In Too Deep

Speaker: 00:00:00

Jeff Cole realizes his dream of becoming

an undercover cop, working his way up

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: 00:00:04

the ranks is one thing, but

now he faces the challenge of his life.

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: 00:00:08

When called upon to infiltrate

and bring down the kingpin known as God.

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: 00:00:12

No, not that one.

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: 00:00:14

The one played by L.L.

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: 00:00:15

Cool J.

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: 00:00:28

Bring it!

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: 00:00:29

C’mon! Welcome to Hip Hop Movie Club.

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: 00:00:32

This is a show for Gen X hip hop fans

who want to relive the glory days

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: 00:00:36

and reconsider classic and modern hip

hop films from a current day perspective.

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Together, we’ll explore some of the larger

societal issues raised in these films.

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: 00:00:44

If you've seen today's movie before,

then you'll learn some fascinating trivia

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: 00:00:47

you might have missed.

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: 00:00:48

If you haven't seen today's movie before,

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: 00:00:50

that will help you decide

whether this film is worth your time.

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: 00:00:53

Either way, you'll be a smarter

hip hop fan by the end of this episode.

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The next 30 minutes

or so you'll get all this and more.

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We’re

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three old heads who put their old heads

together to vibe on these films for you.

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I'm DynoWright, podcaster, filmmaker,

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: 00:01:07

long time hip-hop fan, and I'm the Cult

Jam to these guys’ Lisa Lisa.

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I’m JB, eighties and nineties

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: 00:01:14

nostalgia junkie, longtime hip hop fan.

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And just like the Prodigal son,

I've returned.

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Anyone stepping in me you'll get burned.

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I like that.

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I’m Boogie, deejay, long time hip hop fan

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and I have a pretty cool stash of vintage

vinyl.

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Nice, no doubt.

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In this episode,

we'll answer the question,

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How deep do you need

to get in to take down God?

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(vinyl

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scratches) One...one...one...one...

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In Too

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Deep is the 1999 crime

drama starring Omar Epps, L.L.

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Cool J.

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Nia Long, Stanley Tucci, as well

as a handful of other hip hop luminaries,

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depict the story of an undercover cop

putting his life at risk to try to bring

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down a major drug kingpin.

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All right, let's dive in.

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So in this movie, you have L Cool J

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portraying a major drug player

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kingpin named God, his nickname

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alongside.

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So he's a nasty fellow.

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Where would you rank him?

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Alongside other hip hop movie villains

such as Nino Brown, Bishop

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and others that we may have seen

or maybe we haven't seen just yet.

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But what would you rank him based on

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his characterization in this film?

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You know,

I was try to figure this one out.

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I was struggling where I would rank them

because I could see some qualities.

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He has some Nino-esque qualities

about him,

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but I don't think he was.

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Well, no, I think he could have been

easily as ruthless as Nino.

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I think he was not as

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wired up as Bishop was.

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Bishop was out to actually try

to prove himself,

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whereas as you see,

God, he's already established.

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But I would think

I would probably rank him

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about with Nino, because

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he he was he,

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he was kind of doing the work

of a Robin Hood type character,

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feeding the neighborhood.

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But he was making a lot of money

off of the poor people as well.

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And those are those scenes where he was

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actually pretty brutal

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with some of the guys,

like the one guy who was

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he believe was was an

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informant, was informant with the police,

you know, cut his tongue out.

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It's like, whoa,

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you know, you can kill him, but come on.

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And then the other guy

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for to

that was his one of his best friends from,

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you know, from elementary school.

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And he tortured him, killed him

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like, I think it was nothing.

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Was that the one?

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Is his God the godfather of his son?

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Was that the one?

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Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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You know, and I was just.

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And I wasn't even

that was just a speculative speculation

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that he believe

Frisco was trying to get was is,

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you know, whose baby's mother like

it wasn’t even confirmed.

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It was he thought it was going on. Yeah.

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So I think I think I rank him pretty high

just off of, just off of that.

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I mean, granted,

we don't see too much other scenes,

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but just off of those things alone,

you know, I think I put him up there.

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How about you, DynoWright?

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I think it's it's

third behind Bishop and Nino Brown, but

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it was it was good.

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I don't I'm

not sure that it was, like, iconic.

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And we try not to use that word so much,

but Nino Brown's iconic

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and I think he was

that quite as good as Nino Brown.

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The movie was another story, but

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the movie itself, it's another story.

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But L.L.

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Cool J was pretty good in this film.

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L L.L.

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Cool J was convincing as a bad guy,

but villain again, nickname was God.

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Dwayne Gittens,

I think, was his character's name.

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So as far as comparison

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comparison to these other villains, he's

kind of up there like the

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the brutality, the

like you mentioned Boogie, but he was also

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he was also hitting women,

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beating and torture as crew members,

violating them like the pool table scene.

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I mean, the body having the body cut up

in a dumpster like it was kind of jarring.

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But you don't.

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The problem I have with some of this movie

and I will get it, is

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some like the characters in the character

development and stuff like that.

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Like I didn't see that.

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You could see how Bishop turns heel.

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It led up to that to a crescendo,

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and you can kind of see how Nino Brown

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mind worked a little bit.

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We don't really see that.

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We just see this sheer brutality.

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So as far as characters

physically brutal way up on the scale,

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but as far as like a memorable character,

not quite as much.

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Right. Right, right. Okay.

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So mentioned at the intro, there were

several hip hop stars in the movie.

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Boogie, want to take us through Who.

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Hip hop fans would notice.

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And yeah. Sure.

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I'll take a stab

at who I was able to recognize.

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Well, although she's not necessarily

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a hip hop artist,

she's a pretty well-known R&B singer.

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We have.

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Mya had had a brief cameo in the film.

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She played a character named Loretta.

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We only saw pretty briefly during J.

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J...Cole/ J.

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Reid's

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graduation ceremony from the,

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he was graduating from the Academy.

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We have another character.

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Well, this one I noticed right away.

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So I sort of speaks of Shyheim,

who played the character of Che.

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Oh, Shyheim a.k.a.

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The Rugged Child,

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was a recording artist

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who who dropped onto the scene

at the age of 14 with this

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album titled The Rugged

Child, has a few memorable hits.

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He later affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan,

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doing some songs

with a couple of artists there.

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Then we have a brief cameo by Nas,

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who actually was the

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looks like

he was the first drug dealer that

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we had to encounter

to prove that he was able

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to make a buying bust,

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that we have Sticky Fingaz

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from the group Onyx

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easy to spot him.

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He played a character named Ozzie who,

along with another cat,

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try to rob our main character.

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And that was not successful

and we didn't go well for him.

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This one, I spotted, too.

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She's an old school rap artist

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who was affiliated with the likes of

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the Audio Two, MC Lyte, MC

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Peaches, et cetera, Michie Mee.

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She had a brief cameo as well.

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She played a character named -

I had to look it up - her name was called,

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her name was Martha,

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and she was at the baptism ceremony

and she was actually going to be

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the godmother to God's son.

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Then we have

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Jermaine Dupri. Mr..

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So So Def himself,

who played a character named Melvin,

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had another brief cameo.

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There was a lot of brief cameos.

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They were in and out,

but he played the character named Melvin,

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who during the scene

tried to take our main character

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outside and rob him for his gold chain

and his money.

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But God's crew spotted the shadiness of it

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all and was able to stop him before

he was able to shoot our main character.

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Those are the ones that I knew I didn't.

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I was trying to see if there were more

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because they were popping in and out

so quick.

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But those are the ones that I spotted.

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Yeah, I think you covered them all.

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You had more than I listed out.

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Yeah, definitely Some.

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Some were bigger names

than others that you would

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recognize, like

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Nas, Jermaine Dupri, Sticky Fingaz, etc..

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DynoWright, any others that you noticed?

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No, although I would say the

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the guy who plays Latique, Hassan Johnson.

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I thought that guy could play Method Man.

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He kind of had the look... at first

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I thought, “oh is that Method Man?”

And then, now I realized there wasn't.

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So there was that.

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And also apparently David

Alan Grier has a cameo in this,

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and I didn't spot that at all.

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I was trying to find him.

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I couldn't see.

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I didn't see it.

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But yeah, good call on Michie Mee.

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I only noticed that in the credits

afterwards, like oh,

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I missed that whole one.

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So I kept looking at her face in my

she looks so familiar.

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I paused it.

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I'm like,

Wait a minute, I know who that is.

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Yeah.

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It really I think the only reason

I really recognized her

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right away was because

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she's she's friends.

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She's really good friends

with a friend of mine.

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Oh, I mentioned the emcee Peaches,

who was my

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who used to live down the street from me,

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and she actually signed

with First Priority.

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So she ran with that whole crew.

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And every now and then she'll post,

she put up a post

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with Michie Mee ‘cause they’re still cool.

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I’m like, oh, there you go.

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That's why I recognized her face.

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So a couple of things.

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Who else could have played

the role of God, which was played by L.L.

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Cool J.

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I mean, obvious choices would be some of

those other villains that we talked about.

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Probably Tupac,

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Wesley Snipes.

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Who else do you think could play it

or like maybe someone

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from this younger generation?

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What do you guys think?

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Right off the bat?

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I figured we could give it a little cause

because guy, he was

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he wasn't really loud.

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He was real low key,

but he was about his business.

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If we wanted to get somebody

a little louder.

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I was thinking somebody like DMX.

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Shake it up a little bit. Yeah.

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He's been in a movie with Nas before, so.

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Yeah, it worked.

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Yeah, I could see that.

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Trying to think of

who else would be a good,

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good character to play that,

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whether it be in hip hop world or or not.

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I had trouble answering this question.

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I think

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generally I didn't really like the movie,

but I started thinking like,

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what if they flipped?

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And what if Omar Epps played God and L.L.

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Cool J played J.

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Cole?Or not J.

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Cole, I'm saying, doing your thing.

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It’s easy to say that it was Jeff Cole,

but his alias was J.

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Reed. So we talk about J. Cole.

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Yeah, Yeah.

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They’re

messing me up 30 years later. Yeah, right.

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That's funny.

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That would be a good that would

that actually actually could still work.

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They should redo this movie with a better

script and have them flip roles.

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It could work, but I don't.

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Omar Epps doesn't like.

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I think he's just too likable.

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Like he's he's like even

even the role that he played it

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like everybody in the in the movie

suspected him as a cop.

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I'm like they could tell he's too,

he looks like too straight edge.

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Too nice.

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Like he's a guy

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you want to hang out with at a barbecue

and like, be like kind of like,

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I don't know.

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I just think

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he'd be tougher to play that role.

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‘Cause I don't know if he has that. Yeah.

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That mean streak.

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He definitely had a lot of close calls

of people thinking he was a cop though.

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I had a lot of problem

with those scenes. It's like. Yeah.

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If there's any doubt, there's no doubt.

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Right?

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So yeah, so call him out on it!

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I don't know.

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One of my many problems with the movie.

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Yeah.

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I got you.

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So what we're you know,

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we'll talk about pitfalls of the movie

I guess, but what were some of

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the highlights of the movie?

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Like what?

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What did you like about the movie

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Boogie?

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What were some of things

that you liked about it?

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I mean, I do like

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I do like crime dramas

and I do like stories about

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officers going undercover.

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Like one of my favorites is Donnie Brasco.

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So I love to see how,

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you know,

officers are able to get into the network

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and kind of get really close

in the different challenges

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that they have to face in doing so,

because it's the heart.

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I think the hardest part is like

as mentioned as mentioned in the movie,

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is that there's going to be a time

where they're going to test you

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and, you know, they're testing you

to see if you're down with them.

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They’re testing to see if you're a cop,

you know, And I think the movies that kind

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of can depict that and I did see that

this was loosely based on a true story. So

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I definitely

enjoyed those type of stories.

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I do think that

this one probably could have had some

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a little more development with it,

but I think overall,

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I like I like those kind of movies.

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Some of the

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some of the characters

were a little weird, but

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I mean, I mean,

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I do like I do I do like God’s portrayal.

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I do like L.L. Cool J.

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But yeah, he was he was the

he was very charismatic.

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You knew that he was a bad guy.

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It was something that we said,

you know, as to Tupac, you know,

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in different roles

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like you, you especially Bishop

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like you and Birdie, you,

you know, he's a bad guy,

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but you still kind of like to say,

oh, you know, so I think that

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that portrayal by L.L.

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Cool J was was pretty good.

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Let me see.

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Well, I mean, my agent, who's always,

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you know, put me along in the movie, so

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yeah.

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So there's always great there.

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But I think overall,

I think those kind of stories.

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All right.

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That right.

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What what did you like about the movie

most?

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Well, L.L. was good.

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Omar Epps is always good.

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Nia Long was good.

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And that was it.

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They were not given much to work with.

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I mean, Nia Long's whole story arc

332

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is really kind of tangential

and just unnecessary like that.

333

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If she wasn't in the movie, there were

no stakes that were raised or anything.

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And so that was almost like window

335

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dressing to have someone like Neil Yi,

you know, a waste of her talent.

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Yeah,

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I the world, I always take notes.

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Like, what do I like?

339

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Little anecdotes,

I guess, that I find in this story.

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I like Jeff's story of why

341

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he became interested in becoming a cop,

342

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how growing up in the projects

and seeing the names on the Great Wall

343

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of his neighborhood, of the kids

that had been slain, and that he clearly

344

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remembered the youngest one's name,

who was only three years old.

345

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And that inspired him to become a cop

and make a difference.

346

: 00:17:02

I kind of like that.

347

: 00:17:03

I almost wish.

348

: 00:17:04

But again, I think I wish

development would've been more.

349

: 00:17:06

Maybe we see a little bit of that

upbringing or flashbacks.

350

: 00:17:10

That was my major problem!

351

: 00:17:11

My major problem was

you don't know his motivation at all.

352

: 00:17:15

Yeah. They don't show you. They tell you.

353

: 00:17:17

And that's that's a terrible way

to try to develop a character like, yeah,

354

: 00:17:21

you really needed

Nia Long to get this out of them.

355

: 00:17:24

Like, Yeah, Oh, I hated this part. Okay.

356

: 00:17:28

And then know.

357

: 00:17:30

We don't care.

358

: 00:17:31

Like, we don't, they don't make us care.

359

: 00:17:34

Yeah, I was, I wasn't emotionally attached

to any of the characters, and there.

360

: 00:17:38

Are no stakes in this movie

and there's no reason to think,

361

: 00:17:42

you know, this is such a paint by numbers

movie that,

362

: 00:17:45

you know, we got to the end.

363

: 00:17:47

It's like, Oh,

nothing that changed actually.

364

: 00:17:49

They got the guy.

365

: 00:17:50

But that was it. Right? Yeah.

366

: 00:17:54

Yeah.

367

: 00:17:54

They dropped Nia Long in for guys like me,

they like Nia Long.

368

: 00:17:57

Yeah, Yeah.

369

: 00:17:58

It worked and it worked.

370

: 00:18:01

It works. And like, I don't know.

371

: 00:18:02

This is this is this is 1999, so she may

have been just kind of on the come up.

372

: 00:18:06

So like, she wasn't even quite nearly

as established.

373

: 00:18:10

I'm not sure what she had done prior,

but it's maybe one of those no earlier

374

: 00:18:15

films in her career

and she's had quite a storied career.

375

: 00:18:19

One of the highlight that I like that

it was put in the movie,

376

: 00:18:24

you know,

in our introduction to the podcast,

377

: 00:18:26

we talk about

we discuss larger societal issues.

378

: 00:18:29

And there was that scene of police

brutality and racial

379

: 00:18:32

profiling

following Jeff's argument with with Myra

380

: 00:18:38

as these white cops came up on them,

you know, he had gotten out of the car.

381

: 00:18:42

Is there a problem here is I'm a cop.

382

: 00:18:44

They wouldn't believe him.

383

: 00:18:45

And even when he was, you know,

he had his gun, you know,

384

: 00:18:48

I don't know if he showed a badge or not,

but they wouldn't believe him.

385

: 00:18:50

They still threw him down

and were beating on him.

386

: 00:18:52

And I was like, you know, that was

387

: 00:18:55

again.

388

: 00:18:57

I had another another major problem

with that scene.

389

: 00:19:00

So what was your problem with that scene?

390

: 00:19:02

So they get into an argument,

which is fine, but that was the time

391

: 00:19:06

when the cops show up.

392

: 00:19:07

Like the cops

never show up when you need them.

393

: 00:19:09

And and then if

if this was supposed to be a scene.

394

: 00:19:13

So in the movie, the

395

: 00:19:17

Cole and and and Myra having an argument

396

: 00:19:20

and this is I think this is supposed

to portray that he's turning into Reed

397

: 00:19:25

and he's losing his Cole-ness

And so he's he's in too deep, supposedly.

398

: 00:19:30

But then when the cops come, oh, I'm a cop

399

: 00:19:35

and I don't show my badge

and maybe they didn't have it on him.

400

: 00:19:39

And so, like, you're are you in too deep

or you're not in too deep?

401

: 00:19:42

And so the timing is terrible.

402

: 00:19:44

Like, oh, they show up

just exactly when they're needed.

403

: 00:19:48

The only reason that happens

because they wrote it in the script,

404

: 00:19:50

there's no like reason for it to happen.

405

: 00:19:54

So I was like,

Oh, this movie can't end fast enough.

406

: 00:19:57

Will they please take down this kingpin.

407

: 00:19:59

I'm tired of this.

408

: 00:20:00

He flipped the J. Reid/Jeff Cole switch.

409

: 00:20:04

Yeah,

410

: 00:20:06

let's switch.

411

: 00:20:09

So I looked it up.

412

: 00:20:10

Nia Long was in Boyz n the Hood.

413

: 00:20:13

Yes. Made in America.

414

: 00:20:15

Mm hmm.

415

: 00:20:16

Friday, 16

episodes of Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Yes.

416

: 00:20:21

All before he even got into this movie.

417

: 00:20:24

They. They did waste her talent.

418

: 00:20:25

Soul Food. Love Jones.

419

: 00:20:27

Yeah, Yeah.

420

: 00:20:28

I mean, two episodes of Moesha.

421

: 00:20:32

Benefit of the doubt,

but yeah, you're right. She was fine.

422

: 00:20:35

I mean, she was fine, but they didn't

give her anything to work with.

423

: 00:20:39

Also, the name's Jeff and Myra.

424

: 00:20:41

No offense to people then that,

but like, does that sound like this?

425

: 00:20:44

Sound like

426

: 00:20:46

to me that sounds like two fans of like,

Peter, Paul and Mary.

427

: 00:20:50

Would they sit by the campfire?

428

: 00:20:55

Nerdy white folks?

429

: 00:20:56

Yeah.

430

: 00:20:57

There's a

there's a laziness to the character.

431

: 00:21:00

The character writing

because the name of the actual person

432

: 00:21:03

that God is named for is

his name is Dwayne Gittens.

433

: 00:21:07

His name's Dwayne Gittens. Like

434

: 00:21:11

you didn't do any

work to to change the character at all.

435

: 00:21:14

You gave him the same name,

you spelled it differently, but like

436

: 00:21:19

put some work in, please.

437

: 00:21:21

Yeah, I mean, we're talking about

all the different pitfalls that are right.

438

: 00:21:26

You mentioned a bunch. Any other ones?

439

: 00:21:29

I don't think we have enough time.

440

: 00:21:33

Well, so on the ferry.

441

: 00:21:34

On the ferry where there

442

: 00:21:37

were, Cole is taking pictures of

443

: 00:21:40

of Myra. Mm.

444

: 00:21:43

Oh, hold this camera.

445

: 00:21:44

Let me, let me go get you a hot dog.

446

: 00:21:45

And then that's when the the

I guess a DEA or.

447

: 00:21:49

The the attorney general or whatever.

Yeah, Attorney general.

448

: 00:21:52

The attorney general like

449

: 00:21:53

shows up on the ferry with with his family

like another plot contrivance.

450

: 00:21:57

Like, Oh, what, what great timing.

451

: 00:21:59

I thought that was a little bit

too fortuitous.

452

: 00:22:01

I could predict something's happening.

453

: 00:22:03

Let me go get a hot dog.

454

: 00:22:04

It's like, Oh,

it says right here in the script,

455

: 00:22:06

you should

you will find that kind of attorney

456

: 00:22:07

general

on a boat in the middle of a river.

457

: 00:22:10

Right, what are the odds?

458

: 00:22:11

Like, not like at his office or something

like, Well, what are they doing here?

459

: 00:22:17

Oh, that was kind of odd.

460

: 00:22:24

Oh man.

461

: 00:22:25

All right, so let's let's let's switch

gears a little bit.

462

: 00:22:28

Another legendary actress,

Pam Grier, was in it.

463

: 00:22:33

All right, So what

464

: 00:22:36

where should we all know Pam Grier from

for maybe the younger listeners?

465

: 00:22:40

Pam Grier

466

: 00:22:42

was a trailblazing actress.

467

: 00:22:47

Multiple movies

like some of the blaxploitation

468

: 00:22:50

films.

469

: 00:22:53

She was huge in the seventies. Yes.

470

: 00:22:56

She was like the quintessential,

one of the quintessential.

471

: 00:23:00

Actors. Of any

472

: 00:23:03

of any kind.

473

: 00:23:04

In, in the blaxploitation genre.

474

: 00:23:07

Yeah, Coffy.

475

: 00:23:11

Coffy.

476

: 00:23:12

Foxy Brown

477

: 00:23:15

and many others.

478

: 00:23:17

Yeah.

479

: 00:23:19

Quentin Tarantino called her

the first female action star.

480

: 00:23:22

And I think he's right. Yeah. Yeah.

481

: 00:23:28

I remember when

482

: 00:23:29

Tarantino brought her

into that role of Jackie Brown.

483

: 00:23:32

She was a featured actress in back in 97,

and that was very fun.

484

: 00:23:37

Movie was a good movie, a very fun movie.

485

: 00:23:39

And I was like, Yeah, she she could take.

486

: 00:23:41

But still she was a star of the seventies

and in the late

487

: 00:23:44

mid to late nineties,

I mean, she was kicking butt

488

: 00:23:47

So yeah she's,

489

: 00:23:50

she's in this as one of the

490

: 00:23:53

head head of the police crew

491

: 00:23:56

You know we're they're wiring

492

: 00:23:59

Jeff Cole up or J.

493

: 00:24:01

Reid enlisting and her

and another associate

494

: 00:24:07

kind of head of that investigation there

495

: 00:24:11

and it's Stanley

Tucci played a guy named Preston who was

496

: 00:24:15

Jeff's boss.

497

: 00:24:18

And again, I kind of feel like his

talent was a little bit wasted too.

498

: 00:24:22

This. He's a legendary actor, too.

499

: 00:24:24

Yeah, easily.

500

: 00:24:25

He's been in hundreds

of films and on Broadway. And

501

: 00:24:30

I mean,

502

: 00:24:30

his was like kind of a cookie cutter role.

503

: 00:24:33

Yeah, there was nothing

504

: 00:24:36

special about

505

: 00:24:38

his performance, you know?

506

: 00:24:40

No, no, They didn't give him much to work

with again.

507

: 00:24:42

Much to work with. Yeah.

508

: 00:24:43

It just kind of threw him in there.

509

: 00:24:46

So. Hey,

we have a notable actor in the movie.

510

: 00:24:50

Yeah, And yeah, Stanley Tucci is

one of my favorites-I love Stanley Tucci.

511

: 00:24:55

Anything I see him and I'm like,

There you go.

512

: 00:24:56

That's my man, right

there. He's a cool dude.

513

: 00:24:59

That's very talented.

514

: 00:25:00

Yeah, very cool, dude.

515

: 00:25:02

Again, you look, I know some of his

memorable roles, and he's had so many.

516

: 00:25:08

The Devil Wears Prada. Mm.

517

: 00:25:10

Deconstructing Harry.

518

: 00:25:12

Big Night. Prizzi’s Honor. Yeah,

519

: 00:25:15

He was even in it for the MCU fans.

520

: 00:25:17

Captain America, the First Avenger.

521

: 00:25:19

Mm hmm.

522

: 00:25:20

He's done

a ton of voice acting, and he still does.

523

: 00:25:24

The younger generation might know him

from The Hunger Games.

524

: 00:25:26

Yeah, that's right.

525

: 00:25:27

That's right.

526

: 00:25:32

He's been nominated for an Oscar,

527

: 00:25:33

so he's not that bad.

528

: 00:25:38

So let's talk

529

: 00:25:39

before we do, like,

kind of rankings and ratings.

530

: 00:25:42

I know we're going to go someplace.

531

: 00:25:44

But how about. The soundtrack?

532

: 00:25:45

We always talk about the soundtrack,

so I thought it was solid.

533

: 00:25:49

What do you think, BooGie?

534

: 00:25:51

No, I think the soundtrack

was definitely a solid soundtrack.

535

: 00:25:53

I mean, yeah, from the intro.

536

: 00:25:55

I mean, you get the, you know, Quiet Storm

remix soon as it comes on.

537

: 00:26:01

That's one of my favorite favorites.

538

: 00:26:03

I love that track.

539

: 00:26:04

And it just it just so, you know, melodic,

but there some good songs in here.

540

: 00:26:10

I mean, not necessarily songs

that you hear a lot on the radio, but

541

: 00:26:17

they were good as far as,

542

: 00:26:19

you know, make me want to nod in my head.

543

: 00:26:23

I thought, I thought it was solid.

544

: 00:26:28

Yeah I was nodding

545

: 00:26:29

in my head in the song at the very end

too was solid.

546

: 00:26:33

I forget which one that was but...

547

: 00:26:34

In Too Deep It was really it was called

“In Too Deep” Nas and Nature.

548

: 00:26:38

Yeah.

549

: 00:26:38

Nas and nature.

550

: 00:26:39

I like that song.

551

: 00:26:40

I was like, Oh that's a banger

552

: 00:26:42

on the soundtrack.

553

: 00:26:43

Jermaine Dupri,

554

: 00:26:46

Method Man and Redman, Lil Kim

555

: 00:26:48

and Mobb Deep, 50 Cent, Jill Scott,

556

: 00:26:52

star studded the Lox, yep.

557

: 00:26:55

Star studded soundtrack.

558

: 00:26:58

So that was

559

: 00:27:00

one of the redeeming

qualities of the film.

560

: 00:27:03

I think this could have been

a Netflix series if they had

561

: 00:27:06

actually put a story to this.

562

: 00:27:09

It is it could have been a series.

563

: 00:27:14

I mean,

564

: 00:27:15

I was thinking like because The Wire was

was is iconic is an iconic,

565

: 00:27:19

you know, crime series

It takes place in and Baltimore.

566

: 00:27:24

This is in Cincinnati

so it's got a similar backdrop

567

: 00:27:29

but erm yeah I think it would,

I think it would give us that development

568

: 00:27:33

that we were looking for. Yeah.

569

: 00:27:34

That's the thing

if you could spread it out.

570

: 00:27:36

The back story. Yeah.

571

: 00:27:38

Yeah.

572

: 00:27:38

All those things that we were looking for,

573

: 00:27:40

you can definitely stretch

those out in the series.

574

: 00:27:43

You know, the, the whole suspense.

575

: 00:27:45

I didn't really feel any suspense of him

being found out because there was no,

576

: 00:27:49

like every time they tested him, he'd say,

What do you think I am?

577

: 00:27:52

And then they were just going,

they just move on.

578

: 00:27:56

So, you know, the

579

: 00:27:59

one of the best parts of Mad Men

580

: 00:28:00

was that you were always on

the brink of Don getting found out.

581

: 00:28:04

And so you could have used that in it.

582

: 00:28:07

They could use that in a Netflix series

to build up the suspense

583

: 00:28:12

and get people hooked on watching it.

584

: 00:28:15

And I feel like J.

585

: 00:28:17

Reid never really paid any consequences

586

: 00:28:20

on his way up or paid any dues.

587

: 00:28:24

I mean, he did have to make compromises,

principles all along the way.

588

: 00:28:28

Some.

589

: 00:28:28

But you never really felt, you know, the

stakes weren't very high or compelling.

590

: 00:28:33

And so, like,

he shot the guy in the crotch, but,

591

: 00:28:37

you know, an ultimatum

kind of felt like cartoonish and like, Oh.

592

: 00:28:41

Right. Yeah.

593

: 00:28:42

And it's supposed to,

594

: 00:28:43

you know, push him down the path,

I guess, to the dark side. And

595

: 00:28:48

there was still no like,

596

: 00:28:50

there was no

there's no payoff for that in any way.

597

: 00:28:54

And it would have been fun

to have a kind of cat and mouse game

598

: 00:28:56

between God and Reid, you know,

because that

599

: 00:29:02

why God trusted J.

600

: 00:29:04

Reid so much throughout this film.

601

: 00:29:07

I never really understood.

602

: 00:29:08

So I think you could really work

that into a Netflix series

603

: 00:29:12

and really build on like, why does he care

what, you know, this guy just showed up

604

: 00:29:16

and he was trusted

more than his guys who been around him.

605

: 00:29:19

And yeah, yeah,

606

: 00:29:23

I don't know.

607

: 00:29:23

It didn't feel that believable to me.

608

: 00:29:25

Only they were only like

609

: 00:29:27

paired against each other

because they were the lead actors and.

610

: 00:29:30

It was kind of like

God was a training as a boxer or,

611

: 00:29:35

or he liked to do that for fitness and J.

612

: 00:29:39

Reid or Jeff or whatever it was.

613

: 00:29:42

He was standing up to them

and he was able to spar with them or,

614

: 00:29:45

you know, hell, I'm like, Yeah, okay,

you're in.

615

: 00:29:47

Like, that makes sense.

616

: 00:29:48

And you've got boxing

training in the academy.

617

: 00:29:50

And I think these other guys,

like he the one guy, couldn't hold it.

618

: 00:29:54

The, the heavy. Bag. Yeah.

619

: 00:29:56

I mean that's, that's hard.

620

: 00:29:58

But like,

no one else could hold the bag gloves.

621

: 00:30:01

No one else can hold the, the target pads

622

: 00:30:05

like and I've, I was like oh okay,

623

: 00:30:10

you're in!

624

: 00:30:11

You can hold you can hold focus pads

you're in

625

: 00:30:15

right. Yeah.

626

: 00:30:17

Like that. Was it like.

627

: 00:30:19

The other aspect that could lead to

628

: 00:30:21

a Netflix series would be,

629

: 00:30:24

you know, Jeff

630

: 00:30:26

being a trainer at the

as for the cadets and like,

631

: 00:30:31

they have this pipeline of new of younger

undercover

632

: 00:30:34

cops and kind of talk about their exploits

and maybe he gets engaged certain points

633

: 00:30:38

and write in flashbacks

and some other tie ins that way.

634

: 00:30:43

Yeah yeah.

635

: 00:30:45

You could actually use Nia Long or,

you know, a love interest character

636

: 00:30:49

for for some.

637

: 00:30:50

Yeah. For some story benefit.

638

: 00:30:53

And maybe they could put one plot twist

639

: 00:30:54

in the Netflix series

because there weren't any in this movie.

640

: 00:30:59

No definitely weren't any.

641

: 00:31:00

You know you could predict this

from like a mile away like,

642

: 00:31:03

oh yeah, give me your gun and badge

643

: 00:31:07

and. It was a funny thing.

644

: 00:31:10

Like at the end

it was like the cops come in and

645

: 00:31:16

surround LL Cool J’s character.

646

: 00:31:19

God and everything is like,

647

: 00:31:22

wait, you're a cop.

648

: 00:31:23

You're you're not a cop, you're a sellout.

649

: 00:31:25

And it's like, what's this? Yeah.

650

: 00:31:28

It was, it was such a letdown. Mm.

651

: 00:31:31

Yeah. Yeah.

652

: 00:31:33

And then Breezy turned state's evidence

at the end and I, it was like,

653

: 00:31:36

nicely wrapped up in a detail like, oh,

654

: 00:31:41

I'll be cool in three

and a half or whatever it was.

655

: 00:31:43

You know, he'll do his time

and come out and be square.

656

: 00:31:50

All right,

657

: 00:31:51

so let's go round and give a rating.

658

: 00:31:54

It's pretty much keep it, leave it.

659

: 00:31:57

So we haven't done this in a little while

because we've been doing a lot of docu

660

: 00:32:01

series and documentaries.

661

: 00:32:03

So back to your traditional movie Boogie,

662

: 00:32:06

bring that funky flick back, bring that

funky flick back or leave it in the vault.

663

: 00:32:12

Yeah, I'm going to

664

: 00:32:14

have to leave this one in the vault.

665

: 00:32:19

Alright, DynoWright?

666

: 00:32:22

Despite Roger Ebert giving this movie

thumbs up and I respect him greatly.

667

: 00:32:27

I'm also leaving this in the vault.

668

: 00:32:31

That makes three of us.

669

: 00:32:32

I will leave it in the vault.

670

: 00:32:34

The pitfalls and flaws in this one.

671

: 00:32:38

You want to actively seek it out

when there's so much other

672

: 00:32:40

great content out there.

673

: 00:32:42

Yeah, maybe.

674

: 00:32:43

Maybe some clips on YouTube.

675

: 00:32:45

You watch L.L.

676

: 00:32:46

Cool J or just watch NCIS

677

: 00:32:50

or even Last Holiday

with the Queen Latifah.

678

: 00:32:52

It's a fine film.

679

: 00:32:53

That's right.

680

: 00:32:54

Yeah.

681

: 00:32:57

I mean,

682

: 00:32:57

I did notice one actor in the movie

that I recognized from

683

: 00:33:01

from one of my old movies

that I like to watch, though,

684

: 00:33:06

David Patrick Kelly.

685

: 00:33:09

Oh, he played

the DEA, the DEA agent, Rick Scott

686

: 00:33:15

Shorter

687

: 00:33:15

fellow in

the movie that was with the police officer

688

: 00:33:19

who was trying to convince the DEA

to let Jeff continue to stay undercover.

689

: 00:33:26

He was in one his in my fav-film

The Warriors.

690

: 00:33:29

Old old gang movie from New York.

691

: 00:33:32

Oh, yeah.

692

: 00:33:33

He's the guy that actually shot Cyrus

in the beginning of the movie, hey that’s

693

: 00:33:36

Luther right there!

694

: 00:33:40

It's funny, every time I spotted him,

I'm like, Hey, I know him.

695

: 00:33:44

That's a deep cut.

696

: 00:33:46

Yeah.

697

: 00:33:57

Bring it!

698

: 00:33:58

C’mon!

699

: 00:33:59

Hip Hop Movie Club is produced

by your HHMC’s: JB, Boogie and DynoWright.

700

: 00:34:04

Theme music by Boogie.

701

: 00:34:06

(Bring it!

702

: 00:34:09

C’mon!)

Check us out on Facebook and Instagram

703

: 00:34:12

at Hip Hop Movie Club.

704

: 00:34:15

(Bring it!

705

: 00:34:20

C’mon!) On the next episode of the Hip Hop

Movie Club podcast,

706

: 00:34:24

your HHMC’s will review Dashing

Through the Snow.

707

: 00:34:28

Subscribe now and your favorite

podcast app and you won't miss it.

708

: 00:34:32

Shout out to your listeners.

Thanks for tuning in.

709

: 00:34:35

And remember, don't hate hydrate.

710

: 00:34:38

Drink that water!

711

: 00:34:42

I learned from a classmate

to hydrate or die-drate.

712

: 00:34:45

Oh, That's

713

: 00:34:50

a good one.

714

: 00:34:56

Bring it!

715

: 00:34:56

C’mon!

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