Double Exposure: Two Films that Feel Like Hip-Hop

Film and music have much more in common than one would think. As acclaimed director Alfonso Cuarón once said, “cinema doesn’t owe anything to literature, or to drama, or to painting. Cinema is way more similar to music. It’s an art that flows in time, that is also an abstract language that flows with themes.” The time you spend with a book depends on you, one can stare at a painting for an hour or five seconds. Theatre invites reinterpretation, two productions of Hamlet can vary in duration. Film and music, however, exist only for as long as they were made to exist. Sure, you can listen to a five minute song in 30 second intervals, but there will always be just five minutes of song. 

Hip-hop, in particular, serves as a great genre to take this comparison even further. While artists have used pre-existing melodies and chord progressions for decades, one of hip-hop’s distinctive elements is its pioneering use of sampling as a production technique. Sampling involves taking the actual recording of a previous song (or sound, for that matter) and manipulating it in order to make a wholly new sound. For example, Wu-Tang Clan’s iconic track “Tearz” samples Wendy Rene’s 1964 song “After Laughter”. Filmmakers have been influenced by previous films, and other art forms, to create wholly new visions for decades. A fun example is this compilation of how many animated films and series have replicated the motorcycle cycle slide shot from the legendary anime film Akira, culminating in Jordan Peele bringing it to live-action on Nope. 

Rather than discussing films about hip-hop, we’re here to suggest two movies that capture the spirit of the genre: Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing and Mathieu Kassovitz’ La Haine. Spike Lee’s 1989 social drama about escalating racial tensions within a Brooklyn street features many of the hallmarks of the rap music’s first decade in the general consciousness. The film’s opening credits play Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” in its entirety, its costume design is full of bright colors, short shorts, and gives way to an iconic sneaker scene. One of DTRT’s pivotal characters, Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn), sports knuckle rings that spell “Love & Hate” and walks around with a boombox that he refuses to turn down. Meanwhile, La Haine follows three young men from the outer neighborhoods of Paris the day after a violent riot. In sharp contrast to its 80’s counterpart, 1996’s  La Haine is shot in black and white with a gritty style reminiscent of an early Nas Verse. Its three leads sport the baggy jeans, Carhartt beanies, and black leather that  define 90’s hip-hop. Early in the film, Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui) tags “Fuck the Police” in french over a police truck. 

Post-viewing reflections

Once you’ve seen both films, especially in quick succession, it’s clear that they are inextricably linked in more ways than one. Aside from the aesthetics of their respective eras, the two films share the framing device of a single day, feature extended dance sequences, find characters talking directly into the camera, and culminate in the killing of a sympathetic figure. There is no doubt that La Haine takes major influences from Do the Right Thing, even though Kassovitz claims to have never seen it. Spike Lee, on the other hand, has gone as far as to call the film a “complete rip off” of his work. Director beef aside, there is a more optimistic, appreciative perspective one can take on the relationship between both films. Beyond sampling, hip-hop is also full of artists continuously iterating on previous works. A$AP Ferg hilariously interpolates Three 6 Mafia’s “Slob on my knob” for the hook on his hit song “Plain Jane.” The aforementioned “Tearz” has likely influenced artists like Metro Boomin and JPEGMAFIA to sample “After Laughter” on “Borrowed Love” and “Exmilitary” respectively. With this mindset one can see Kassovitz taking inspiration from Spike in order to talk about the social struggles plaguing his part of the world and appreciate both projects for their place in cinema and hip-hop history.