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
Music is a big part of movies and is used to enhance the feelings you have about something that’s happening. When it’s done well you might not even notice it is there. It’s something that happens a lot to me and when I read other reviews commenting how great the music was I often don’t remember any. Sound of Noise is a Swedish movie where you will not forget it easily as music is what this movie is about. To be more specific, it’s about terrorist musicians (and is not what you might think it is reading that). 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
This documentary gives an overview on the subject of sampling in music. In case you don’t know what a sample is, dictionary.com describes it as:
a sound of short duration, as a musical tone or a drumbeat, digitally stored in a synthesizer for playback.
To put it simply: You take a piece of music from another artist, for example drums and use these drums in your own music to build a song with. When hip hop started in the seventies the DJ’s in the parks would use the break in a record (for example a drum solo) and loop it by playing that same bit using two turntables. During the eighties technology started to become available which would allow you to digitally store a piece of music which meant that a music producer would have another tool in his bag of tricks to create music and be more creative. For hip hop it meant the start of its golden years with albums like 3 Feet High & Rising by De La Soul or The Beastie Boys Paul’s Boutique, who were filled with samples. Some of the artists that were sampled weren’t really happy with their music being used. De La Soul was brought to court and lost a lot of money because they used music from The Turtles without their permission. It meant the rise of a whole industry out to make money on samples. Continue reading
The Devil and Daniel Johnston is a documentary about Daniel Johnston’s, an American musician and artist who became a local celebrity because of his unique sound, lyrics and art. It didn’t take long to gain (inter)national recognition after appearing on MTV. As he is a manic-depressive it has had a big impact on his career, which has had many lows. Continue reading
Red Bull BC One is a yearly international b-boy competition which was first held in 2004. The highlight of the BC One competition are the knockout battles in which 16 b-boys go head to head, after which the winner goes home with the title and a big belt. Red Bull places the battles online each year and they show the skills of the best b-boys in the world. Turn It Loose covers the BC One of 2007 but besides focussing on the battles themselves, they also show where the different competitors come from and they tell something about their own background. So this documentary is more than just spectacular battles. Continue reading
If you are a big rock fan, you will immediately think of Motörhead when you hear the name Lemmy. For those that don’t know the band, there is a big chance that you do know their most famous song, “The Ace of Spades”. Motörhead is also known as the loudest band on earth and although I have not verified this myself (in not my type of music) I heard from friends that earplugs are a necessity at their concerts. This documentary tries to give the viewer a look into the life of its lead singer. Does he live as loud as his music? Continue reading