• It's obvious that the makers of "Fear Of The Black Hat" had a HipHop-version of "This Is Spinal Tap!" in mind. The only difference is, Rob Reiner & Christopher Guest invented not only the mockumentary-genre, but also pointed out metal's silliness when it hadn't been that obvious, yet. In 1982 metal was relatively new, and the makers of "Spinal Tap" had already recognized its stupid side. They practically predicted every metal cliché that was about to come.

    Now, by 1994 the type of HipHop that's parodied in this movie was already on its way out again. All the jokes here about guns, censorship, racial slurs, Spike Lee etc. are amusing, but nothing out of left field. Just not very original or unexpected. What's worse is that a lot of jokes are directly lifted from "Spinal Tap". (One example: Spinal Tap have problems with their drummers always dying in freak accidents. In "Fear Of A Black Hat" the main group's managers tend to get killed "by accident".)

    So, "Fear Of A Black Hat" is to "This Is Spinal Tap!" what "Hot Shots" is to "Airplane!". It's got its moments, but it's nowhere near as funny or inventive as the original.