Dope

In the 90´s, i listened to a lot of hip hop music, especially in the nu metal era, where metal was mixed up with hip hop. The list can go on forever when it comes to hip hop albums i used to play, but some of them were Snoop Dogg, Warren G, 2Pac, Cypress Hill, Busta Rhymes, Nas and many more. At the time when Clawfinger broke out with their debut album Deaf Dumb Blind, nu metal started to be a bigger part of my life. The hip hop scene may not be a pig part of my life nowdays, but i still listen, both to new tracks by legendary hip hop artists and new acts. One of my very favourite hip hop songs right now, is Snoop Doggs song So Many Pros. By the way, check out the music video. It is without a doubt one of the best music videos in a very long time. When i growed up, i used to select cd albums with a certain style within the hip hop genre. I usually only bought the ones that had hook up melodies, especially Snoop Dogg. His sound was at that time was just what we needed. I even had Cypress Hill on album, but they were never really good on whole albums if you asked me. Snoop Dogg had a completely different way to make albums, and i suppose that it was more my style. Since i grew up in a typical swedish neighbourhood, you really did not hear a lot of hip hop there. It was more of a Jan Johansen street, where everyone smiled like they were from a catalogue, straight from Kappahl. And you heard those terrible ballads that i wished would go away. Thankfully i turned my stereo up and played everything from hip hop, rock, metal, anything to make the swedish smörstekta ballads go away. I also remember playing the Gary Moore album Dark Days In Paradise also on high volume, actually his best album if you ask me. It was more dark, and raw, than many of his albums from the 80´s and 90´s. Speaking of hip hop, have you seen many films with hip hop music included ? Maybe some of you remember Boyz N The Hood ? I am guessing most of you would think of 8 Mile with Eminem, doing an amazing performance. It is still one of the best hip hop films ever made, and proved that Eminem was not only a rapper, but he could act also. I started reading this summer about a new hip hop film called Dope, that were being praised on film festivals. Some even called this one of the best films this year, so of course i had to check it out. Not knowing much about it, i got a chance to sit down and see it finally. Is this a new classic within hip hop films, or are the positive reviews not really true ?

Malcolm Adekanbi ( Shameil Moore ) is a very intelligent student, with a big passion for 90´s hip hop music. Not many people understands why he is not listening to modern day music, but Malcolm´s big passion is the 90´s. He is hoping that one day, he will go to Harvard University. He spends a lot of time with his 2 best friends, James " Jib " Caldones ( Tony Revolori ) and Cassandra " Diggy " Andrews ( Kiersey Clemons ), who all play in a band, inspired to mix different music styles. One day while Malcolm is on his way home, he is stopped by a street drug dealer named Dom ( ASAP Rocky ). Dom want to know why Malcolm loves the 90´s hip hop music so much. Dom understand that Malcolm have a lot of knowledge about this subject, and realise he could use Malcolm, to take advantage of him. Dom asks Malcolm to go over and talk to a girl named Nakia ( Zoe Kravitz ), to invite her to a party with Dom. At first Malcolm fails, but Dom suggest he tries again. Nakia finally agree, but only if Malcolm will come to the party also. Malcolm agrees, and decides to bring his friends Jib and Diggy also. The party does not end very well, when Dom´s crew members are shot by revival members, but Malcolm and his friends survive, including Nakia. Malcolm take the chance to know Nakia a bit better, asking her to the prom, but she have other plans. The next morning, Malcolm discover that someone have put down a lot of drugs, and a gun in his backpack. He realise it must have been Dom, and he needs to get rid of it. A phone calls, as it turns out someone is looking for the drugs. Just a moment later, Dom calls and says that this guy who called earlier is fake, and Malcolm needs to hide the merchandise, until Dom is being held at the station. Malcolm and his friends are in big trouble, and they need to make sure this backpack does not go in the wrong hands.

I love it when i watch a film, and just absolutely love it. Dope lands right in my taste, being a crazy mix of an realistic story, about growing up, and all the crazy things that can happen. Dope throws in a great soundtrack of hip hop songs. mix it up with really good acting, and deliver a film that manage to deliver quality entertainment. The simple story of 3 school friends, who end up in trouble, when they find themselves trapped in a drug drama, goes all kinds of crazy ways. The cinematography looks great, the film colors are so bright, and the atmosphere of the big city fits right in. Let´s talk about the biggest strength in Dope, the acting. There are so many great characters here, who really do wonderful performances. Especially lead actor Shameik Moore. His cool 90´s hair style, and his kind personality, is someone you simply love, straight away. His friends played by Tony Revolori and Kiersey Clemons, both do really good performances, for being so young. There are so many films that fails to capture the feeling of youth, but director Rick Famuyiwa manage to capture that feeling, and bring in the emotions that we all felt in our teenage years. All the problems, all the frustration, but also all the good times, it is all here, maybe a bit more wilder than i can remember though. I feel that this is the best film that director Rick Famuyiwa have made so far, and i have seen almost all of his films. For some reason, he must have decided to change his style as an director, because his previous films looks nothing like Dope, and that is something i love about this film. I can´t say i can compare this film to any other releases out there, and that is something unique in these days. Dope looks great, and feels great, with such a cool style that follows all the way to the end. The soundtrack is one of the reason why the film manage to deliver the message, it all goes together, like a combined theatre play. While some of the films this year followed a pretty typical Hollywood standard, Dope manage to find another way, and deliver a film that should be seen by a larger audience. I know that the theatrical run was this autumn, but buy the dvd or blu ray, this is a film worth having in your collection, if you love intelligent independent films. I might get my own 90´s hair style after watching Dope, feels great to be nostalgic and showing a time when music videos meant more than reality shows. In some ways, i miss those days, but the good memories will always be there, and Dope helps them stay.

Rating: DDDD