FRESHLY SERIOUS™» documentary

Banksy presents: The Antics Roadshow [full movie]

S.D. Rockswell — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 18:38:53 +0000

Taking a break from the bullsh*t and the beefs, The UK king of street swing Banksy’s step back from graffiti / street art, and drops a hilarious “documentary” centered around the history of contemporary pranking. The movie, which aired recently on UK TVrecently is almost a celebration of pranking more so than an expose´. In a statement on Channel 4′s website, Banksy admitted, “Basically I just thought it was a good name for a TV programme and I’ve been working back from there.” All jokes aside this movie is seriously hilarious. serioulsly. [jwplayer config="Custom Player" mediaid="105761013"]

“Rubble Kings” NYC Gangs 1968 To 1975 [trailer]

S.D. Rockswell — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 11:23:30 +0000

There is always room for another documovie surrounding Pre Hip Hop Era NYC. Carrying the same colorful cityscape back drop as “80 Blocks from Tiffanys“, Shan Nicholson’s Rubble Kings gets a little more indepth on the positive side of things. In reality it picks up where 80BFT left off, with the South Bronx ready to explode due the tensions between the gangs and the NYPD.Realizing that bloody wars on the streets of NYC were pointless, factions like The Black Spades, The Savage Nomads, The Savage Skulls, The Ghetto Brothers (that’s just a few) set up a truce that would ultimately lead to a new era of cultural development. From that development, Hip Hop was born. S/O C.NITO @FroLab for the original drop.

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BBC “Once Upon a Time in New York” [1-4]

S.D. Rockswell — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 02:51:41 +0000

‘What is Graphic Design’, ‘The History of UK Reggae’. Those are just the BBC features we can remember right now. If we had a BBC stateside, we’d probably be alot better off. The funny thing is, they do better than we do on our own documovies. And this, maybe the best one we’ve seen, Goes a little something like this…. “The Birth of Hip Hop, Disco and Punk” – How the squalid streets of ’70s New York gave birth to music that would go on to conquer the world – punk, disco and hip hop.

In the 1970s the Big Apple was rotten to the core, yet out of the grime, grit and low rent space emerged new music unlike anything that had gone before.

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Inspired by the Velvet Underground, a new wave of ‘punk’ rock emerged in lower Manhattan including The New York Dolls, The Ramones and the Patti Smith Group. Meanwhile, downtown loft parties held by gay New Yorkers heralded the birth of disco, which would eventually spawn the ultimate club for the privileged few: Studio 54. The swanky mid-town discos were out of bounds to black New York so in the Bronx DJs such as Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa created their own parties, heralding the birth of hip hop.

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With David Johansen, Patti Smith, John Cale, Richard Hell, Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Kool Herc, Nile Rodgers, Chuck D, Tommy Ramone, Chris Stein, Fab 5. Freddy, Lenny Kaye, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, Syl Sylvain, Nicky Siano, David Mancuso, DJ AJ, David Depino, Jayne County, Leee Childers, Nelson George, Victor Bokris and Vince Aletti.

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“Once Upon a Time in New York: The Birth of Hip Hop, Disco and Punk” -BBC 2004

Fear & Loathing on the Road to Hollywood

S.D. Rockswell — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 17:30:41 +0000

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson was a good watch… from a PBS perspective. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is basically G rated Gonzo (and certified classic) for the Hollywood dollar. But this? This right here? This is Hunter S. Thompson how it’s suppose to be… LIVE AND UNCUT.The movie centers around Thompson and frequent artist collaborator Ralph Steadman as they get buckwilder on the road with a full BBC film crew. Real deal footage and commentary filmed in Hunter Thompson realtime, Gonzo Journalism at it’s Finest Gonzovision. Babes, bikes, drugs, guns….A little something for your Father’s Day video line up.

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Classic Video: Henry Chalfant – All City [1984]

S.D. Rockswell — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 02:57:02 +0000

This is connoisseur material at it’s finest. Henry Chalfant’s (Style Wars) often forgotten overlooked hip-hop documovie, All City. This was experimental documentary about the early days of the Hip-Hop in the South Bronx that was created shortly after Style Wars. Be sure to catch the lofi bit version of T La Rock + Jazzy Jay’s “It’s Your’s”. Classic Material.

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

Tarantino: The Discple of Hong Kong

S.D. Rockswell — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 23:51:36 +0000

Quentin Tarantino has a pretty versatile ghetto pass. Well, not really a ghetto pass. Lets call it diplomatic immunity…in the movie industry. After all, he IS allowed is Hoover Vac Hong Kong cinema, then shake it, flip it and rub it down and repackage it into Hollywood bankrolls. And we eat it up every single time. But guess what?

If Tarantino actually went to Hong Kong, he might get busted to the white meat. At least if Ringo Lam has anything to do with it. Lam is the creator of City On Fire which really “inspired” Reservoir Dogs. But you knew that already tho. How much inspiration and to what varying degrees? As the messengers, we hold no judgements and facillitate the freshest of the freshest regardless. The rest is up to you. The Documovie, “Tarantino: The Disciple Of Hong Kong” directed by Jac & Johan hits French TV shortly and the producers scored Ringo Lam’s first interview on camera in ten years. OH Snap, it’s about… to go… DOWN!

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BONUS: Analysis by Rob Wilson, creator of “Everything is a Remix”. WATCH IT NOW!!

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The Saga Continues: Michael Rapaport x ATCQ

S.D. Rockswell — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:28:57 +0000

With the ATCQ documovie slated for release this summer, there’s no question that fans the world over are waiting with heavy and heated anticipation. However more and more details are coming to light regarding the films production, mounting the major parties involved to fire shots back and forth. In an interview with MTV Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed took up arms, and now we have Michael Rapaport firing shot in the interview after the jump. Large up ATL’s DJ Rasta Root for keeping us up with play by plays.

Interview By Toshitaka Kondo (@ToshitakaKondo) for Complex Magazine

You basically spoke to every key player for this documentary. Was there anyone that you didnâ€™t get to interview that you wanted to? The biggest person that I did not get to interview because she was so busy and we just missed each other in passing was Queen Latifah. Iâ€™ve known her for a while and obviously she knows the group and has a relationship with the group, and it was just a scheduling thing. It was definitely disappointing because she is the Queen and her presence is immense.

A humorous moment in the film was when Prince Paul talked about not being invited to be on theÂ Midnight Marauders cover. You ever find out exactly why? That’s a good question. I don’t know why he was not invited to theÂ Midnight Marauders cover shoot. He did not give an answer or a reason why, he just did not make it on to the cover, which I felt was a funny little sidebar in the movie, â€˜cause everybody was on that cover. He made light about it, but you have to ask Q-tip.I know in the documentary the members of Tribe talk about how Jarobi was the spirit of ATCQ, but itâ€™s still not really fully explained what he does. From what I got from all the information and interviews that I’ve had, I think that, like Q-Tip said in the movie, Jarobi is the spirit of ATCQ. He grew up with them, and I know at one point he did do tracks forÂ Low End Theory and then around the same time while they were makingÂ Low End Theory, he left the group, but he’s always sort of been around.I know he is still close with all of them, and you can tell that from the film. His relationship with Phife is really something special. They’re like family, so I think at some point he was definitely gonna rap, I just think none of the stuff made it to albums and he had other things he wanted to do with his life. He has a career as a chef and I think that Jarobi was sort of reluctant with the idea of being a star.Even though he left, it didnâ€™t seem like it was beef, so why were his verses taken offÂ The Low End Theory? That’s a Q-Tip question. I don’t have a real answer as to why the verses were taken off. I think that when you are in a partnership with people that you are really truly friends with, it can be challenging, because when you mix business with personal, sometimes there can be little hiccups. Do you have any idea what songs Jarobi actually had verses on? Did you get to hear any of them ever? That is a good question. Phife says in the movie he had verses on things. I heard an outtake where a lot of people were on, I think it was â€œRap Promoter.â€ A lot of people did make the eventual song, but Jarobi could flow and beatbox when beatboxing was an essential thing. If you are a Tribe fan and ask members of Tribe, Jarobi is A Tribe Called Quest.In the documentary, one thing that I thought was interesting was how it doesnâ€™t really go into how onÂ Beats, Rhymes and Life all of a sudden Consequence was all over the album and J Dilla got brought into the production fold. Did they ever talk about any of that stuff? They talked about Consequence and the J Dilla stuff. It was so sort of complicated and J Dilla meant so much to fans it was something that I ended up skimming over in the film because it felt like to go into Consequence and J Dilla and give it the time it deserves, you know J Dilla deserves his own movie. If itâ€™s not a story about the four guys, a lot of stuff had to get cut out of the movie because there’s so many different things.Busta Ryhmes is in the movie, but I had a ten-minute sequence on Busta Rhymes and a six-minute sequence on Large Professor. I wanted to do more stuff on the Jungle Brothers, but at a certain point itâ€™s like you have 90 minutes to tell the story and there’s four guys and there’s a lot of screen time I’m taking up. Definitely you have to make choices in the editing room to what is important to the story, or the story that I am trying to tell.Could some of that stuff be on the DVD as extras? Oh yeah, definitely, cause J Dilla and Large Professor were essential to Tribe. Consequence was important toÂ Beats, Rhymes and Life, which I think is an underrated album. ThatÂ Beats, Rhymes and Life period was definitely sort of the beginning of the end of the group. That will be for super Tribe heads, but there is a lot of stuff that we shot that exists. Consequence gave a great interview.In the film we definitely see the tension between Phife and Q-Tip, especially when they almost get into a physical altercation backstage at a stop of Rock The Bells, but itâ€™s never really explained why they broke up. What do you think happened from your perspective? I think that the group broke up because from my perspective they created something with those first three albums that was like lightening in a bottle. It was so special and it captured the hearts of people that listened to it. It still does and I think going forward the business was changing. The first three albums were very sample-heavy so the rules and budgets for sampling got increasingly bigger so I think that was an issue.I think that the group was getting more and more frustrated with their deal with the record label. I think that with Q-Tip and Phife, the groupâ€™s relationships had started to run its course. I think that it was kind of like a crime when someone is like, â€œI want to try to do something different. I want to do a solo album.â€ Itâ€™s looked at almost like you are cheating on a lover and Q-Tip is a tremendous artist and his sort of wanting to push his artistry, it wouldn’t take long. Phife wanted to do a solo album and those guys have been friends since they were four years old. So for them, you’re in this group, now you’re stars, you’re rich, and it was like whoâ€™s better? Whoâ€™s running the group? Whoâ€™s the man?Those things came into play in the group and I think that it just ran its course. I feel that the one thing that I could appreciate about ATCQ in regards to the breakup is that they weren’t trying to duplicateÂ People’s Instinctive Travels. You can never capture that again. They moved on and were always trying to evolve as artists so I think they were just like, â€œLetâ€™s just leave it. We did this and this was great and it’s time to move forward.â€ Of course as a fan you want more, but I think that their functional relationships within ATCQ became dysfunctional.READ THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW HERE: [Michael Rapaport x ATCQ Part 2]

A Tribe Called Quest Breaks Silence [interview]

S.D. Rockswell — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 11:51:14 +0000

courtesy MTV Shows

Even the green light is moving in regards to the highly anticipated ATCQ Documovie, there are still technicalities between the group and director Michael Rappaport. Here the group lets loose after a hefty silence regarding some very interesting point in the whole situation. Un-aired portion of the same interview after the jump.

A Tribe Called Quest were approached with the idea of doing a documentary, and they couldn’t have been happier with the producer. Fellow Queens native Nas first introduced the idea of capturing the story of one of hip-hop’s greatest groups of all time.

But by the time filming began, Nas receded into the background as actor Michael Rapaport took control of the project.

” ‘I want to shoot a documentary on you,’ ” Q-Tip told MTV News, recalling a conversation with Rapaport. “I had already breached Nas with the guys, and everyone was loving that idea. So I was thinking in my head … It’d be great to have someone we respect tell our story, who’s a part of it as well, and then Mike’s enthusiasm. I spoke to everyone about it. It was some hesitation [about Rapaport's involvement]. … I think it was because Nas had initiated it.”

Jarobi, who joined Sway by phone, added: “The Nas involvement kind of sweetened the deal for everybody.”

According to Tribe DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad, his reservations came from Rapaport not being part of the hip-hop community.

“My hesitation was purely from a position that we’re bringing someone from the outside to be a part of the inside life,” he said. “We have to make sure that people understand who this family is and capture it and deliver it the same way we live our lives. It didn’t matter if it was a rapper or not. Nas being part of it is good, ’cause it’s someone from the inside who, from a producer’s perspective, makes sure everything is what it’s supposed to be.”

The project has been controversial, with Q-Tip speaking out against Rapaport and the actor still moving forward with the doc, called “Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest.”

Tip said the friction stemmed in part from the group’s lack of control over the story, despite being listed as producers. An e-mail from the production team was inadvertently sent Tip’s way, the rapper told MTV News, detailing plans to silence the group. That was one too many red flags for him.

“All of this stuff is going on, and we’re still trying to move forward in good faith, and we see this e-mail, inadvertently, which was a godsend,” he said. “I believe that that was the universe giving that to us and showing us who we were dealing with.”

via MTV

ATCQ: BeatsRhymes+Life doc picked up by Sony

S.D. Rockswell — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 10:30:28 +0000

Phife Dog.Q-Tip.Ali Shaheed.and sometimes Jarobi

Sony Pictures Classics recently announced that they have acquired all North American rights to Michael Rapaport‘s directorial debut, Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest. Rival Pictures and State Street Pictures produced the film, which was in Documentary Competition at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

Beats Rhymes + LifeÂ documents the inner workings and behind-the-scenes drama that follow the band, A Tribe Called Quest, even today and explores what’s next for a group many claim are the pioneers of alternative rap. Having helped to pave the way for innovative hip hop artists, A Tribe Called Quest has kept a generation hungry for more of its groundbreaking music since the group’s much-publicized breakup in 1998. A Tribe Called Quest has three platinum albums – Midnight Marauders, The Low End Theory and Beats, Rhymes & Life

Director Michael Rapaport learned his craft by working with some of the best directors in the industry. A highly respected actor, Michael has starred in and worked with such directors as Woody Allen in Mighty Aphrodite and Small Time Crooks, John Singleton in Higher Learning, James Mangold in Cop Land and Tony Scott in his break out performance in the Quentin Tarantino penned True Romance. Michael is currently in development with producer John Davis and Fox 21 on a 2011 version of The White Shadow, as a cable television series. In 1994, Rapaport burst on the “Sundance” stage starring in the acclaimed movie Zebrahead.

“With Beats Rhymes + Life, Michael Rapaport proves himself a major new director and in doing so gives the audience an inside look at one of hip hop’s most fascinating and influential groups. A Tribe Called Quest has a fan base spanning generations and this film will only serve to solidify that audience while opening doors for entirely new fans of both the band and Michael.” ~Â Sony Pictures Classics “I couldn’t be more excited and proud that Beats Rhymes + Life is being distributed by Sony Pictures Classics. As a first time filmmaker to have the support of SPC is like being signed by the NY Yankees. Telling this story was not only a labor of love, but also the most fulfilling accomplishment of my career,”~ Michael Rapaport Beats Rhymes + Life comes to theaters in 2011 [SOURCE 1] Â [SOURCE 2]

Neighbors: Mike Giant

S.D. Rockswell — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 11:52:20 +0000

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A rather unexpected drop found by one of our favorite reads, Typo-Graphical. Sir Giant has been on a tear this year for sure. Mike Giant recap 1 / 2