The Direction of Hip-Hop
“Shoot at these actors like movie directors”.
On “Public Service Announcement”, Jay-Z uses this clever play-on-words to compare himself firing a gun at fake rappers to a director filming an actor. Was his metaphor even more apt than he intended? How much ARE Jay-Z and his fellow rappers like movie directors?
We’ve shown that this kind of comparison can be fun and insightful, but how far can we take it? Here are some rapper/director matches that might shed light on the careers of both artists:
Jay-Z/Martin Scorsese
Depending on how you pronounce Scorsese, this one even rhymes. These two native New Yorkers both emerged early in their careers with subject matter that focused on the world of gangsters. Jay-Z’s first album, Reasonable Doubt, could easily be seen as hip-hop’s Mean Streets, an early Scorsese hit.
From there, both continued using gangster themes while expanding the scope and commercial appeal of their art. Many of their contemporaries are dead, retired, have faded into obscurity, or are creating sub-par material, while these two are still going strong, and are arguably at the peak of their careers.
Jay-Z recently branched out from his usual working arrangement and released the critically and commercially successful collaborative album Watch the Throne with Kanye West. At the time of that release, Scorsese was preparing to release his new film, Hugo, which is based on a children’s book and shot in 3D, both a first for the 69 year-old director. Since, it has garnered much critical acclaim and financial success (in the Hugo/Watch the Throne analogy, is Kanye West a child, or 3-Dimensional? Both work a little too well.)
Jay-Z and Scorsese are continuing to evolve and introduce new elements into their work, leading the pack as the greatest living (and possibly greatest ever) artist of their respective fields. Can I get a hip-hop The Last Waltz as the capstone to both careers?
The Notorious B.I.G./Alfred Hitchcock
This one is easy, because it’s been made before — by Jay-Z, and by Biggie himself — but again, they might not have realized the extent to which this comparison works.
The most obvious similarity is in their physical profiles. Portly and unattractive in the classic sense, both men are charismatic despite their appearance.
It gets more interesting when we consider their technique and stylistic choices. At first glance, it’s obvious that both are masterful storytellers interested in the dark and macabre. Hitchcock is most known for suspenseful thrillers such as Psycho, Rear Window, and of course, Notorious, movies that had viewers on the edge of their seats every step of the way. Biggie is at his best on his most Hitchcockian tracks, including “Warning”, “Suicidal Thoughts”, and “I Got A Story to Tell”, all vividly dank tales that are as intriguing and engaging as Hitchcock’s masterpieces.
Another point of comparison is in the mark they left on their respective art forms; they were both huge influences on their contemporaries and everyone who came after. Despite their far reaching and still-felt footprints, both artists are very difficult to copy (cf. Psycho remake, Guerrilla Black, Shyne), due to their deceptively complex styles. They make their craft seem so easy — from Biggie’s laidback, but far from lazy flow, to the way Hitchcock knew exactly how to play on audience emotions with simple moves of the camera — that copycats can’t seem to quite grasp how they were so great.
sidenote: Diddy makes for a pretty interesting David O. Selznick comparison
Tyler the Creator/Quentin Tarantino
QT and TC are loved and criticized for their style-over-substance work and their gratuitous use of violence, cursing, and other taboo subject matter. Tyler and Quentin’s use of the words “faggot” and “nigger” have garnered them similar criticisms from critics and other artists alike, to which they have responded in similar ways (compare Tarantino vs. Spike Lee to Tyler vs. Tegan and Sara)
Like Biggie/Hitchcock, Tyler has mentioned the comparison himself (2:15), and has referenced Tarantino’s films in his work (the last song on his first album, Bastard, is called Inglourious – a nod to Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds). Both artists enjoy a cult fanbase while periodically making their way into mainstream relevance.
The controversial nature of their work often garners more critical evaluation than it does sales – while neither artist is a financial failure, their numbers never seem to match the hype around their newest release.
They both like to have a great deal of control over their work; Quentin writes, directs, acts, and performs other roles on his films, while Tyler raps, writes, produces, and is generally involved in the finished product of his material as well.
Where the comparison falls apart slightly is in the length and output of their careers. Tyler has only released two albums, compared to Quentin’s seven major films. You might ask if Eminem would be a better rapper to compare to Tarantino — all of the similarities still apply, and Eminem has a more comparable career.
To answer that, it makes sense to first point out another QT/Tyler similarity: they are both known for unashamedly taking elements from the work of artists they love, and turning it into something fresh and original (or not, depending on who you ask). In this way, Eminem is simply Tyler’s Sergio Leone**.
Consider the violence, rape, and the “therapist as voice inside his head” motif Tyler used on Bastard and Goblin in comparison to Eminem’s album Relapse, which Tyler has praised on many occasions. It’s similar to the way Tarantino uses facial close-ups, intense showdowns, and the music of Ennio Morricone (all Leone signatures) in Kill Bill and Inglourious Basterds.
Is Tyler, the Creator Quentin Tarantino in training? If Tyler’s gritty, low budget Bastard is his Reservoir Dogs (the buzz-generating work that introduced him to the world), and Goblin is his Pulp Fiction (the more popular, ramped up, balls to the wall work that blew him up), will Wolf be his Jackie Brown (more reserved and mature)? From Tyler’s comments, it seems like it very well may be.
In 1992, Quentin Tarantino blew viewers away at the Sundance Film Festival with his first major film, Reservoir Dogs. From 2009 to 2011, Tyler was busily generating a name for himself and his Odd Future crew on the internet. In both Sundance ’92 and ’09-’11 internet rap, there was another artist that rose from the ether in a major way (though slightly less major than Tyler/Quentin). The two artists are often grouped together, in both cases. It also happens that these two second artists have a great deal in common. If you could follow that, can you guess what’s coming?…
Lil B/Kevin Smith
Lil’ B is easily the Kevin Smith to Tyler the Creator’s Quentin Tarantino, and happens to be hip-hop’s Kevin Smith as well. The success of both B and Smith depends heavily on the extremely attentive and loyal fan bases the two artists have created, as well as the controversy they drum up in wider media.
While Kevin Smith writes and directs films mainly, his live shows and podcast empire are perhaps his bread-and-butter, with Twitter and the internet acting as his hype machine. Lil’B is equally if not more prolific on Twitter and the internet (a difficult task), and his Based God moniker has become scarily literal within the underground rap movement he’s created.
The success of both artists rests heavily on their own shoulders, as the work they put in is needed to offset the unfavorable critical opinion they tend to receive. While both have had some critical successes, they’re generally derided by more discerning tastes, and often torn apart by the many that think they are the worst examples of their respective arts.
A boost to their popularity and sales often comes in the form of the controversy they are prone (and often intend) to create. Smith has raised hell throughout his career, and his most recent film, Red State, is no exception. A lewd, violent, and comic swipe at religious extremists, it of course got its fair share of attention. Even greater attention was given to the studio-circumventing distribution method he used (and shouted from the rooftops). Lil’ B’s most recent album is titled I’m Gay (later changed to I’m Gay (I’m Happy)). ‘Nuff said?
However, the easiest comparison between the two is in their humor. Often juvenile and never politically correct, both are known as divisive comedians. Whether we’re laughing with or at Kevin Smith and Lil’ B, they’re making us laugh.
Wu-Tang Clan/The Walt Disney Company
**Eminem/Sergio Leone
For a sidenote to another comparison, this one works pretty well. Both artists can be considered foreigners or outsiders in their industries. Eminem is a white artist making traditionally black rap music while Leone was an Italian making traditionally American westerns. You can’t mention Eminem without the musical backdrop provided by Dr. Dre, just as you can’t leave famed composer Ennio Morricone out of the conversation when discussing the films of Sergio Leone.
