24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fear of laughing to death, October 30, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Fear of a Black Hat (DVD)
When a friend reccomended this movie, some time ago, I was kind of reluctent to rent a movie about a rap group that has a thing about hats. I eventually broke down and did rent it. This movie is a great satire/parody of rap and its' various movers and sometime shakers. The obvious comparison between this movie and This is spinal tap begins and ends with the music element. Fear of a black hat hits every social/cultural hot button there is while streaming along with truly funny developments that mirror real life events. In short buy this movie and laugh your ass off.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truly hilarious satire spotlighting culture clashes, November 13, 2003
This review is from: Fear of a Black Hat (DVD)
You don't have to know a thing about rap music to love this screamingly funny satire about culture clash, the media, fame, hypocrisy and a lot more.
A black woman (college-educated, oh-so-serious public TV type) is filming a documentary on a three-man rap group from the streets. Calling their mean selves Niggas With Hats (NWH), they're very concerned, at least while on camera (which is all we see) with maintaining their "hood" persona.
All their managers are mysteriously shot dead while NWH are "out of town" (wink, nudge). Early on they switch from using family members as managers to employing Jewish white boys. Before the film ends, they go through six of these poor fellows.
The dialog between the group and their middle-aged Caucasian record company owner is sidesplitting. With misplaced confidence, the businessman feels compelled to speak street talk in a doomed attempt to bond with his artists. We watch the astonished faces of our rappers as they listen to his ludicrous slang, which dates back to Malcolm X's time.
NWH even puts out a Christmas album called "Ho, Ho, Ho's." A rival rap group dogs their rise to fame, each outfit trying to destroy the other. NWH finally prevails, however, when it's discovered that the opposition's lead singer went to a prep school and even edited its yearbook. His career ruined, the antagonist and his crew are banished in shame.
There's an angry Spike Lee wannabe and an opening act, Vanilla Sherbet, a bouncy white rapper who insists he was raised by a black family. The concert audiences are pimply white youth who ape the group's moves, clothing and speech mannerisms and for whom the rappers can barely disguise their utter contempt.
Relating these details in no way spoils the fun, for it's the telling of the tale and the facial expressions of those to whom all of this happens that make the movie.
No matter what your age or background, you'll be howling out loud at many parts of this parody. See it soon.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An overlooked masterpiece!, March 18, 2002
By A Customer
This film had the misfortune to be released slightly after Chris Rock's far-inferior Rap music satire, "CB4," and, therefore, disappeared without a trace. What a crime! This comedy stands far above not only "CB4" but most other comedies released at the time and since. It doesn't break any new ground: it's a mock documentary on a fictitious Rap group ["N.W.H." (Niggas With Hats)] and their rise and fall. It does for Rap what "This Is Spinal Tap!" does for Heavy Metal and no less effectively, I might add. Indeed, there are many similarities between this film and "Tap" (just as Tap can't keep a drummer, N.W.H. can't keep a white manager) but this flick does NOT come off as a pale rip off. Writer-director-star Rusty Cundeiff never again reached the hilarious heights scaled here (his subsequent films are the good "Tales From the Hood" and the abysmal "Sprung") with his fantastic debut. All the performances are spot on, from working actors you've seen many times before but whose names you probably don't remember. N.W.H. features Cundeiff, Larry B. Scott ("Lamar" from "Revenge of the Nerds"), and Mark Christopher Lawrence (who's done more commercials and TV guest spots than you can shake a stick at) and the Interviewer is essayed by Kasi Lemmons who shortly thereafter ditched acting to become a director ("Eve's Bayou"). The film does a remarkably thorough job in hitting all the appropriate satirical targets (rival rap groups, misogynistic lyrics, L. A. riots, groupies, etc.). There has not been one person I know whose viewed this film and has NOT become a "Hat" convert. It is simply a hysterical comedy in a day and age where quality laughs are in short supply.
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