When it comes to hiphop, Netflix has a pretty solid offering of interesting documentaries (Bad Rap, Hip Hop Evolution, The Defiant Ones, Fresh Dressed, Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives, The Art of Organized Noize, Sample This) and movies/series (Roxanne Roxanne, The Get Down) about this music genre. I’ve watched all of them and although some of them are disappointing, in general they provide a lot of interesting information/entertainement. The latest addition is Rapture. According to the Netflix description hip-hop stars describe what defines them as artists and the effect they’ve had on culture beyond music. During (almost) each of the episodes the focus is on one artist. These are a mix of old and new artists: Logic, Nas & Dave East, G-Eazy, 2 Chainz, T.I., Rapsody, Just Blaze and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie. As I’ve been listening to hip hop less the last couple of years I didn’t know anything about Logic, Dave East, G-Eazy, Rapsody or A Boogie, so I was interested to learn more about them.
The series opens with an impressive episode about Logic. A rapper who is very open, talking about the issues he’s been struggling with, but also how he tries to use that in his music to help others. His massive success with 1-800-273-8255, a song about suicide which has the number of the suicide prevention hotline is a huge example of this. It is a very personal episode, which raised expectations for the rest of the episodes. Unfortunately hardly any of the other episodes reaches the same heights, except for T.I.’s episode. Of course T.I. is at a whole other point in his career, but he is very aware of his position in society and the people who listen to him. As his children are growing up he decides to learn more about the civil rights movement, talking to important figures and even stopping the production for his latest album to make one about police brutality. Because of this the episode feels bigger than just the career of T.I.
Other episodes feel a lot less focussed and don’t seem to have much to say. G-Eazy’s episode follows him during his tour in South America, but doesn’t give much insight, except for him repeating how good he is, but less what impact he has had on people. The A Boogie wit da Hoodie episode shows how he, together with his crew managed to really effectively make use of social media to become a force to be reckoned with, but doesn’t go much further either. Although I personally enjoyed the Just Blaze (as I always liked his production) and the Rapsody episodes they never felt impactful. The Nas & Dave East episode didn’t leave any lasting impression and completely seemed to lack focus.
It makes Rapture a series which feels very uneven and which has no real overarching theme. Personally I though only the Logic and T.I. episodes were must watches, the rest are only interesting if you have some interest in these artists. So in the end it is a project that hasn’t come together completely, but which does have some standout moments.
[score6]
Hey thanks – I was wondering about this one.
Now thanks to you it sounds like I can cherry pick the episodes.
Yeah, it’s a good idea to do that