From underground to aboveground, the changing state of the hip-hop genre in China is similar to the experience of many rappers. After the boom, perhaps the public's pursuit of hip-hop is still stuck in the surface composed of words such as "freestyle", "flow", "dab". This issue and the next issue of "Q" especially opened up a hip-hop film and television feature, compared to the pursuit of "double betting",
Appetizers
"Eight Miles" one-sentence review: can't bypass the hip-hop enlightenment movie, pick up the microphone and you are the rapper.
When it comes to hip-hop-related films, many people's first reaction is the "Eight Miles" they watched as children. The film is about family tragedies, self-struggles, brotherhood and, most importantly, the bloodiness of hip-hop from the streets.
As an inspirational film, the narrative of this film seems to be a little old-fashioned now, but when the protagonist "B-Rabbit" played by Eminem removes all obstacles and re-stands on the battle stage, even he himself will be moved.
Yes, years later, when Eminem looked back on the film again, he said, "Eight Mile made me feel longing again, longing for Battle Rap, longing for everything. ”
Feast on it
"Atlanta" one-sentence review: atypical musical American drama, black cousins fighting for music careers, bitterness and fun in parallel.
Directed by: Donald Glover/Hiroshi Murai
Starring: Donald Glover, Brian Tyree Henry, Lakeith Stanfield
Donald Glover: A combination of writer, hip-hop artist, actor, stand-up comedian and other multiple identities, he is pseudonymized in the recording industry under the pseudonym Childsh Gambino.
He may have caught your attention with his brilliant portrayal of the role of Troy in "Scrap Wood League" and his sensitive and self-deprecating comedian personality, but this time Donald, as a director, writer and star, played "Atlanta", playing the protagonist Orangex in the film, and played this battle well.
He is also the singer-songwriter of "This Is America", which has been played twice in 18 years, and the MV that has exceeded 100 million plays is also from his own hand.
Brian Tyree Henry: Played rap rookie PaperBoi in the film, who, like other rappers in Atlanta, was also engaged in underground trading.
Lakeith Stanfield: The Nigerian minor heel who plays PaperBoi in the film has a huge brain hole, is always in a state of wandering, and often speaks amazingly.
Lakeith contributed a good performance in this year's thriller comedy Breaking Bad, which coincidentally kicked off with Childish Gambino's Redbone as the background music.
Highlights: "Atlanta" refuses to be the typical of musical dramas, but also a reflection of the inspirational tendencies of small people In the United States, in addition to truthfully depicting the inseparable relationship between local hip-hop and drugs in Atlanta, it also adds surreal bridges and Glower-style ingenuity, and takes the time to explore race, gender, and low-level life issues in a playful tone.
Like all awkward idealists, Earnest writes this "history of the struggles of the music industry" with compromise with life and insists on following his heart, even if he foresees setbacks.
Paper Boi is different, he relies on intuition to survive, saying that it is not soft to beat people, saying that pulling the gun will press the trigger, and at the same time has a warm and cute side.
After the "accidental popularity", he looked a little confused in the face of his own fame. Compared to other episodes (yes, I'm talking about "Hip Hop Empire" in the next issue) that uses drama to advance the story line, "Atlanta" prefers to cut in from a small angle and start from the heart of the characters, while the events outside the plot take on more of the function of shaping the personality of the characters.
As a result, the whole series presents a seemingly careless, but in fact secretly exerting power. However, this play is covered with a strange absurdity in the realism.
For example, the passengers on the bus suddenly disappeared, and the "invisible sports car" of the NBA star. And the result of all this is the seventh episode with the potential of divine drama.
In this episode, Paper Boi is pulled by Earnest to a TV show as a guest, "discussing" the issue of female discrimination in his lyrics with a scholar full of academic vocabulary, and dealing with self-righteous, self-consistent program hosts who ignore facts.
In the interval between the programs, there were also several ironic advertisements that were fake and real. The most mythical thing is that Donald fabricated a black high school student with a "cross-racial identity" who believes that he is a 35-year-old middle-class white man and hopes that society will understand his existence, but he himself clearly wears colored glasses to see people.
The child's mother said dismissively, "I still want to wake up thinking I'm Rihanna!" ”
The entire episode fires at reality with absurd fictional structures and pseudo-documentary perspectives.
The soundtrack is another highlight of the entire series, showing the excellent musical taste of the whole team, truly achieving a variety of styles, new and old singers appear one by one, completely failing to live up to the reputation of "Atlanta" with music as the basic theme.
Trap is undoubtedly the hottest hip-hop genre in recent times, as the birthplace of Trap, the series named "Atlanta" are naturally indispensable to the works of Trap representative singers, such as Migos, Future, Young Thug, and iLove Makonnen.
At the end of the season, the protagonist Earnest finally earns his first money as an agent, lying on the couch in his garage to reminisce about it all, where The Southern Rap Veteran Out Kast's 20-year-old classic "Elevators (Me & You") echoes here.
The music grows out of the dirt of Atlanta and feeds back a drama about its growth, which is very correct.
In addition, the show pays homage to the ancestors of various musical genres everywhere, allowing us to enjoy the psychedelic funk of the legendary band Funkadelic in the 70s and the silky low-back vocal lines of R&B queen Erykah Badu. Complementing the plot, the atmosphere and mood in the play are rendered quite well.
Sometimes, the crew played some little humor: In episode four, Earnest headphones played Dream Pop band Beach House's "Space Song."
In the same episode, the Asian divine comedy "It G Ma", which has been popular in the world in 15 years, unexpectedly appeared, and such a musical group can't help but smile after being stunned, and sighed that "I still have this hand".
painted eggshell
1. Lead creator Donald, aka Childish Gambino released a critically acclaimed album "Awaken, My Love!" last year, which appeared in the ninth episode of the show, and interested friends can look for it.
2. A major feature of this play is to confuse real-world events with characters into passages in fictional scripts. Why are Migos a group of three instead of four? What would happen if Justin Bieber were black? The answers to these questions will appear in the play, and it is guaranteed to make you laugh.
3. The theme song that has been repeated many times in the play - "Paper Boi" was actually written and sung by Donald's cousin, and this song was approved by the producers of Future, Migos and others.
4. The creators had envisioned inviting a singer, such as Young Thug or Jeezy, to sing a Paper Boi song in each episode.
5. At the 69th Emmy Awards, Donald Glover won two awards for Best Director and Best Actor in a Comedy Series for "Atlanta", the former being won by a black person for the first time in Emmy history.
Friendly reminder: This drama is eaten with the Noisey Channel documentary "Atlanta", and the effect is even better. TV dramas that are full of jokes in the real world may still have a soft focus on real life.
Light dessert
"Summer of Okinawa" one-sentence review: Shamisen and hip-hop music dance together, the love battle on okinawa island.
Synopsis: The male protagonist, High School student Toru Isaka, met the mature temperament beauty Nagisa Nakamura twice. In order to pursue Nakamura, Toru and two friends formed the hip-hop group 098 (i.e. okinawa prefectural telephone area code).
The first performance of 098 failed, and one of the members had no choice but to leave due to academic pressure. Where will the future of the team and the love of the team go? The film will give the answer.
Fun: This film not only exudes the youthful atmosphere of a typical Japanese youth film, but also shows the local music and folklore of Okinawa on the basis of hip-hop music as the main line.
The male protagonist draws lyrics from life, turns what he sees into inspiration, and raps it all. Doesn't everything in the everyday give freestyle the most energy?
Easter Egg: Hayato Ichihara, the actor who plays the male protagonist, has released a hip-hop EP "LAUGHITOUT" with the Japanese band RIZE.
Hip hop musician
"Little Tiger J-fever" heart water recommended
Why The Get Down is recommended: Nelson George, the show's screenwriter, is my favorite black music writer. As soon as he struck, it was absolutely straight and deep, but he didn't expect it to burn so much.
The atmosphere of this film was my first impression of Hip-hop, and I felt empathy for the protagonist's first rap on stage.
Hip-hop music, from the underground to the mainstream, to the eight o'clock stall, or far away to the East Ying infected with exotic atmosphere. Sparkling.
The True History of Hip Hop
Orthodox documentary, a treasure trove of hip-hop history
Directed by Darby Weeler/Sam Dunn
主演：LL Cool J/Shad/Melle Mel
"The True History of Hip Hop" is probably a serious science and education film that best fits the topic of this topic.
Directed by Darby Wheeler and hosted by Canadian author mc Shad Kabango, the film begins with the origins of hip-hop music and meets hip-hop superstars to try to answer the question of how hip-hop music, as the most popular music genre in the world today, came to where it is today.
This film does not simply list the important time and name in the history of hip-hop like the examination materials, but first explains the social and political background that gave birth to the hip-hop culture in various periods, and then restores the scene of hip-hop music at that time through the mouth of the godfathers and big guys, and the precious old video materials and interesting comic graffiti add a lot to the film.
With a sense of community belonging and a rebellious gene from the streets, hip-hop was born from a New York neighborhood rife with crime, poverty and fire.
Initially just the act of finding fun at the party, through a series of factors to cultivate and ferment, gradually from the underground to the mainstream, and finally become a musical form that records social reality and even speaks for the people.
It is not an exaggeration to say that this film is called a well-documented sociological research document.
Helk held the first Hip-hop party, DJ Hollywood was the first person to face beatsrap, fantastic Five and Cold Crush Brothers' showdown became the first battle in history, and "Hip Hop History" has the strength to trace the roots and excavate historical materials.
The film interviews Russell Simmons, DJ Kool Herc, Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J and many other hip-hop "big things", whose names themselves guarantee the quality of the film.
Surprisingly, this film is not confined to a single context, creating an impression of "hip-hop hegemony" and giving up on others, after all, hip-hop was originally born from other music genres such as Disco and R&B.
The intersection of hip-hop with New Wave and punk is mentioned in the film, the anecdotes that Blondie brought hip-hop into mainstream culture after meeting Grandmaster Flash, and the rap of Rakim like John Coltrane blowing the saxophone, introducing rhythm and complexity, and contributing to interesting encounters between musical genres such as the birth of "flow".
"The True History of Hip Hop" makes hip hop fans or non-music fans enjoy it, which is not easy.
Ian Chambers once said that black culture, and black music in particular, offers
"A secret language of collaboration, a powerful way of articulating oppression, a means of cultural resistance, a cry for hope".
The history depicted in the first season of "Hip Hop History" is determined by this sentence, which may be more appropriate.
Hip Hop Empire
A bloody drama of kung fu dogs cloaked in hip-hop.
Directed by: Lee Daniels/Danny Strong
Starring: Terrence Howard/Taraji P. Henson/Jussie Smollett
Synopsis: Empire of Hip Hop tells the story of Lucious Lyon and his family members fighting each other over control of the record label Empire Entertainment.
Interestingly, the historic success of "Hip Hop Empire" in the history of American television has a certain similarity with "China Has Hip Hop". Before "There Is Hip Hop", Hip-hop had never entered the mainstream vision on such a large scale, and "freestyle" had never dominated the buzzword.
Before "Hip Hop Empire" landed on FOX TV in 2015 and conquered the golden file, the film with "hip hop music" as the selling point faltered in the history of American television.
Of course, there was "Yo! TV shows such as MTV Raps and Rap City paved the way for sitcoms such as "The Fresh Prince" and "The Cosby Show", but the former did not cause a national response through the medium of television, and the latter mostly played small fights, rather than seriously starting stories with hip-hop as the main line.
FOX invested huge amounts of production and arranged "Hip Hop Empire" to the prime time of American television, and the first season of the season-ending rating of 17 million pushed the show to an almost mythical position, which is a historic victory for all-black-starring hip-hop TV series.
As soon as the first season soundtrack was released, Madonna's new work was squeezed out and topped the Billboard album charts.
When it comes to the original vision of the TV series, the film's creator Lee Daniels used two words to describe: King Lear and the American Dream. However, terminal illness, imprisonment, accidental pregnancy, cannibalism, these classic dog blood settings have come together, and "Hip Hop Empire" is actually a soap opera of family ethics.
Although the film takes a slightly pompous and dramatic approach to the music industry with a curious audience, as The Guardian says, Lee Daniels cares more about commercial success than word-of-mouth and artistic value.
The first two seasons of Empire of Hip Hop were directed by Timbaland, and the third season was produced by Rodney Jerkins and Ester Dean. Take the first season with the best reputation, Lee Daniels invited the hot single maker Timbaland to make the soundtrack, and made a work that matched the show's exquisite and gorgeous feeling.
However, despite reaching the top of the B list in the first week, the level of the soundtrack is actually uneven, and even seems a bit out of place by today's aesthetic standards.
Among them, the second brother Jamal did show his musical talent, and the third brother cared more about nightlife than his own music. However, the two characters, Jussie Smollett and Bryshere Y. Gray, actually signed to Columbia Records outside of the film and released their own singles. The guest cast of guests starring in the guest appearance is luxurious, sometimes colorful and sometimes embarrassing, so the effect is different.
As the producer of the original soundtrack of the TV series, Timbaland's performance is qualified, but is the acoustics and innovative performance of the soundtrack recorded in history? No, it's quite a distance.
For music lovers other than the show's audience, the appeal is limited. The ratings of the three seasons of this drama have encountered a situation of high and low, which is reasonable to sum up the above two points.
Prototype of the protagonist of "Hip Hop Empire" (suspected version)
Cookie Lyon: Lydia Harris, wife of Michael Harris, an early investor in Death Row Records.
Lucious Lyon: It could be Puff Daddy, it could be Jay Z.
Jamal Lyon: Gay R&B singer, gifted, Frank Ocean didn't run.
Hakeen Lyon: The early disclosure of albums in retaliation for the record label is much like M.I.A. and Azelia Banks; humiliating his dad (the company owner) at the album launch is reminiscent of Tupac and Snoop Dogg; and the kidnapping is similar to what happened to Frank Sinatra Jr.
Tiara: Rihanna, don't you think the pronunciation is very similar?
1. The film's two protagonists, Terrence Dashon Howard and Taraji P. Henson, co-starred in the hip-hop movie "The River" 12 years ago. Once a pimp with musical dreams, the duo are now the operators who control the vast music empire. Seriously, "Hip Hop Empire" is actually a sequel to "Streams of Hustle", right?
2. Cookie Lyon, played by Taraji P. Henson, is undoubtedly one of the show's most popular characters. Every time this tough woman makes a classic line, it can trigger a wave of meme craze on the Internet.
3. The strong cameo lineup is another cannon for Hip Hop Empire. Familiar names on this long list include Snoop Dogg, Pitbull, Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, Courtney Love, Juicy J, and others, and it's a good idea to glance at them.
Chaos Samurai
Bushido is a marriage of things to hip-hop music.
Director: Shinichiro Watanabe
Starring: Kazuya Nakai / Ryoko Kawasumi / Kohei Sato
Strictly speaking, Chaos Samurai isn't an anime dedicated to hip-hop, but it's inseparable, even closer than you might think. Director Shinichiro Watanabe is a well-known music maniac in the Japanese animation industry, and in addition to his own directorial role, he is often named as an animated music producer.
Not to mention Watanabe's "Chaos Samurai".
"When the character from No Illusion came to mind, I heard the sound of Hip-hop ringing. I'm going to set up WuXian as a rapper samurai. ”
In the actual animation, one of the protagonists, Wu Xian, does not hold the Wheat Rap all day, but combines breaking dance with its own swordplay, and starts fighting without a word. Mukrit from the Ryukyu Islands and the expelled samurai Ren accompanies the girl and embarks on a journey to find samurai who "smells of sunflowers".
It's a film about a journey, not an end. Each protagonist carries a less bright past, but there are different forms of bondage between each other, which can support them to survive.
Even if the ending is three people saying goodbye, it is no longer sentimental.
The story is set in the last year of Edo, Japan. At that time, the samurai class gradually declined, Western culture entered the Eastern Ying, the world was chaotic, and the forces of all sides were divided.
"Chaos Samurai" chooses to "restore" this history in a playful way: for example, the ukiyo-e painter smuggled into the Netherlands, influencing the impressionist creations including Van Gogh in the future; in order to repay the meal money for the overlord meal, the protagonist three accidentally solved the Black Boat incident by playing baseball, and so on.
The animation itself also alludes to this blend of east and west: Watanabe uses modern elements to represent classical scenes, uses hip-hop street feelings as a symbol to interpret samurai fight scenes, and finally integrates hip-hop culture throughout all aspects of animation.
You can epitomize this consciousness in the one-and-a-half-minute titles— including the action design that fits the rhythm of the song, the use of ukiyo-e as the background, the animated lines as the foreground, and the vinyl turntable plus graffiti to bring out the anime title.
All of this has already made the level of Chaos Samurai surpass ordinary animation and become a hall-level work.
The director is most proud of the soundtrack that complements this film.
Watanabe once said, "When it comes to creating music [of Chaos Samurai], Nujabes is the first name that pops up in my head. ”
Chaos Samurai released four soundtracks, with Departure and Impression being the best, two of which were written by the late Japanese Jazz Hip-hop master Nujabes and American producer Fat Jon, and the most widely circulated by Nujabes.
Nujabes is best at creating a funky and oldschool atmosphere through warm beats and soft jazz piano samples, and Chaos Samurai needs a music that can fit both the past and the present, so Innocent Hip-hop became the first choice.
It must be admitted that the very nature of this music —drawing beautiful parts from past music and then using rap to enrich the meaning of content — coincides with animation.
Nujabes' music allows people to condense nostalgia for themselves in fragmented and repetitive pieces, which are the three protagonists' burdens and nostalgia (or non-release) of the mutilated past, while also reflecting our own fragments.
Chaos Samurai was sublimated by Nujabes, and Nujabes' art survived with this animation. "As sharp as a samurai sword blade", as Battlecry sings, Nujabes' music is also sharp to the bull's-eye in Chaos Samurai. Everything, Rest in beats.
—End—
The original article was first published on the WeChat public account
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