December 15th, 2008
Gyangsta Flicks
Pace this post (see comments for continued convo), thx to Christina — who also wonders how hip-hop’s use of East Asian imagery fits into all of this (I think it leans more toward the I-talian than the A-rab) — for pointing me to three mashup “valorizations of the gangsta” via the dancehall/Mavado’s imagination (both of which take strong cues from hip-hop and Hollywood). These are easy fits given what Erin MacLeod calls the “melancholy, sweeping, and spooky strains of cinematic dancehall” –
So when is Jollywood (heh) gonna get into the global “film” game? No doubt Kingston could give Lagos and Mumbai a run for their money.
musicologist, internet annotator, imagined community organizer.
2 Comments Add your own
1. erin | December 15th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Well, you may be in luck. Looks like Beenie Man might have this plan on lock:
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/html/20080425T000000-0500_134921_OBS_BEENIE_MAN_TO_CO_WRITE__STAR_IN_MOVIE.asp
My brother and I fell upon “Rude Boy” when he was working at a video store a few years ago. One can only hope that Beenie Man continues to live up to the acting prowess displayed in this brilliant scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcB9-Nxk0cE
The whole movie is available on YouTube…woulda been better with some Mavado ‘pon di soundtrack, seen?
2. Birdseed | December 15th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
I’m wondering whether Hollywoodish drama is fast becoming the self-describing language of all sorts of thugs. One of my Muslim friends recently pointed me to the existence (and outrageous popularity in Palestine) of Hamas Anasheed, religious songs supporting Hamas, and a lot of those are extremely Hollywood in character too. Examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epzME6TB5jc
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5t8ny_hamas-nasheed-palestine_webcam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4mexVXF4uo
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5442406592082272231&ei=7plGSZHkGY-MiQLh2pS-DQ&q=Hamas+Anasheed
That last one is strangely Enya meets John Ford meets Grandiose Eurocentric elite classical music.
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