"Dope" revolves around the misadventures of a trio of band camp geeks who get caught up in a set of "hood" or should I say, "WOOD" circumstances that they must figure their way out of all while trying to stay alive and true to their square selves. The leader of this geek squad, Malcom is a 4.0 GPA, rock-star-in-the-making, high school senior with Ivy League dreams of attending Harvard University. Still, somehow I left the theater scratching my head and applauding.
Like the film's Director, Rick Famuyiwa, I too was born in 1973 and bred in Inglewood, CA. In fact, I dedicated an entire chapter to my city in my coming of age memoir, "The Avocado Tree" released in 2012. So, as an author and screenwriter, my biggest problem with the film was its overuse of the word "nigga." Honestly, I don't think I've heard it used that much since NWA's tracks "Real Niggaz" and "Niggaz 4 Life" off the "EFFIL4ZAGIN" album.
For those that may not know, Rick Famuyiwa is the same guy that wrote and directed the 1999 film "The Wood;" another a coming-of-age story about life in Inglewood, CA, which reminded me of my own childhood and still one of my favorites. But, with Pharrell Williams as executive producer on "Dope" and the likes of Forest Whitaker and P. Diddy (Sean Combs) also putting money behind it, I wondered if there was pressure from up high to literally have the word "nigga" in every scene of the movie
and I do mean every single scene. Was nobody just a little uncomfortable during the table reads? "Nigga" was used so much that the dialogue became inauthentic. Famuyiwa even had people saying "nigga" in scenes that really didn't call for it, like Kimberly Elise's scene on the bus. Did she really need to say it? I think not. It was overkill to say the least, even for a native of "The Wood" (the 'Aves' to be exact) like myself.
I hope that those suburbanites that go and see this movie will not leave the theater believing that people from Inglewood have no alternative vernacular and that "nigga" is every other word in sentences we form. To put it simple, we don't talk like that! At least the majority of us don't. I would have liked to see a more mature and socially responsible Rick Famiyuwa as a director/screenwriter who's been in the game nearly two decades. I found it odd that the film's protagonist Malcom (a straight A student) was smart, unique and comfortable enough in his own skin to accept his own geekdom, all while others (thugs) referred to him as a "nigga," but somehow although Harvard bound, he wasn't smart or unique enough to NOT refer to himself as one. Had he chosen the latter, I would have had all the more respect for the kid. I mean this kid knew the definition of a "slippery slope," but didn't know the etymology of the "N" word? Or simply chose to ignore it. "COME ON SON!!!!"
Overall, I liked the movie. I'm from the Wood and get it totally. I grew up in the 70's and 80's and kicked it all over LA as a kid from the Jungles to the Bottomz and beyond. "Dope" reminded me of a time when hip hop heads like myself were young and impressionable. Your style was either east coast (Rakim, Run-DMC, EPMD) who rocked sweat suits and fat gold chains. Or your style was west coast (NWA, Ice-T and Too Short) so you rocked Fila shirts, khakis, chucks and corduroy crocasacks. But, for cats like me who were somewhere in the middle, De La Soul appeared one day and we finally found our place in hip hop. Not gangster and not street hustler, but cool kids (like Malcolm) with backpacks; kids cool enough to rock a high top fade or gumby haircut with an African medallion, a rayon shirt and baggy jeans. We loved De La's "Plug Tunin'" and "Buddy," "Funkin Lessons" by X-Clan, Tribe's "Bonita Applebum," in addition to Pat Benatar's "We Are Young" and "West End Girls" by the Pet Shop Boys. That was "DOPE!"
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