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Power and possibility

So...When did you fall in love with hip-hop?

This is the opening line from the movie Brown Sugar, not a spectacular or mind-blowing film by any measure, but for me personally, it is a very important one. Brown Sugar is the first movie to attempt to intelligently explore the love-hate relationship between a devotee of hip-hop and the music itself. The makers of the movie, director Rick Famuyiwa and writer Michael Elliot, draw a formulaic parallel between the fan-to-music relationship, and a typical movie romance between the two principle characters, Sidney, played by Sanaa Lathan, and Dre, played by Taye Diggs. Elements of this device, in addition to the theme of pinpointing the importance of music as milestones and as the soundtracks to our lives has been seen before in arguably better movies such as Almost Famous and High Fidelity . The significance of Brown Sugar is that it places these familiar stories and themes in a new and refreshing hip-hop (and largely African-American) context. For a better and much more eloquent article on this aspect of the movie please see the Salon.com review of Brown Sugar.

The movie opens with current and past hip-hop artists (Common, ?uestlove, Method Man, De La Soul, Doug E. Fresh) recalling when it was that they fell in love with hip-hop, firmly placing the rest of the story in a love-letter-to-hip-hop context. It is a shame that this thread becomes less developed than the romantic plot, which is entirely predictable but avoids complete cliche based on the strength of the performances.

Lathan in particular embodies a perfect mix of strength and vulnerability as she struggles with her love for her best friend Dre, her new job as editor of hip-hop publication XXL, and the advances of Kelby, a star basketball player and wannabe hip-hop artist. Also of note there is Mos Def's supporting role as Chris, the rapper/taxi driver who figures prominently within Dre's subplot of rediscovering his love of hip-hop. Chris' humor is perfectly dry and Mos' comic timing is one of the main highlights of the movie. More comic relief is provided by Rin and Tin, the "Hip-Hop Dalmatians", one white and one black rapper whose antics drive Dre from his cushy major label job. The main romance and the subplots are executed with intelligence and without cliche, but unfortunately their development detracts from what could be a movie by itself, the range of emotions that the music we love inspires.

This is really what I want to talk about. In a frustratingly few scenes, Brown Sugar captures that excitement, that rush that comes with the realization that you are experiencing something new. That you are part an expression of pure creativity, an expression that reflects you. That IS you. That is, ultimately, beautiful; it doesnt have to be hip-hop, doesnt even have to be music. Brown Sugar is about our relationship with what inspires us.

*******

The love-letter to hip-hop has been musically articulated by Chicago MC Common in an excellent trilogy of songs.

I Used to Love H.E.R. from Common's Resurrection album.
Act Too...The Love of My Life from The Roots' Things Fall Apart.
Love of My Life with Erykah Badu from the Brown Sugar Soundtrack.

Posted by sheelpi at June 4, 2003 04:30 PM