18-year-old rapper from Birmingham who was stabbed at a memorial event for a friend. The duo said they felt they had paid a 'fitting tribute' to the rapper, whose album topped the iTunes hip hop chart after his death.

Abé, 21, from Kings Heath, Birmingham, said: "I knew Joshua since I was around 12.

"He was a lively, energetic and creative person.

"He had this incredible talent for music, which he was more than aware of, his confidence always made him stand out."

The documentary was screened to a private audience of around 80 family and friends at Birmingham's MAC theatre before its release.

Alison Cope, Joshua's mother, gave its production her full backing and trusted her son's old friend to do the best job.

Alison said: "I was approached by another organisation who wanted to put together a documentary but I trusted Abé to put together the story and to create a portrait of Joshua from those people around him.

"I was overwhelmed by the quality of the film and the portrayal of my son."

Ryan, who comes from London, had heard of Joshua through friends back in his home town but came into the process of making the documentary never having met him.

He said: "Me and Abé made a great team really, because she had known Joshua for a number of years and while I was aware of him, I didn't have that same connection.

"From a film-maker's perspective that gives you two different approaches when putting things together.

"My impression of Joshua is that he was happy, with great things ahead of him.

"He was loved by everyone we spoke to." A preview of the documentary was viewed over 21,000 times on YouTube, prompting Abé and Ryan to release it to the general public.

Speaking of the response to their efforts, Ryan said: "We were stunned by the reaction we had to the preview, especially the number of views it had, we put that down to Joshua and his incredible story. We both feel really proud to have been trusted to do a good job and we do feel that is what we have done.

"It was an emotional process, especially for Abé, but the fact that Joshua's family loved it makes it all worthwhile."

The complete documentary is available on rawintake.bigcartel.com