A lost episode from the Hip Hop Movie Club archives!

Grad student Adam is writing a thesis on the n-word. In an attempt to do good research, he goes to rap battles to observe. Soon he's no longer an observer, but a newcomer battle rapper with bars of his own. Quickly, he makes a name for himself and the stakes get higher with each line. And in the heat of battle, he has some decisions to make about his love, his friends, and even his life.

Topics discussed:

🤔 Is this a believable story?

🎤 The rap battles and the dozens

🥊 The rap battle competitors

👧🏼 What about Maya, Adam's girlfriend?

🫣 Some tough, maybe over the line, insults

Ⓜ️ Similarities between Adam and B-Rabbit of 8 Mile

Also check out:

Our interview with the legendary Craig G on his behind-the-scenes role on 8 Mile

Credits

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Grad student Adam is writing a thesis on the N-word.

2

In an attempt to do good research, he goes to rap battles to observe.

3

Soon he's no longer an observer, but a newcomer, battle rapper with bars of his own.

4

Quickly he makes a name for himself and his stakes get higher with each line.

5

And in the heat of battle, he has some decisions to make about his love, his friends, and even his life.

6

Welcome to Hip Hop Movie Club.

7

This is the show for Gen X hip hop fans who want to relive the glory days and reconsider

classic and modern hip hop films from a current day perspective.

8

Together we'll explore some of the larger societal issues raised in these films.

9

Whether you have or have not seen Bodied before, we'll help you decide if you should take

the time to watch it now.

10

Either way, you'll be a smarter hip hop fan by the end of this episode.

11

In the next 30 minutes or so, you'll get all this and more.

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I'm DynoWright.

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podcaster, filmmaker, long time hip hop fan, and I recommend reading Dilla Time,

14

the life and afterlife of J Dilla, the hip hop producer who reinvented rhythm by Dan Chernas.

15

I'm JB, 80s and 90s nostalgia junkie, long time hip hop fan,

16

and my top song for Spotify Wrapped 2023 was California Love, by 2Pac.

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I'm Boogie, a DJ, long time hip hop fan, and I once handled hospitality for X to the Z

Xzibit,

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Defari and their entourage.

19

In this episode we'll answer the question, is Bodied an underrated film?

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Bodied is a 2017 battle rap drama featuring Adam, a graduate student, who slowly immerses himself

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in the world of competitive rap battling while working on his graduate thesis on

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the subject.

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All right, so Bodied, which was produced by Eminem.

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been out there for a few years, but I don't think it got a lot of critical acclaim or attention.

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Let's get into it.

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Would you say that this is a believable story and why or why not?

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Boogie?

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I'm on the fence with this one because some aspects of it seem pretty believable.

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I mean, you can look at some of the current artists that are notoriously on the airwaves right now and they're very gimmicky

30

and they're also getting co-signed by some of our

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quote unquote hip hop legends.

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So and also this is also the age of things going viral.

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So all it takes is one person to kind of have a camera.

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a video of some of these battles and it goes on the internet and it takes off.

35

With that said, I think that some of the storyline as far as Adam coming up, I didn't really find it too believable.

36

I mean, yeah, he was able to compose bars on a fly because of his background with the slam poetry that he was doing, but.

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I think that some of the conversations that happened during the movie would have

38

definitely not went the way they did, for instance,

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when they were at Megaton's house and

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Che had relations with Megaton's girlfriend.

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And Behn and Megaton, what came to a consensus that it was gonna be squashed by battling.

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and Adam just decided to kind of quote, almost like he tried to punk Megaton

43

in his home, like that whole conversation, like, oh, this is how you're gonna handle it.

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You know, I thought you guys were from the streets.

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I'm like, yeah, man, that wouldn't have ended the way it did in real life.

46

The movie would have, roll end credits when it did.

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guy got some heavy artillery on him And he's gonna egg him on saying that's all you got.

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That's all you got.

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Man, he's been smoked

50

would have been end credits right there.

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movie would have been

52

Yeah, I was scratching my head like, why is he doing that?

53

But I was just thinking like a believable story about his on the come up.

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Like, I think it could happen because,

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you know, anybody you can put your mind to it and put in the work, put in the work, you know, and work your way up, it could happen.

56

He could become a rapper because

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we'll get into it later, but I think there's similarities to Eminem's real story that we saw on 8 Mile,

58

especially when you see that very end, the

59

last scene.

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I think what Eminem was doing, it was kind of like...

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channeling, you know, B-Rabbit a little bit with Adam's character

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because he was in a foreign territory predominantly, you know, Black and Latino dominate this underworld of battle rap very

63

rare to see like a nerdy looking white guy Somebody doing his thesis

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so he he's got the odds are stacked against him

65

and he could easily be

66

bullied, but if he just sticks with it, sticks with it, kind of,

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befriends Behn along the way, gets a little bit of that credibility.

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Hey yo, this kid's legit, this kid's legit.

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And, you know, you got to get that, you know, endorsement or mentor.

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And then, you know, I could see it happening.

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What do you think, DynoWright?

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I thought it was believable enough.

73

I was not convinced of Adam's motivations throughout the film, so I didn't know what to make of him.

74

And so he didn't know what he wanted.

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He was always vacillating between two worlds, and he couldn't make a decision about it.

76

And so there were some aspects that weren't

77

Totally believable, but yeah, I think it was believable enough.

78

I mean, not to psychoanalyze,

79

but I think that his relationship with his father, his father was just very standoffish.

80

And even when he wanted a place to stay, he said, no, you couldn't stay with me.

81

And he didn't like that he was going down this road.

82

And he just kind of just shunned his own son.

83

And so he didn't, I think he wanted some of that respect and admiration that he was lacking.

84

And like when you go to a rap battle and you have a crowd cheering you on

85

and you do a good thing and you're beloved, I mean, that's kind of like addicting.

86

It's like a drug and yeah, and it gets with head exactly.

87

Right.

88

So yeah, so that's true.

89

He took it to another level.

90

So.

91

Let's talk a little bit about the rap battles.

92

Like, did you guys enjoy the creativity of the lyrics?

93

Do you have any favorite lines?

94

We'll talk about that.

95

And then when we can talk about the origins of rap battle, like

96

where does rap battle get its start from?

97

So what about that?

98

Yeah.

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the moment as I was watching it,

100

I did actually enjoy some of the lyrics in the rap battles.

101

I don't actually know if I actually broke down any favorite lines,

102

but I definitely remember, I was watching it and I definitely enjoyed some of it.

103

The only thing like, see the one thing about the battles that always kills me,

104

and it was the same thing I said with On the Come Up, there was no.

105

beats, no beats.

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So I get thrown off when I hear, even like,

107

you know, in general, I do see some of the viral videos every now and then of some battles going on.

108

And I'm like, yeah, where's the beat at?

109

Like, how do you stay on a beat?

110

Like, if you're an artist, like how do you work with your cadence and your flow?

111

Like your flow isn't flowing if you're not riding on a beat.

112

You just, you can kind of pause and stop and.

113

do whatever, but the main task is to stay on that beat.

114

that’s what makes it difficult

115

for a lot of people to quote, unquote freestyle or battle

116

that's the one aspect that I did like about 8 Mile,

117

not to compare the two, but 8 Mile they actually were freestyling over

118

beats. And if you couldn't keep up with the beat, you know,

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which is kind of, you know, what happened at the end

120

B-Rabbit, you know, took Papa Doc's thought process you know, telling everybody about himself.

121

It's like, yeah, all right, now what am I gonna say like, yeah, all right, now while riding this beat?

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And he couldn't do it.

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But in this instance, he probably would have been able to come up with something because there's no beat to keep up with.

124

It doesn't keep you on your toes as much.

125

You know?

126

But I mean, I did enjoy it because I mean, I'm a fan of snapping, cracking, dissing, dozens.

127

whatever you want to call it, like I grew up in that.

128

So yeah, I was getting a kick out of some of what they were saying, even some of the cringe-worthy stuff.

129

So I knew they were like, at the end of the day, they were all hanging out and being friends and whatever.

130

So all right, they're not really taking it personally.

131

They're just kind of saying what they got to say to win the battle.

132

it was just nasty insults after insults, but it was creative nonetheless and like you said, they sign up for it

133

even Prospek, the Korean guy, like he took all those insults

134

about the Asian culture.

135

afterwards he was like, yo man that was good, that was good

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Che, you know, Latino, and it's like, it's all those stereotypical stuff, so afterwards like

137

kind of that's what you sign up for.

138

There was one, I think,

139

I think it was maybe Megaton when he was battling Adam.

140

He had lyrics, something like, you look like Justin Bieber

141

in that effin muscle t-shirt, you're effin fan of Hanson, Marilyn Manson's

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guts, grandson.

143

You could see the influence of Eminem, it's something that he would say.

144

Yeah.

145

Yeah.

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Yeah, and I think Adam was like, I'll grab Che and let him

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bust you to the chopper jams on your falafel stand from his taco van.

148

It's like, you know, Eminem kind of like, he always extends the verse by another leg.

149

It's like...

150

Yeah, or another then, and another then.

151

Yeah.

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And that then, and.

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Yep, definitely can pick up Eminem’s flow over there.

154

It was entertaining for sure.

155

And they all had their own style.

156

So, rap battles, as you're talking about it, and I think,

157

DynoWright, you may have mentioned this in a previous episode, the dozens.

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The origin of a lot of battling.

159

And also it could be how roasts came about, how people get roasted,

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and kind of a derivative also about, So, I mean, I did some research upon the dozens.

161

I mean, I did some research upon the

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dozens. It's a game where people just insult each other until one of them gives

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up. a game where people just insult each other until one of them gives

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and it is common in African-American communities.

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And there's like an audience and it kind of like that it's really hype.

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And I think you can see a direct correlation between the dozens and rap battling.

167

You guys have any other?

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Yeah, you agree with that?

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Well, yeah.

170

Yeah, I think the only thing like,

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yeah, it's basically they're just, they're playing the dozens, but they're rhyming.

172

They're making the insults rhyme with one another.

173

But it's definitely the same exact format.

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Cause I remember, I said, I grew up with it.

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So in all through elementary school,

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So in all through elementary school, I think it, yeah, all through elementary school, like it would be the same thing.

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Like outside at lunchtime, we'd have two people going at it with a crowd around them.

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And it's just.

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Boom, one person boom, boom, boom.

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one person boom, boom, boom.

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Nothing was off limits.

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was off

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limits. And it's just insult after

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insult. Until like you said, until one person gives

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up. And sometimes, it's I know in my instance, it would get so mad that people wanna

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fight.

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Well, that's what you see in the movie too.

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I mean, you see Megaton twice he punched people, right?

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Including Adam towards the end.

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And it's like, man, that's not right.

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You should, you got to restrain yourself, but you get, you take it so personal, personally, that it's hard not to restrain.

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It's hard to restrain yourself and not get physical.

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people all the time to this day, like

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because of having to do, because of growing up doing it, like if somebody insults me,

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I can always have a quick response, whether or not

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I choose to say it.

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Like now I've learned as an adult to not

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say everything that pops to my head because,

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you know, you get, you know, yourself in situations that you don't need to be in.

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You know, so, but yeah, this is definitely like along those lines and I can definitely see

the

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the straight correlation and there's no zigzag.

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It's like a direct straight line to it.

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Yeah.

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And then another like,

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I guess, tangent of the dozens is like the your mama jokes that were so popular like,

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as part of it too, is insulting someone's mother.

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Mm-hmm, the mama jokes was definitely part of it.

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Mm-hmm.

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I remember they had those books that came out, the Yer Mama Jokes, they were hilarious.

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I remember seeing this.

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Like, like, like, your mom is so short, she sits on the curb and her legs swing.

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So funny.

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so dumb.

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She got fired out of the M&M factory for trying to put him in alphabetical order.

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Yeah

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Your momma’s so dumb she thought a quarterback was a refund.

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Yeah.

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Oh man.

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Your mom’s so fat when she sits around the house, she sits around the house.

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Yeah, when she steps on the scale, it says to be continued.

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So, you know, we're hip hop podcast here, Hip Hop Movie Club,

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remember the Pharcyde had the song, the Ya Mama song, right?

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Mm-hmm.

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And when we were back in college, when we were back in college, DynoWright, remember the one that always cracked us up was

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your mom's got a glass eye with the fish in it.

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We should just, that's, that's, that's a recurring verse or piece of that song.

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an often said line.

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Yeah.

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It was well-worn.

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Yeah, that's hilarious.

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So in this film, there were a lot of different rap battle competitors.

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We could talk a little bit about a few of them.

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I mean, Behn Grym is one of the first that we see, and he's one of the main protagonists, besides Adam.

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Adam's, I guess, the main protagonist, but Behn is like a legend.

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He's in the game for a long time and he's well respected.

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And the name Ben Grimm is The Thing in the comics.

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Fantastic Four.

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Yeah, that's such a hot name though.

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When I saw it, I was like, wow, that's a dope name, Behn Grym.

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I like that.

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Yeah they just spelled it differently maybe

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I don’t know it was through copyright

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maybe it was copyrighted

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it was like B-E-H-N and then G-R-Y-M.

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And then I alluded to the Korean rapper, his name was Prospek.

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And it was funny because he worked at a sushi restaurant.

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He's like, you're not Japanese, you're Korean.

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He's like you don't even know the difference between us.

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Prospek.

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and

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Remember his, the sensei got offended by some of the rap and he just knocked the guy out.

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It was some martial arts.

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is...

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spin kick.

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Yeah.

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And it was Che Corleone.

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We mentioned Che briefly.

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Was he Ecuadorian?

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Do you guys remember his actual nationality?

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He was Ecuadorian.

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Ecuadorian. That’s another thing is like oh it doesn’t really matter.

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I think they were calling him Mexican or something.

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Oh and another thing is oh, it doesn't really matter.

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It's like, hey, come on, man.

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like, hey, come on, man.

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I'm Ecuadorian.

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And I thought it was creative.

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What they did with the names is because Che, Ecuadorian.

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Che Guevara

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Um, and then Corleone from the Godfather and they kind of combine those names together.

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Yeah, he was, he was a feisty one.

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He had some skills, but he was a little bit overmatched at times

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and he had relations with Megaton's girl.

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Um, what was the name?

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Backwoods?

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Bella Backwoods.

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Another funny name.

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yeah.

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Che was funny though because Che would,

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n the midst of the battle, he'd spit some bars and nobody would get it.

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He’s like, you don't get it?

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His was a litle more refined.

283

It was like crickets.

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If you have to explain the bars, it's not as good.

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Like explaining a joke.

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Yeah.

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And Megaton, which is a play on words, I guess, with Megatron, the Transformer.

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Or like the big bomb.

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Middle Eastern dude, big hulking guy.

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And he had a mean streak, he was violent.

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Like I said, he would take things personally and he literally would punch opponents at times.

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He was very skilled with his rapping though.

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He was good.

294

Yeah.

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But you talked about that.

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that scene too where he had guns and stuff and you didn't want you don't want to mess with him.

297

I saw in the credits that he wrote some of his lyrics.

298

Yeah, I saw it was in the credits that he actually wrote some of,

299

I don't know, I'm guessing he wrote a, I don't know if he wrote all of them or not, but I saw it, it went by

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kind of quick.

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I'm like, hey, he actually wrote some of them because I remember his name showing up,

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Disaster, and it's like, yeah, such and such something written by Disaster.

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he wrote.

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So I guess he is a rapper, or he had done rap, because Disaster, he's credited as Disaster, and then.

305

a battle rapper in real life, yeah.

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And then Prospek is dumbfounded, or Dumbfoundead.

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So he's a rapper as well.

308

Yep.

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Che Corleone is not a rapper, I don't believe.

310

Walter Perez is his name in real life.

311

Yeah.

312

he had dabbled, I'm not sure.

313

There's Devine Wright.

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She's the Black female rapper, takes no crap.

315

She was fun.

316

Brief mention, this guy Billy Pistols, he was kind of like the poser guy.

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He was lame with his skills and he's the one that confronted Ben and Adam in the parking lot and early on.

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And that was Adam's first opportunity to battle.

319

And he kind of bodied him and that's when he's like, oh wow, maybe I can do this.

320

And he was all happy and I remember him telling his girlfriend Maya in the car that he won that battle.

321

And I guess the light bulb went off like, hey, I can.

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Maybe I can do this.

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Yeah, dude, it's yeah.

324

And I think it was such an it was like an adrenaline rush for him too.

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And he was like super hyped and excited.

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Like I said, he was probably looking for some sort of validation because he wasn't really getting it at home.

327

I guess because he had an interesting relationship with Maya, his girlfriend, which we can get into.

328

And obviously the odd relationship with his father, who was

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played by Anthony Michael Hall, 80s teen idol superstar, who was in all the...

330

John Hughes films, yeah.

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Sixteen Candles and he was even in Vacation.

332

Breakfast Club.

333

Breakfast Club, all those movies.

334

He plays Adam's father in this movie and he's a famous writer and a college professor.

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I think this was supposed to be UC Berkeley.

336

So it was a prestigious college, yep.

337

But also, what do you guys make of Adam's girlfriend, Maya?

338

Hmm.

339

how would you describe her?

340

I think she was a sympathetic figure.

341

Some of it was a satire of wokeness, I feel like, but I thought she was believable

342

and I think she acted the most normal of everyone.

343

She was very, I put it in my notes, and he even mentioned she's like crunchy granola.

344

She's like very earthy, bohemian, and

345

she couldn't get over the misogyny and the insults of the rap.

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She was like, how could you do this?

347

How could you say this to another human being?

348

I guess I kind of get her point,

349

and maybe it is satirical of wokeness, where it's like, come on, this is what they do.

350

There's this guy.

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boys being boys or plus, you know, well Devine is in there as well, but like they're just doing their thing.

352

This is what they do.

353

It's kind of like locker room humor, but yeah, I understand her point.

354

She kind of took it to extremes.

355

I'm not sure what the writers wanted us to feel about her.

356

Did they want us to be like, she's kind of lame or she's kind of like, well, she's the one that's kind of trying to keep him grounded.

357

I'm not sure.

358

Yeah, it didn't work, but yeah.

359

It was like, for me, she was like a cross between

360

staying grounded and almost,

361

staying grounded and logical to almost being almost to Adam's hypeness.

362

She was almost like a Debbie Downer type to his hypeness.

363

But I get it because his hypeness was going to his head and he was starting to go off the rails a little bit.

364

But the one thing about her character that I just drove me nuts was.

365

when she videotaped part of the battle and then played it in the classroom.

366

I was like, you know what?

367

I kind of see why you didn't want him to get involved and you were trying to keep him

grounded

368

and keep him focused and keep him on track and kind of trying to shift his thesis

369

to another subject.

370

But that was a little, that was wrong.

371

And you just kind of put him out there.

372

Like if you really cared about him, that's not the way to do it.

373

I don't think she cared about him though.

374

At the end.

375

anybody that would get involved in that world is not worthy of dating, although they stayed together for quite a while.

376

But yeah, I mean, that's an easy way to get someone canceled.

377

You know, cancel culture, you know, is kind of

378

at an all time high right now, or maybe it peaked in its ebbs and flows, but it's very prominent in society today.

379

And like, literally that set off protests on campus, like, because he's spewing Asian hate, he's spewing

380

Um, misogyny against women, like all the hate you could think of, right?

381

And obviously it is a bad look when it's, but it's out of, it's kind of out of context because it's almost at these events.

382

Again, you know what you sign up for?

383

All bets are off the table.

384

You have to have thick skin.

385

Like this is the game you're in.

386

So it's not like.

387

You're literally going up to an unknown person and you're in their face.

388

This is

389

Right.

390

And it was kind of thrown out there without context.

391

Right, right.

392

Yeah.

393

I think she knew when the release of the battle was what happened and she could use it in her presentation.

394

And yeah, that was, you're it.

395

it.

396

She that was that was filmed by the at the event.

397

Right.

398

but she took it and edited it out, right, I guess.

399

Yeah, she definitely played the most damning clip of them all.

400

Yeah, oof, that was cringy.

401

speaking of cringe, there's a lot of tough insults to see.

402

Again, all the ethnic stuff is bad.

403

And then, I mean, the big one, I think we were talking about this pre-show, Boogie, you wanna talk about like the one

404

one that's even more above and beyond, right, with Behn's

405

daughter.

406

Yeah.

407

as Adam starts to progress through his wanting to be a battle rapper, he takes up an offer.

408

And also, well, Behn kind of encouraged him a little bit too because Behn was a family man.

409

He had a wife, he had a daughter, he worked as a software designer, was it a video game designer?

410

Video game designer.

411

And so he had a nice, respectable career, you know.

412

did the family thing and he was using the battles as a means to supplement his income.

413

So he wanted to take the battle against Adam but Adam

414

took it to a whole other level and Behn even said it, he doesn't like, he didn't even explain to Adam that he didn't like to

415

talk about anyone's personal stuff because he didn't want anybody coming after his personal stuff.

416

He kept his stuff separate, hidden.

417

And he just left it at that.

418

He just kind of left his insults directly to who he was battling.

419

And I think even he said, Oh, I talk about how I'm gonna shoot you up or something like that.

420

I think that was exactly what he said.

421

But Adam decided to bring Ben's daughter into the battle.

422

And his daughter has cystic fibrosis.

423

And Adam just talked about how she struggles to breathe and how

424

Behn can't help her because he's a bad father and comparing it at Behn's demise to his daughter trying to reach for her breath.

425

And it was just hard.

426

Oh my God, it was hard to watch.

427

Yeah, he went way too far.

428

They had a gentleman's agreement not to do anything personal, and they both kind of broke that rule in that specific battle.

429

But again, I guess rules go off the table.

430

Go out the window, I should say.

431

Yeah, but that was really terrible to see.

432

And what happened, so they battle that way.

433

And then all of a sudden these other two guys come in and they do, even after he insults his daughter.

434

They do this two versus two battle.

435

And it's like the, yeah, those guys, 40 Mag and Blunts.

436

And these guys are like saying, we can take you guys, we can take you guys.

437

And Adam and Behn team up and they kind of win that battle.

438

But the damage was already done.

439

You know, that.

440

just right here.

441

Afterwards, towards the end, you know, Behn is just like, that's it, I'm outta here, man.

442

I thought we were friends, you know, that was it.

443

Yeah, there's some things that cross the line.

444

Yep.

445

He said I'm going home to my family.

446

Yep. Where I should be, where I should have been all this time.

447

Yep.

448

It’s funny. So Behn's wife was a little bit of character too.

449

She just saw like Adam, like, why are you doing it here?

450

Like you're racist and everything.

451

And like, she didn't give him a chance.

452

She didn't give Adam a chance at all.

453

Yeah.

454

She came in full throttle.

455

Yeah, she did not want to hear.

456

Yeah, pretty much.

457

So let's talk a little bit more about, I mean, the obvious comparison you're going to see is with 8 Mile because Eminem had a

458

big hand in both movies, both Bodied and 8 Mile.

459

Do you feel this was semi-autobiographical for Eminem?

460

And like, what are similarities between like, Adam's character and B-Rabbit in 8 Mile?

461

I mean, I'll kick it off.

462

I mean, I've already mentioned like the nerdy white kid, obviously entering a territory not really known for white guys.

463

similarity was kind of like I saw you know how in B-Rabbit predicted all the insults about him in 8 Mile.

464

Oh yes I live in a trailer park you know I have a bad you know

465

my mom drinks too much blah blah blah like what else is he gonna say about me but we we saw that in that one battle

466

was it

467

Devine Wright and Prospek.

468

They both went in on their own cultures and stuff and everybody was like

469

doing a double take like what what that was dope that was dope but like why are you insulting yourself so you kind of use

470

that same aspect of like hey beat the other person's to the punch

471

so that was similar right you what else was similar you guys think

472

Yeah, I mean, I think even some of, as Adam progressed,

473

his quick wittedness and how he was able to take what was said against him

474

and throw it back at his opponent is very Eminem.

475

I mean, even like I've seen some, heard some of his earlier freestyles

476

and like seen some of his early battles and like you would say something to him.

477

And it was kind of like he did it in 8 Mile

478

when he put that Leave It To Beaver line, he flipped it back on him

479

and he said, oh, okay, yeah, he almost killed me with that

480

Leave It To Beaver line, but yeah, I turned around and

481

flipped it on him.

482

It's like, Adam's flow was very reminiscent of how

483

Eminem could take an insult, throw it right back at you a little harder.

484

I wasn't sure how.

485

I mean, I know there was some autobiographical elements to it, but I don't really think...

486

I mean, obviously they were from different socioeconomic circumstances, and so that already makes it a lot different.

487

Adam's a graduate student at Berkeley.

488

You know, B.

489

Rabbit is in a trailer park in the Detroit suburbs.

490

It's very different.

491

But there was sort of the same kind of like, kind of make a name for yourself in this foreign world.

492

And I know why B-Rabbit was doing what he was doing because he was trying to get out of where he was.

493

But I don't know what Adam was trying to do.

494

Was he trying to get out of the ivory tower world?

495

Was he trying to be in the battle rap world?

496

That's why I was confused.

497

That's why I said earlier I was confused about his motivations.

498

And like, and so whether he's, yeah.

499

I think he was just seeking validation

500

admiration that he wasn't getting at home because he doesn't really get it from Maya or his father.

501

I don't know if he mentioned his mother being in the picture or not,

502

I don't think so, because I think the parents were divorced or something.

503

But like, I just think that like he was seeking some love and admiration that he wasn't getting elsewhere.

504

And this was like a way to get that.

505

Yeah.

506

the mob mentality if they like you, then you're a king, you know?

507

Yeah.

508

The other strategic thing with the battle rap that I saw at 8 Mile too, I think Boogie kind of hinted at it too, if you go back to B-Rabbit vs.

509

Papa Doc, he exposed him like, I know something you don't know.

510

His real name is, he went to a private school.

511

Same type of thing.

512

When he came out with, hey listen, this guy works at a video, he's a video game designer and he's a family man.

513

It's like, ooh, he's a family man.

514

And everybody gets on his case.

515

Yeah.

516

Yeah.

517

It's funny, but yeah, he kind of...

518

Personal stuff, right, he's like, he'd exposed him for being not hardcore.

519

Yeah, these guys aren't really hardcore, like they look.

520

Yeah, like they pretend to be.

521

a cyber-signature design video games.

522

Yeah, the thing that like I wasn't thinking there were

523

too many parallels to 8 Mile, but the very last line of the film

524

where he was saying I need I need to know my rapper

525

name is and then they play start playing my name is, you know, Slim Shady, which was his

526

first really big hit, which kind of introduced Eminem to the masses.

527

And it's kind of like, oh, is he saying that this is a

528

alternate version of Eminem.

529

You know, maybe.

530

I mean, did he have a...

531

Yeah, without saying it, they're saying it.

532

Yeah, I mean, and I wonder if he, he did face a lot of the stereotyping, your white guy and like battle.

533

I wonder if he actually did get punched out a few times and knock his tooth out and win this battle or something.

534

Could have been, who knows, you know.

535

Yeah, but uh...

536

Yeah, I mean, I think it's kind of like the battle rap component was kind of like what we saw in 8 Mile, but like ratcheted up.

537

Like the battle raps were like on steroids compared to the 8 Mile.

538

Yeah, it's I think I just think Eminem had a lot more in the tank where he wanted to show off some of his skills in battle rapping and writing for it.

539

But I don't know if this movie ever went to like the theater or it came straight out to like the streaming services.

540

I didn't hear too much about it, but I remember.

541

Okay, right.

542

Yeah, probably not in the theaters.

543

Yeah.

544

But if you're, I mean, if you're a fan of battle rap, this is a good one.

545

This is a, I would say this is, it's a good watch.

546

Yeah, I mean, there was some homework done with this movie.

547

Like there was one part that I remembered that stood out for me when Professor Merkin, Adam's

548

father was in a classroom, he was doing a lecture and I forgot how he got to it,

549

but he referenced one of his favorite lines and it was in reference to LL Cool J.

550

And then when I remember that, and I distinctly remember that, I was with LL Cool J,

Can-I-Bus beef.

551

And Can-I-Bus said, you know, 99% of his fans were high heels.

552

And LL responded, yeah, on his round, yeah, but 99% of his fans don't exist.

553

And I was like, oh, I remember the first time I heard that.

554

Like, oh my God.

555

Hehehehe

556

Can-I-Bus came after the king and missed.

557

I was like, what are you doing, man?

558

a dope lyricist.

559

Like Can-I-Bus, I remember when he hit the scene, like he was on all of those underground

DJ Clue mix tapes,

560

like rhyme after rhyme after rhyme.

561

And I don't even know, I can't remember the full story,

562

but I remember he just, like he insult the LL, it was on that 4321 track.

563

And they were recording that.

564

and the beef kicked off from there and it was just insult back and forth.

565

And like, people say what they want about LL Cool J man,

566

but LL Cool J was one guy you don't wanna go against in a battle.

567

Like a lot of our younger listeners, they see LL Cool J as an actor, but you don't

understand

568

that LL Cool J was Jack the Ripper, King Hercules, like he was destroying

569

people on the mic.

570

So when I heard that line reference, those lines referenced in the movie, I was like, yes!

571

Yes, somebody did their homework.

572

Ha ha ha.

573

Yes.

574

There's some other like pop culture guys that appeared in this film.

575

And if you like catch it and you're like, oh wow, that's that person.

576

So we already mentioned Anthony Michael Hall has a huge part.

577

That's Adam's dad, the professor.

578

But a Simon Rex, uh, plays a guy named Donnie Narco, which is another play on words, like a Donnie Darko type thing.

579

But he's like an MC or like kind of hosting some of these battles.

580

And he's charismatic in this one.

581

Um, like.

582

hype man slash MC.

583

But if you remember him, he, he got his start, I think on MTV.

584

He's been in a lot of Scary Movie series.

585

a bunch of random movies.

586

He was a model.

587

He's had a lot of interesting career.

588

But yes, Simon Rex is someone that's recognizable.

589

When I saw him, I'm like, who is that guy?

590

And then I realized it.

591

And then Andy Milonakis

592

is a weird looking little dude who also had some time, I think, on MTV or some Comedy Central or something like that.

593

And he pops up as a hosting a rap battle like in a CD.

594

under like a hotel basement there were a lot of rats rats it was like a nasty spot yeah

595

Freddy Hustle.

596

Yeah, but he's in this and I'm like, wow, I hadn't seen that guy in forever.

597

And now this movie is 2017, but still

598

from, from when he had his moment to now, he had his own show, Andy Milonakis Show’s like a sketch comedy show.

599

Yeah.

600

I'm doing it.

601

Yeah.

602

kid back then.

603

Oh man.

604

funny guy man, funny guy.

605

Yes, he's 47.

606

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

607

But I was like, whoa, there's that guy.

608

You know, like I almost forget about this kid.

609

Yeah, those are some of the cameos.

610

We had a Charlamagne tha God for

611

our, anybody who's listening in the Tri-State New York area, one of our, um, from, uh, 105.1,

612

AM show and he's, he's everywhere, but yeah, I

613

remember him from when he first started on the radio.

614

And, uh, Oh, we've got a bunch of our, I got Behn Grym,

615

Behn Grym played by Jackie Long, who was Esquire, the character Esquire in ATL, a movie that we've previously

616

reviewed.

617

We did an episode on ATL.

618

Yep.

619

Yeah, he's been a lot of things.

620

I mean, like some of the other faces I remember, like I was looking at them and I remember seeing their faces in some of the other

621

stuff that I've come across, but I couldn't

622

remember from where.

623

I was like, you've got that familiar face.

624

I know that face.

625

Yeah, definitely recognize Devine Wright too, Shoniqua Shandai.

626

I don't know where from, but she looks familiar.

627

Mm-hmm.

628

I think we covered all different aspects here.

629

So why don't we give our ratings go around the room?

630

Boogie, for Bodied.

631

Would you bring that funky flick back?

632

Put it in the vault?

633

You know, I watched it and I watched it

634

like almost a second time, but I think I'll probably bring in Funky Flick back.

635

I think I want to watch it at least a couple more times because I'm pretty sure there's some aspects and

636

elements of the film that I didn't catch.

637

And I think that if I delve into it a little deeper, I'll pull some more out of it and get a little more substance out of it.

638

And I think that I would recommend it for others to watch it as well.

639

see if they can get something out of it as well.

640

So yeah, I'd bring it back.

641

How about you, DynoWright?

642

I will bring this funky flick back.

643

I think it's worth seeing.

644

It has some interesting ideas.

645

The racial and ethnic issues are always hard to tackle on film and media,

646

but I think they do a good job about raising some of these questions.

647

So bring this funky flick back.

648

Yeah, I would bring it back as well.

649

So bring this funky flick back.

650

I'm always amazed by the creativity of battle rappers, how they can think on their feet.

651

I know they're kind of like comedians in terms of, you have some material prepped

652

and you kind of have this foundation or base, but man, when you're in the spotlight and there's a

653

crowd around you, a mob, and you gotta stand tall and come back with it.

654

And again, try not to...

655

be thrown off your game and take things too personally.

656

A lot of talent here overall.

657

I liked it, yep.

658

Go see it.

659

Yep.

660

Find it on YouTube, I guess.

661

I watched it on Tubi.

662

YouTube.

663

Yeah, Tubi or YouTube.

664

Tubi, it’s on Prime.

665

It was funny because I went to watch it and I saw, I saw, I said, Oh, let me see if it's on Tubi.

666

I saw it on Tubi and I saved it.

667

And then at the last minute, someone said, eh, let's do a quick prime search.

668

And I said, Oh, watch with prime.

669

Okay, I'm gonna watch it without commercials.

670

Ha ha ha.

671

That's the thing.

672

It has commercials on Tubi.

673

On the next episode of the Hip Hop Movie Club Podcast, your HHMC's will review Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.

674

Subscribe now on your favorite podcast app and you won't miss it.

675

Shout out to you listeners.

676

Thanks for tuning in.

677

And remember, don't hate, perpetuate.

678

Perpetuate.

679

Perpetuate only the good things, you know, but keep it positive.

680

That's right.

681

on.

682

Yes.

683

Keep it going.