Fear of a Black Hat is a film satire on the evolution and state of American hip hop music. The film's title is derived from the 1990 Public Enemy album Fear of a Black Planet. Released on June 3, 1994, Fear of a Black Hat was written and produced by, and co-stars, Rusty Cundieff.
Plot summary
This film is a comedic, pseudo-documentary depicting the perspective of a filmmaker as she trails a hard-core gangsta rap group called N.W.H. ("Niggaz With Hats"), a play on the name of the popular group, N.W.A. In many ways, Fear of a Black Hat is similar to the satirical film about early 1980s heavy metal, This is Spinal Tap.
The members of N.W.H. are:
- Ice Cold (Cundieff), the main rapper and the intelligent and vulgar backbone of the group.
- Tasty Taste (Larry B. Scott), the ultra-violent secondary rapper who always seems to be armed with a variety of dangerous assault weaponry.
- Tone Def (Mark Christopher Lawrence), the esoteric D.J., who is talented enough to scratch with his butt and his penis (although the latter is not seen in the movie, only suggested).
The film is told from the point of view of Nina Blackburn (Kasi Lemmons), a sociologist who analyzes hip hop as a form of communication for her degree. She chooses N.W.H. as the subject of her thesis and follows them around for a year. She familiarizes herself with the band members, their beliefs, and their often strange behavior.
The members wear outrageous headwear during their performances. This is explained as an act of rebellion, remembering their slave ancestors, who had to work bare-headed in the sun. According to N.W.H., hats are a symbol for resistance and revolution since their hatless ancestors were too tired from working all day in the sun to revolt. This is a typical example of the bizarre logic the group uses to explain the deeper meanings behind their otherwise ostensibly baser music and images.
A steady source of comedy is N.W.H.'s use of over-the-top graphic language (e.g. sex, violence and rantings against the police), which detractors see as a cheap means to sell records, but in their eyes is essential to convey a "socially relevant message". They offer jaw-dropping explanations why songs such as "Booty Juice" and "Come and Pet the P.U.S.S.Y." are in fact deep and socially significant, and that detractors obviously do not truly understand the "real meaning". Throughout the movie, it is difficult to tell if the members of N.W.H. truly believe what they are saying, or are just portraying an image.
A lot of time also goes in to describing N.W.H.'s feud with another rap group, the Jam Boys. The groups constantly insult and discredit each other, even sometimes resulting in brandishing weapons. At one point N.W.H. brings to light evidence that the Jam Boys' lead rapper attended a prep school, directly threatening his street credibility.
A macabre running gag -- inspired by This is Spinal Tap -- involves their white managers dying under mysterious circumstances (but each time, the group insists it "wasn't in town when the shit happened"). They explain to Nina that their first few managers were black -- in fact, were their relatives -- and that they decided switching to white managers would be better for their families and the black community.
N.W.H.'s internal matters turn sour when Ice Cold cuts down his involvement because he wants to participate in a film, and Cheryl C., a groupie, hooks up with Tasty Taste. Although she is clearly more interested in his money than in him, Tasty lets her take over his life. When Tasty finds Cheryl and Ice Cold in bed, N.W.H. is no more.
The group breaks up and each member launches a solo career. Ice dedicates himself to house music; Tasty brings out a diss track in which he curses Ice; and Tone Def becomes a hippie (with obvious references to "flower rappers," such as P.M. Dawn). None sees much success until they ultimately reunite for a triumphant comeback in which their differences have been set aside, at least for the time being.
Parody/satirical references
Although it is tempting to say that each of the three members is a direct parody of a specific individual, they actually each combine different aspects of different rappers and other people in the rap industry to create stereotypical characters rather than direct impersonations. For instance, Tasty Taste's violent personality and lyrics, short stature and Jheri curl hairstyle, are similar to the rapper Eazy-E from N.W.A., while his dress and name can just as easily be attributed to Flavor Flav from Public Enemy. Similarly, Ice Cold's name can be said to be a parody of the many different rappers that use the word "Ice" in their names such as Ice Cube and Ice-T, but it can also be said that he easily parodies others such as L.L. Cool J and Snoop Dogg, as well as other rappers. By not centering their parody on one particular person or group, N.W.H. had the flexibility to satirize a wide range of artists, groups, and events in the world of hip hop.
The film satirizes the testosterone-fueled gangsta rap scene, which is obsessed by materialism, street credibility, sex, and violence. It also spoofs and lampoons alternative hip hop, political hip hop and Afrocentric rap groups. Many hip hop controversies are spoofed as well including feuds, racial appropriation, censorship, greedy record companies and many others.
Characters
Along with the film's title and its central characters, there are other characters seen briefly who are parodies of real-life prominent figures in hip-hop:
- Jike Spingleton: filmmakers John Singleton and Spike Lee (the character criticizes both filmmakers)
- M.C. Slammer: M.C. Hammer
- Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme: Salt 'n' Pepa
- Vanilla Sherbet: Vanilla Ice
- Yo Highness: Queen Latifah
- Ice Tray, Ice Box, Ice Coffee, Ice Berg, etc.: variations of the name "Ice" and the overuse of it in general in the rap industry.
- The Jam Boys: N.W.H.'s main rivals; though there is no direct comparison to a single contemporary hip-hop act, they may parodize hip-hop groups in general.
- Marty Rabinow: N.W.H.'s manager; his name is similar to Rainbow, which is a joke on Jewish names containing colors (e.g. Goldman, Goldberg, Greenberg, Silverberg); he's also a parody of stereotypical Jewish managers of African-American performers, such as N.W.A.'s Jerry Heller.
Songs
- "Booty Juice": Based on "Booty Mack" by Krashman, its video spoofs the prototypical hip hop "pool scene" found in many videos (though it's very similar to MC Hammer's 1994 initial video release for his song "Pumps in a Bump"), with N.W.H. surrounded by a bevy of scantily clad girls.
- "Come and Pet the P.U.S.S.Y.": A solo track from Ice Cold's post-N.W.H. group, The Ice Plant. It is based on "Everybody Dance Now" by C&C Music Factory. The main joke is that a petite Asian girl lip-syncs the voice of a powerful, heavy-set African-American woman without the latter getting credit for it. This features the conflict Martha Wash had with C&CMF in the track "Everybody Dance Now".
- "Fuck the Security Guards": A send-up of "Fuck Tha Police" by N.W.A.
- "A Gangsta's Life Ain't Fun": Based on "New Jack Hustler (Nino's Theme)" by Ice-T, spoofing its thinly-veiled admiration for sex, crime and drugs. This is also mirrored in the title, because the video implies that a gangsta's life is fun. Unfortunately, this song is not on the soundtrack album.
- "Guerillas in the Midst": Based on "Guerillas in tha Mist" by Da Lench Mob, the song's backdrop is centered on the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
- "Grab Yo Stuff": The episode draws upon the 1990 arrest of three members of 2 Live Crew in Broward County, Florida for performing songs from their album As Nasty as They Wanna Be; the group had been warned that performances of certain songs would lead to arrest. N.W.H. sacrifices its artistic integrity/gangsta attitude in order to avoid trouble, changing the song Grab Yo Dick into Grab Yo Stuff when police threaten to arrest N.W.H. Ironically, the group is arrested after Ice Cold accidentally hits himself in the testicles and blurts out, "My dick."
- "Granny Says Kick Yo Ass": Tasty Taste's solo single, based on "Mama Said Knock You Out" by L.L. Cool J.
- "Ice Froggy Frog": A parody of "Who Am I (What's My Name)?" by Snoop Dogg.
- "I'm Just a Human": Performed by Tone Def's post-N.W.H. group New Human Formatics, and based on "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" by P.M. Dawn.
- "Kill Whitey": Not actually played in the movie, but discussed with Nina Blackburn in an interview regarding N.W.H.'s highly controversial lyrics. The group explains that the title "Kill Whitey" does not actually refer to violence against whites, but instead is a reference to their former manager Whitey DeLuca, who allegedly scammed the band out of a sum of money. He later ended up dead, but the group "wasn't in town when the shit happened." Anyway, Whitey DeLuca wasn't actually white, he was "olive-complected", according to Ice Cold.
- "My Peanuts"': An early Ice Cold solo song based on "My Penis" by N.W.A., which itself is a parody of "My Adidas" by Run-D.M.C..
- "Wear Yo Hat (Buried and Bald)": Based on Public Enemy songs such as "Don't Believe the Hype" and "Bring the Noise", with Ice Cold and Tasty Taste vocally mimicking Public Enemy's Chuck D. and Flavor Flav.
- "White Cops on Dope": Only available on the motion picture soundtrack; parodies the Tubes' "White Punks on Dope".
Albums
- P.U.S.S. Why?
- Straight Outta Da Butt - A parody of N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton
- Kill Whitey
- Garden Ho's
- Ho Ho Ho's - a Christmas album
- Guerillas in the Midst - A parody of Da Lench Mob's Guerillas in tha Mist
- Fear of a Black Hat - A parody of Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet
- The Black in the Hat Comes Back
Quotes
- Nina: What exactly is the difference between a "ho" and a "bitch"?
Tone: A ho fucks everybody. Ice: Right, but a bitch fucks everybody but you.
- Nina: Why would you need a bazooka?
Taste-T: Well, sometimes you gotta take out stuff like a bus or a building, or a bunch of muh-fuckas.
- Nina: They say it's the quiet ones that you have to watch out for.
Taste-T: And if you've noticed, I ain't said shit for a couple minutes now.
- Taste-T: Do I look like the kinda person who could kill a whole bunch of white muthafuckas? I mean, you know... given a reason... but not on a humbug.
Reception
Although a critical success, Fear of a Black Hat was a financial flop. According to the Internet Movie Database (see below), it only grossed about $238,000 on a budget of just under a million dollars, thus collecting only 23.8 cents for each dollar invested.
Trivia
- Fear of a Black Hat was released shortly after CB4, a film with a similar topic and extremely similar storyline. However, CB4 garnered a comparatively lukewarm reception from the critics, despite starring Chris Rock and being delivered with much more hype.
- The film was the brainchild of Rusty Cundieff, who was director, writer and lead actor (Ice Cold)
- According to Cundieff's DVD commentary, the budget was exactly $999,999.99, so that the firm that produced the film would not have to say that they gave newcomer Cundieff a "million-dollar deal".
External links
