Fear of a Black Hat (1994)

Fear of a Black Hat (1994)

An irreverent and colorful parody of the hip hop scene far ahead of its time

7.3

Movie

United Kingdom, United States of America
English
Comedy, Mockumentary, Music
1994
RUSTY CUNDIEFF
Barry Shabaka Henley, Deezer D, Devin Kamin
88 min

What it's about

Chronicling the controversial career of bad boys N.W.H. (Niggaz With Hats), this uproarious 'mockumentary' lampoons all of hardcore rap's hot-button issues. This underground laugh riot recounts the rise, fall and resurrection of a clueless bunch of would-be rappers, Ice Cold, Tone-Def & Tasty Taste performing as N.W.H.

The take

Though it's still very much a product of a time of certain jokes that haven't aged well, it's still remarkable how the humor and the satirical edge of this mockumentary has remained so current. As a very-low budget mockumentary of a still-young American hip hop scene, there's so much more effort that goes into these fake songs and music videos than you'd expect. But the film doesn't stop at simply poking fun at the rappers and hip hop artists of the era; the jokes always circle back around to the racism of the time and the self-seriousness of the culture in the music industry. It's a hilarious time capsule with some brutally incisive lines in practically every scene.

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