Movies aren’t my only passion, music is another one. Although I don’t create it (anymore), it has always been a big part of my life (as I’m sure it is for most of you).
I wrote a guest post for Chris over at moviesandsongs365 about my 10 favorite hip hop songs. Head on over to his site to check out which songs have made the cut and let me know what you think of the choices.
Yesterday was the European premiere of this documentary directed by Ice-T. As I’ve been listening to rap close to 20 years I was excited to see this. Just looking at the trailer you will be amazed by the amount of well-known rappers that have participated in the making of this movie about their style of music. Ice-T interviews rappers who were there when it all just started, people like Afrika Bambaata, Doug E. Fresh and Melle Mel, but also artists whose star rose during the nineties (Cypress Hill, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Treach from Naughty By Nature etc) and early start of this century (Kanye West, Eminem).
The documentary which was shown simultaneously in various countries with a live Q&A session streamed to the cinema I was in afterwards (which was also attended by Chuck D, Raekwon and Melle Mel, who all performed) held at the Apollo in London. So as a big fan of hip hop, what did I think of The Art of Rap? Continue reading
As a hip hop fan I’ve been listening to it for years and enjoy the music, but I always have this double feeling when listening to it. It’s not the kind of music you can play any time of the day, because of the extreme lyrics. Would you play it in front of your kids? I won’t because most of them are really unacceptable. They are usually not respectful to others, have a steady stream of curses, lots of violence and an image which I really don’t like. So it’s a bit of a love/hate relationship and generally I listen to it by myself. Byron Hurt had that same feeling and decided to dig deeper into the cause of this and ask why rappers feel like they have to show their superiority and masculinity. Continue reading
During the nineties A Tribe Called Quest was one of hip hop’s biggest groups who had various hits like “Can I Kick It”, “I left my wallet in El Segundo” and “Scenario (feat. Busta Rhymes”. The group fell apart in 1998 but did get back together from time to time to do a show. They didn’t make any more albums. Michael Rapaport, who’s a big fan of hip hop, decided to make a documentary about the group, interviewing all the band’s members and capturing one of their performances during the Rock the Bells tour (which they did to support Phife Dawg as he needed money to treat his diabetes). This documentary goes back into their history, tells why they were so succesful, but also the reasons behind their breakup. Continue reading
Hip hop is a world which is dominated by men. This is usually also the case for the audience. If you’d ask me to name 20 female MCs I would have a harder time to do so compare to male rappers. Say My Name looks at the women in hip hop and tries to find out how they experience this. A lot of well-known MCs are interviewed (Remy Ma, Rah Digga, Jean Grae, Erykah Badu, Estelle, MC Lyte, Roxxanne Shante and Monie Love) and some which are lesser known (Chocolate Thai, Invincible and Miz Korona) out of the US hip hop and UK grime scenes. Continue reading
If someone would hand you a piece of paper and would tell you that you’d have a minute to write down a poem, would you be able to write one that makes sense? What if you didn’t have the piece of paper and had to think of something on the spot. It would need to rhyme, have a rhythm and a flow, would you be able to do that? This is the world of the freestyle, in which rappers show how quickly they can think, say it and at the same time tell a story. It’s something which takes a lot of practice and when you are thinking of the next thing to say your mind is in a different place compared to what your mouth is doing (saying something you already thought up). This documentary focusses on the freestyle and does this the best way possible: By interviewing a lot of artists and show lots of freestyles. Continue reading
To promote his new album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West has made a mini movie (just over 30 minutes) called Runaway. Does it have the same impact that Michael Jackson’s Thriller or Bad had in their time? Continue reading
The West Coast has managed to produce a lot of big rap artists and classical albums. N.W.A., Ice Cube, Dr.Dre, Snoop Dogg and Cypress Hill are just a few examples. The sounds are unique and can also be heard on records by artists who didn’t grow up there like Eminem or 50 Cent. There’s a certain vibe that is difficult to describe in words, when you hear it you just know that it is that sound, often a laid back vibe to it, but other times it can also be raw as hell. West Coast Theory is a documentary about the producers behind many well known hits and tries to show the different aspects of music production. Continue reading
I’ve been listening to hiphop for many years and when I heard about this documentary about scratching I was very curious to see it. I’ve seen hiphop change over the years, but it is the DJ who has been responsible for the creation and development of this music, even though MCs now define it. The documentary shows where it originated and how DJing developed itself through the years. Continue reading