So maybe your the type of guy (or girl) that says, “I’ve never seen any hip hop based films or films with hip hop in them!” Well, let me shake you up a little bit just to refresh your memory.
Obviously, if you’ve seen films such as Wild Style, Beat Street, Breakin’ (even II Electric Boogaloo), Juice, Who’s the Man? , 8 Mile, Brown Sugar, or Hustle and Flow, then you’ve definitely seen a hip hop based film. But maybe you haven’t seen any of those films. Maybe you’ve been living under a rock for the past 25 years or just haven’t frequented to local movie house in quite some time. That could be the case.
But I bet you’ve seen, Tropic Thunder or maybe you’ve seen The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. You could be the romantic type so you’ve probably seen Hitch or Save the Last Dance. Oh, action is your genre? Then you’ve probably seen last year’s Wanted or are looking forward to this summer’s blockbusters X-Men Origins: Wolverine or Terminator: Salvation.
Yup, all of the above mentioned films have either hip hop artist in starring roles or are films with hip hop elements in them. It should be to no one’s surprise that hip hop has been taking over everything for the past 5 years, for better or for worse. But in film, so far, for the most part, it’s been for good. A lot of good rappers are getting the chance to show that they are as good in front of the camera as they are behind the mic by being nominated for top awards(see Mos Def, Queen Latifah, Will Smith…). And yes there are some bad rappers getting good parts in films, and continuing their streak of badness (insert your favorite rappers’ name here ___________, here ____________ and here ____________).
Well, all of this is to say, don’t count hip hip out as a strong art form that will continue to grow into this century. Although the music needs some improvement (yup, I said it!) the quality and number of films and actors/actresses continues to blossom.
So if you still don’t feel that you’ve delved enough into filming hip hop, get busy. I just gave you a great homework assignment for the rest of the year (click links above).
Dance scene from Hitch
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I believe what you say fully. I wonder sometimes if people actually understand how hip hop has afected the whole world. Its not because hip hop demostrate heartbreak and struggle. Its because everybody can relate to the songs. There is a song out there for every body. I have relized that when i went to a event in Atlanta,Ga called I do mUSIC that is sponsored and headquatered at the legendary patchwerk recording studio. They had a good selection of music. The music and artist they had at i do music showed that hip hop is still alive. The world soon will find out that movies , fashion and lingo is all influenced by hip hop.
good stuff idomusic6. keep up the good work.