myklook-1

This film isn't an award winner but it is a must see for all Hip Hop historians. Loosely based on the life of producer Russel Simmons this film takes us back to the early days of Hip-Hop when rap was just starting to break into the mainstream. Blair Underwood plays Russel and everyone else (Run DMC, Fat Boys, Sheila E, New Edition, Beastie Boys, L.L. Cool J, etc..) play themselves. I think, if anything, this film gives fans an idea of what it was like for young rappers, producers and other musicians from NYC in the early eighties. I think the film could have been better if it was a little grittier and honest, but if it was than Rap and Hip-Hop may not have blown up the way it did into mainstream culture.

This film does not have a very good plot or actors, but it is a must see for fans of Hip-Hop. This film shows us what Hip-Hop started out as and what it was meant to be, before it was corrupted by the mainstream media. Hip-Hop in the mid seventies was a form of free expression for the young people living in the boogie down bronx. D.J.'s started looping breaks just like the Selectas in Jamaica, except they were using Disco and Funk singles instead of Reggae and Ska, and the crowds responded to this by doing crazy acrobatic or robotic dance moves. The D.J.'s called these people breakers, breakdancers or b-boys/girls. The kids started forming D.J. and breaker crews and they would tag the names of their crews on the subway trains and alleyways in the Bronx using spraypaint. D.J.'s used to shout out the names of the breakers and crews by saying, "Yo crazy legs is in the house.", they would also brag about themselves on the mic by making up rhymes about themselves. But as the break looping became more artistic and complex to keep the b-boys/girls breaking the D.J.'s had to get someone else to do the rhyming. Thus giving us the emcees or M.C.'s or Master of Ceremonies.