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Welcome to Hip Hop Movie Club, the show

that harmonizes the rhythm of Hip Hop with

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the magic of movies.

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Today, we're discussing Dope, an

adventurous comedy drama with a nostalgic

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90s Hip Hop laced soundtrack.

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We're three old heads who put their old

heads together to vibe on these films for

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you.

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I'm Dyno Wright, podcaster, filmmaker,

longtime Hip Hop fan, and I met Pharrell

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Williams at Pat's Steaks in Philly before

an N.E.R.D.

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show in 2002.

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He was really nice.

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I'm JB, 80s and 90s nostalgia junkie, long

time Hip Hop fan, and I once introduced

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myself as Imp the Dimp, the ladies' pimp,

at a corporate training session to lighten

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the mood in the room.

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haha

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broke the ice.

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Well, I'm Boogie, a DJ, a long time

Hip Hop fan, and I just won tickets to

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Tony Touch, the peacemaker, concert going

on June 7th at Radio City Music Hall.

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Crazy lineup.

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So

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Congrats.

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Nice.

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In this episode, we'll answer the

question, is Dope worth watching?

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And we'll give you five key takeaways to

make you a smarter Hip Hop movie fan.

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Dope is a 2015 coming -of -age comedy

-drama which depicts the self -proclaimed

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geek Malcolm and his high school friends

in Cali getting into a jam and embarking

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on a wild adventure after a bag of illegal

drugs gets placed in his backpack.

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Dotted with a 90s Hip Hop soundtrack, the

beats and the action will have you jumping

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from Jump

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Here are five things you need to know

about Dope.

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This movie is a wild ride and may not be

for the faint of

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heart. Two, soundtrack is a goldmine of

90s

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Hip Hop jams. Three, Shameik Moore is a

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charismatic leading man. Four, Rick

Famuyiwa gifts us a tribute to Hip Hop

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culture as he did

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with Brown Sugar. And five, there's a

powerful social message about stereotyping

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Alright, so this movie, as I mentioned,

with the first takeaway, is a wild ride,

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may not be for the faint of heart.

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Wanna expound upon that, BooGie?

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Yeah, it's definitely a fun ride.

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And the crazy thing is I forgot how much I

liked this movie until I rewatched it for

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the podcast.

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But the main characters, Malcolm, Diggy

and Jib, they're so socially awkward in

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comparison to the other kids in their high

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school. Like they have this really deep

affinity for the 90s Hip Hop

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culture. Like they dress like they're from

the

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90s. I mean, Malcolm even sports a flat

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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90s Hip Hop all day, that they watch old

reruns of Yo!

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MTV Raps, et cetera.

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And, you know, they just don't fit in.

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But they have a deep rooted friendship and

they very much support one

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another. But they get caught in this weird

circle of events after they receive a

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full of some illegal drugs and they're

just tasked with trying to get those drugs

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out of their hands or, you know, replace

the money that's, you know, to make

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payment for those drugs.

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And it just sets them on a wild goose

chase.

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Like it's so, it's such a series of

unfortunate events, but like watching them

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unfold in a film is just, it's so funny to

watch.

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But yeah, if you have a...

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You know, if you get easily offended, you

probably shouldn't watch it, but I

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definitely had a good time watching this

one.

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DynoWright, you want to add some

additional commentary on the wild ride of

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Dope?

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Yeah.

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Yeah, it got an R rating for a reason.

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There's a lot of adult situations in this.

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For a coming of age film, you know, they

sort of got all the adult situations.

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They encountered every one of them.

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So, yeah, it's they grew up quick with all

the things you see in this movie.

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It's when my brother -in -law told me

about this movie and he's like, oh, you'd

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like it.

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And when you just see the preview, you

don't really, you think, oh, this is high

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school kids and they like 90s Hip Hop

music.

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And I thought it was just going to be like

a fun ride, but it ends up being something

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crazy.

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Like, like Stand By Me meets Pulp Fiction

or something like that.

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It's just like, whoa.

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It's like, gets out of

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control. So there's geeky crew, the three

like super smart high school seniors takes

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wild

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turns.

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And to get into some of the themes and

maybe some of the stars as well, you have,

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you know, tied into Hip Hop.

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Dom played by A$AP Rocky.

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You know, I think one of the first jaw

-dropping moments is like, he just beats

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up the security guard at the

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club. You know, like, wow, where did that

come

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from? And then, then there's, there's a

gun violence and assassination over

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drugs. They even make like a joke about

one acquaintance or friend of them who got

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who got shot and killed at a fast food

joint while he was finishing his GameBoy

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and stuff like that.

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I'm like, wow, this is out of control.

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It was

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wild. And drug use is a theme, Molly, the

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drug Molly. And there's the one girl they

encounter, Lily, who likes

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to get naked. She got into the drugs and

took them on

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And her brother, you know, wanted to be

gangbanger.

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You know, even as if having to shoot out.

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It's like, what?

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I mean, very serious, very serious topics

were touched upon, but they make it so

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lighthearted in how it's portrayed in a

film that it's just like laughable.

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Yeah, a lot of crazy characters.

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And then it, you know, speaking of like

nineties themed Hip Hop movies, you know,

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one of our favorites Do the Right Thing,

you know, featured the character Smiley

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and Roger Guinevere Smith is in this as

AJ, Austin

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Jacoby. And yeah, he, he has a unique way

of talking very slowly and like in a

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creepy

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fashion. He was the one that

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was the one that was going to help them to

get to Harvard because he somehow got to

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Harvard but he was running a very shady

business.

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So it was interesting to see them featured

as well.

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And then you had William the stoner kid

who was funny because they needed an

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expert in how to handle illegal drugs and

paraphernalia and how to get rid of it.

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And he was kind of a master of the dark

arts or like the dark web.

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And he was kind of funny.

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Yeah.

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you, guys.

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Yes, a wild, wild series of events.

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just crazy, not to give you the whole

plot, but these odd things happen and

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you're just like, what just happened?

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One after the other, after the other,

after the other.

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starts with him, Malcolm, trying to

convince his guidance counselor that he

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should write his Harvard essay about Ice

Cube's good day.

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And then he has two no good, very bad

couple of days.

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Yeah.

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It's true.

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But then he recovers.

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I guess there's a happy ending.

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I don't

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know. I guess you could debate whether

it's a happy ending

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Right.

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Yeah.

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is that the guidance counselor was not

really that supportive of, you know, of

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him and didn't really support him.

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But I thought that was a cool concept to

write about the Today Was a Good

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Day. That's been analyzed before as to

what day of the year that was, et

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cetera. It's been a lot said

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about that. Now let's get into like a

soundtrack, you know, our takeaway number

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two is a soundtrack is a goldmine of 90s

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Hip Hop jams. If

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What we believe is like the golden age of

Hip Hop.

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I mean, it is just like, hit after hit

after hit.

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BooGie, you want to take us through some

of the brilliant songs that they put in

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here?

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Yeah, I was jotting them down as they were

coming across like, oh my God, oh my God.

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So it starts, we start off with Hip Hop

Hooray by Naughty by Nature.

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And it's coming in, it's in the beginning

of the film as we first get a glance at

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Malcolm's room and how he's got Hip Hop

posters and things all over the

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room. We have,

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Woo Hah! Got You All in Check by

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Busta Rhymes. And that song was, I love

the placement

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of that

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Malcolm was running away from Bug, AKA

Marquise, and instead of, as they were

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trying to steal his pair of throwback

Jordans that he had on.

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But as they were running through the

hallways, that song was playing its

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perfect placement.

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We have another one, The Choice Is Yours

by Black Sheep.

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And that's when the trio were leaving

school and were trying to figure out which

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way to go home.

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And they were just kind of trying to

figure out which way we should go this way

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or that way.

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Buggin Out by Tribe Called Quest.

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No.

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favorite needle drop of all of them.

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That was the perfect realization when he

realizes what's in his backpack.

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That's the perfect song to describe that

situation.

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Yes.

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Like you said, not just the songs, but the

placement of them really fit the action.

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Yeah, then we have Know the Ledge, the

Juice theme by Eric B.

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and Rakim As Malcolm and the crew, they're

getting chased by the guys in the red El

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Camino who are trying to confiscate the

illegal drugs in the backpack.

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And that was cool too, because it was like

a chase scene.

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So you got that hyper track going wrong

with it.

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That was another, I love the place on that

as well.

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The World is Yours by Nas.

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The crew finally gets away from El Camino

and they're taking the backpack over to

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AJ's house.

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As they're walking around through the

house and they're looking at how well AJ

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lives.

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Then we have, this one was another funny

one that I loved the placement was the

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Scenario by Tribe Called Quest and the

Leaders of the New School as Lily is

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driving, trying to drive Malcolm to his

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And at the same time, you have Diggy and

Jib.

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They're with Jalil at the Jimmy's Burgers

trying to get some

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snacks. You have Rebirth of Slick (Cool

Like Dat) by the Digable Planets, which

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was another cool placement was there,

meeting the elusive William Ian Sherwood

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III,

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criminal

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Yeah.

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Rebel Without a Pause by Public Enemy, as

Malcolm is running through the hallway,

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trying to get his backpack, to get his

backpack and elude the police who are

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doing a search through the hallways, as to

see if the dogs could smell any drugs in

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the building.

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And then like the end credits scene was

perfect, the Humpty Dance by Digital

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Underground. And then we have, you know,

classic Shameik Moore, being Shameik

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doing all their old school dances, like

another perfect placement, like very, very

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deliberate with the songs and the

placement of them.

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Well done.

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Hehehe

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Yeah, I think you nailed it.

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This may be my favorite soundtrack of all

the movies we've covered from top to

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bottom.

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There's a lot of detail in these

selections and the Humpty Dance, he does

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it, Famuyiwa does it to a Pop Up Video

homage.

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So you remember that show from the 90s on

MTV.

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So if you rewatch that scene, the little

pop -ups with the

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credits. Really nice, really well

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Yeah.

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When I, when they played Rebel Without a

Pause, I hadn't heard that in a while.

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And as we're watching it, we were

preparing to go see Chuck D perform, uh,

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do a, do an interview and speech at

Northampton Community College.

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And it really was perfect timing.

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And I was like, yes.

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Um, the rhythm, the rebel was so great.

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Yeah.

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And that, that repetitive, uh, you know,

background from, from.

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Terminator X, it worked so well.

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Brilliant, just brilliant.

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Yeah, so.

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Man, that soundtrack is unreal.

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So we get more to Shameik

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Moore. That was our next takeaway is

Shameik Moore was charismatic as a

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leading man.

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I knew him. I don't know a lot of his work

and know much really mostly from playing

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Miles Morales in the

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Spider -Verse movies. He

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did an amazing job. You guys want to talk

about how well Shameik Moore did as

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Yeah, I think you get the perfect

dichotomy of kid that wants to fit in, kid

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that wants to be cool, kid is unaccepted,

but super brilliant.

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You could tell he was because of the

formulation of his essay, you know, for

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his final admissions essay and how he put

that

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together. But yeah, you want to root for

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the kid. I mean, he's just, he's got the,

he also

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He's charismatic, but he has this sort of

innocence about him as well.

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And I mean, like I've seen him in some

other things too, but yeah, this is

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probably the first role that I actually, I

think I actually recognized him and

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remembered him

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from. I think the other, the next role I

think I remembered him on was the, is The

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Get Down If you ever get a chance to check

that out, I highly recommend it

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on

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about the early stages of Hip Hop in the

Bronx.

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It's very accurate.

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But unfortunately, I canceled, but yeah,

but he was good in his

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role. I really enjoyed

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This is his first lead role, which is

pretty great.

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And he's written really well.

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Malcolm's written really well.

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There's a theme in this movie about

whether he's just like the other guys

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that, you know, in his peer group.

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And it turns out that he's different than

them, but in some ways the same.

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And that was an interesting plot point

that they hit on a couple of times.

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The movie starts with these three

definitions for the word dope.

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And it sets a tone for his coming of age,

but it was also like coming into his own

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identity.

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because he struggled with, you know, he's

Black, but he's got a lot of white

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interests.

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Like this is how good the character's

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written. His favorite band is the

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Thermals. The Thermals is an indie rock

band from, from I think

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Portland. They're on the Sub Pop label and

like that in the

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aughts. And like you really had to know

your like indie rock to know that his

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first, his favorite band was

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the Thermals. And he liked TV on

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the Radio. Another like happened to

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almost all Black members, but like a white

indie rock band.

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So he got a lot to work with and he really

took it and really brought it to life.

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I could feel the contradictions within

himself.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, I had three adjectives that I

described the character of Malcolm with

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like charming, intelligent, relatable.

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So yeah, he was

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awesome. We can relate to him and we're

somewhat of nerds and into 90s Hip Hop

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culture. And, you know, we try to keep a

straight and

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narrow path. So you definitely can see

like I think he was a great term, BooGie

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dichotomy is like wanting to fit in

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a little bit more like street cred,

wanting to relate, but also, you know, he

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had a path forward.

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He wanted to go to Ivy League school.

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And it's hard to navigate that world with

both.

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I found him very relatable.

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I mean, he grew up in, he was in

Inglewood, I grew up in Newark.

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I wanted to go to college and he wanted to

go to college.

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He had to walk and navigate through the

neighborhood to get to school.

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I had to navigate through the neighborhood

to get to him from school.

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I saw some things and he's seen some

things.

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So yeah, it's, yeah, very relatable.

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I mean, this was such a well -written

character.

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Takeaway number four was director Rick

Famuyiwa gifts us a tribute to Hip Hop

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culture, just as he did with Brown Sugar,

which was, I know Boogie, that's one of

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your favorites of all time.

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Really interweaves the power of Hip Hop

culture and coming of age into the plot

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line. You want to take us through a little

bit

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Yeah, I could start off.

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I mean, first thing obviously was the

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soundtrack. I mean, definitely like it's

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all there. I mean, the layout of Malcolm's

room, the appreciation for the culture,

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the way they dressed and spoke and

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everything like that. Even Malcolm

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and Dom's original conversation. And then

he started talking about

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and how they were going back and forth

debating on Hip Hop from the 90s.

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And I was just like, wow, this is pretty

cool.

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This is actually an interesting

conversation right here.

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There were some other references

throughout the

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movie. And also, like I mentioned earlier,

the old school dances and

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end credits. That was so cool

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I remembered all of those dances and I

remember doing all of those dances at some

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point, which is kind of embarrassing.

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But yeah, that's a few that I grabbed out

of it.

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Pretty sure you guys picked up on some

other ones.

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Yeah, DynoWright, You have a few more as

well.

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: 00:19:36

Yeah, so Rick Famuyiwa he's like a, I know

he's the director of this film, but he's

313

: 00:19:43

like a producer of like a song producer.

314

: 00:19:47

Like he weaved in a lot of different

little tidbits.

315

: 00:19:52

Malcolm's room was, there was a lot of

detail in his room and all the other

316

: 00:19:58

things. I felt like even though there was

a lot of things happening, like in

317

: 00:20:07

in the plot of the story moving along.

318

: 00:20:09

It all fit together really nicely.

319

: 00:20:12

And I, you know, it's hard to do.

320

: 00:20:14

So I think like it felt like he had the

beat, he had the melody and he had the

321

: 00:20:20

harmony and he had like, he made a film

that was like very musical, that was not

322

: 00:20:24

just the music itself, but like it had a

flow to it.

323

: 00:20:28

And I really enjoyed it.

324

: 00:20:30

There was some criticism about some of the

other characters, the side characters not

325

: 00:20:34

being so written.

326

: 00:20:37

as detailed, but I think it really worked

to have the character of Malcolm be so

327

: 00:20:44

well written and his friends were

relatable in their own way.

328

: 00:20:49

And then the side characters really made a

good contrast with the main characters.

329

: 00:20:57

So, thumbs up from me.

330

: 00:21:00

Yeah, definitely.

331

: 00:21:02

I saw

332

: 00:21:02

it. It's almost like an education in 90s

Hip

333

: 00:21:04

Hop. If you take someone like from the

younger generation today, like teenager,

334

: 00:21:09

and you want to give them a quick lesson

in 90s Hip Hop, like watch this movie

335

: 00:21:15

because you see some of the fashion, you

see the soundtrack, at least for the

336

: 00:21:18

music. Does a great job with

337

: 00:21:21

it. And as I mentioned before, it's a

little bit of a nod to do the right thing

338

: 00:21:24

to have RG Smith in

339

: 00:21:26

it. Roger

340

: 00:21:29

Same as you mentioned, I picked up on the

dialogue about the golden age of Hip Hop

341

: 00:21:32

with Malcolm and Dom.

342

: 00:21:34

That was awesome.

343

: 00:21:35

And they were saying, Malcolm was saying

how he loved all these artists.

344

: 00:21:40

And I think he mentioned like, It Takes a

Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.

345

: 00:21:43

And I think Dom was arguing, that's from

the 80s.

346

: 00:21:44

That's actually from the late 80s.

347

: 00:21:45

He's like, you know, you get the point,

it's 90s.

348

: 00:21:49

And then I think Dom brings up like

Vanilla

349

: 00:21:52

Ice. He's like, all right, well, not all

of the 90s was legit, but it was the

350

: 00:21:57

golden

351

: 00:21:57

age.

352

: 00:21:59

There was also reference to a Tribe Called

Quest song, Sucka Nigga, which about the

353

: 00:22:06

appropriate use of the N word.

354

: 00:22:08

And they made a little joke about that and

how slaps were

355

: 00:22:14

happening. And that was kind of funny

seeing how they danced

356

: 00:22:19

around that. Because there's always a hot

topic is like, hey, how can they can use

357

: 00:22:22

the word, but

358

: 00:22:23

we can't. Or like, hey, this guy's Latin,

how can he use it, but

359

: 00:22:26

I can't. And that's always been

360

: 00:22:29

thing because like Fat Joe uses the word

it's like hey how does he have the right

361

: 00:22:35

to use the word and stuff like that so

they they like address that in a humorous

362

: 00:22:41

way yeah I mean it's it's a goldmine of

90s Hip Hop culture and music

363

: 00:22:52

And then takeaway number five is there's a

powerful social message in this movie

364

: 00:22:57

about stereotyping based on socioeconomic

status.

365

: 00:23:02

We get that towards the end in the form of

the essay and it really makes you

366

: 00:23:07

think. DynoWright, you want to talk a

little bit about

367

: 00:23:12

Sure.

368

: 00:23:16

He pivots from doing analysis of Ice

Cube's Good

369

: 00:23:23

Day. But I liked it in that he really put

it out

370

: 00:23:28

there. He was sort of challenging the

Harvard admissions committee about who are

371

: 00:23:35

you taking, who are you admitting to

372

: 00:23:37

this institution.

373

: 00:23:41

He was as complicated as any other people

in the film, but these complications

374

: 00:23:46

served to have him as like, you know, a

worthy person to go to Harvard.

375

: 00:23:51

So that was a really cool way they ended

the film with his personal statement.

376

: 00:23:58

Yeah.

377

: 00:24:00

Wrong.

378

: 00:24:02

Boogie you have more on that as well?

379

: 00:24:05

Yeah, I think it was perfect.

380

: 00:24:09

Gave two scenarios, you know, one student,

you know, straight A's, you know, awkward,

381

: 00:24:17

you know, doesn't really fit in, but seems

an all around good student.

382

: 00:24:22

You know, student B, you know,

unfortunately he's not doing as well as

383

: 00:24:26

student A, but due to circumstances beyond

his control and dealing with his

384

: 00:24:31

environment, you know, he's dealing with

what life does, he has to deal with it.

385

: 00:24:36

And he's like, you know, then you have me.

386

: 00:24:39

He's like, who am I?

387

: 00:24:40

You know, maybe I'm caught in between both

of them, you know.

388

: 00:24:45

And he describes himself and all his

credentials.

389

: 00:24:48

Like, you know, he's a nearly perfect, you

know, SAT scores, plays in a punk band,

390

: 00:24:55

has a list of, you know, stellar

extracurricular activities.

391

: 00:24:59

You know, he's a Google science fair

participant.

392

: 00:25:01

This was the funny one.

393

: 00:25:03

And he helped an online business make $100

,000.

394

: 00:25:08

It is true.

395

: 00:25:10

So it's like, he ends it, but I love the

way he ends it though.

396

: 00:25:14

It's like, so why do I want to attend

Harvard?

397

: 00:25:17

And he says, if I were white, would you

even have to answer that question?

398

: 00:25:21

He's like, so I mean, it was powerful,

powerful and very relevant even today.

399

: 00:25:32

But I think, yeah, it was good.

400

: 00:25:34

I think it was spot on.

401

: 00:25:39

Yeah, it was unique how they handled that

situation because they were so brilliant

402

: 00:25:44

with technology and science and they were

like, hey, we can sell things through the

403

: 00:25:50

dark web and use cryptocurrency and it's

not really tracked by a traditional bank.

404

: 00:25:57

And it was wild.

405

: 00:25:57

But yeah, getting back to the point,

describing the two students and the

406

: 00:26:03

dichotomy between the two, it's like,

maybe I'm both, you know, like who, which

407

: 00:26:07

person are you looking?

408

: 00:26:09

to admit it was powerful.

409

: 00:26:12

It left you thinking, wow.

410

: 00:26:16

Brilliant.

411

: 00:26:20

Yeah, so I mean, I think we covered all

the takeaways there.

412

: 00:26:26

You guys want to go around the room and

give a rating for the movie?

413

: 00:26:32

So.

414

: 00:26:33

All right.

415

: 00:26:37

Boogie, would you say bring this funky

flick back or leave it in the vault?

416

: 00:26:42

Bring this funky flick back.

417

: 00:26:44

Such a fun ride.

418

: 00:26:46

I'm pretty sure if I watch it again, I'm

going to find some other things that I

419

: 00:26:48

didn't

420

: 00:26:51

DynoWright?

421

: 00:26:53

I'm also going to bring this funky flick

back.

422

: 00:26:56

It's so well crafted, I think I would find

more things the second time around.

423

: 00:27:00

Any good song has these little things that

you just don't notice right away and then

424

: 00:27:05

repeated listens will give you the goods.

425

: 00:27:09

Yeah, I'm with you guys.

426

: 00:27:11

Definitely bring this funky flick back.

427

: 00:27:13

Soundtrack is

428

: 00:27:14

amazing. Lots of action, lots of

429

: 00:27:18

good dialogue. There's nothing to dislike

430

: 00:27:20

about this. I've already told some friends

431

: 00:27:22

about it. Like, have you

432

: 00:27:23

seen this? You have to

433

: 00:27:24

see this. I'm continuing to

434

: 00:27:26

promote it. I told my son he's going to

435

: 00:27:28

watch it. He's like, yeah, I'll watch

436

: 00:27:29

it soon. I don't think he's got it round

to it

437

: 00:27:31

just yet. But

438

: 00:27:37

All right.

439

: 00:27:40

Hip -Hop Movie Club is produced by your

HHMC's JB, Boogie and DynoWright.

440

: 00:27:44

Theme music by BooGie.

441

: 00:27:47

Whether you're listening to the podcast or

watching us on YouTube, please hit that

442

: 00:27:50

subscribe button or follow.

443

: 00:27:53

It gives us the power up for real.

444

: 00:27:56

We appreciate you.

445

: 00:27:57

Thanks for tuning in.

446

: 00:28:00

And remember, don't hate, graduate.

447

: 00:28:03

It's graduation season as we record.

448

: 00:28:07

Follow

449

: 00:28:08

It's that time.

450

: 00:28:10

All right.