If you're of a certain age (a.k.a. GROWN), then Rick Famuyiwa's 2015 film Dope is definitely for you. And even if you're on the younger tip, this is a great homage to what we consider the Golden Age of Hip Hop music and culture.

Topics discussed:

• This movie's wild, not-for-the-faint-of-heart ride
• The gold mine of '90s Hip Hop jams
• Shameik Moore: dynamic leading man
• Rick Famuyiwa gifts us a tribute to Hip Hop culture, as he did with Brown Sugar.
• A powerful social message about stereotyping based on socioeconomic status 

Also check out:

Our episode on Brown Sugar

Credits

Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your HHMCs JB, BooGie, and DynoWright. Theme music by BooGie. Follow @hiphopmovieclub on Instagram!

And remember:

Don't hate...graduate!

Welcome to Hip Hop Movie Club, the show

that harmonizes the rhythm of Hip Hop with

2

the magic of movies.

3

Today, we're discussing Dope, an

adventurous comedy drama with a nostalgic

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90s Hip Hop laced soundtrack.

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We're three old heads who put their old

heads together to vibe on these films for

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you.

7

I'm Dyno Wright, podcaster, filmmaker,

longtime Hip Hop fan, and I met Pharrell

8

Williams at Pat's Steaks in Philly before

an N.E.R.D.

9

show in 2002.

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He was really nice.

11

I'm JB, 80s and 90s nostalgia junkie, long

time Hip Hop fan, and I once introduced

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myself as Imp the Dimp, the ladies' pimp,

at a corporate training session to lighten

13

the mood in the room.

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haha

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broke the ice.

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Well, I'm Boogie, a DJ, a long time

Hip Hop fan, and I just won tickets to

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Tony Touch, the peacemaker, concert going

on June 7th at Radio City Music Hall.

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Crazy lineup.

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So

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Congrats.

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Nice.

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In this episode, we'll answer the

question, is Dope worth watching?

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And we'll give you five key takeaways to

make you a smarter Hip Hop movie fan.

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Dope is a 2015 coming -of -age comedy

-drama which depicts the self -proclaimed

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geek Malcolm and his high school friends

in Cali getting into a jam and embarking

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on a wild adventure after a bag of illegal

drugs gets placed in his backpack.

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Dotted with a 90s Hip Hop soundtrack, the

beats and the action will have you jumping

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from Jump

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Here are five things you need to know

about Dope.

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This movie is a wild ride and may not be

for the faint of

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heart. Two, soundtrack is a goldmine of

90s

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Hip Hop jams. Three, Shameik Moore is a

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charismatic leading man. Four, Rick

Famuyiwa gifts us a tribute to Hip Hop

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culture as he did

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with Brown Sugar. And five, there's a

powerful social message about stereotyping

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Alright, so this movie, as I mentioned,

with the first takeaway, is a wild ride,

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may not be for the faint of heart.

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Wanna expound upon that, BooGie?

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Yeah, it's definitely a fun ride.

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And the crazy thing is I forgot how much I

liked this movie until I rewatched it for

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the podcast.

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But the main characters, Malcolm, Diggy

and Jib, they're so socially awkward in

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comparison to the other kids in their high

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school. Like they have this really deep

affinity for the 90s Hip Hop

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culture. Like they dress like they're from

the

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90s. I mean, Malcolm even sports a flat

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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90s Hip Hop all day, that they watch old

reruns of Yo!

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MTV Raps, et cetera.

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And, you know, they just don't fit in.

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But they have a deep rooted friendship and

they very much support one

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another. But they get caught in this weird

circle of events after they receive a

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full of some illegal drugs and they're

just tasked with trying to get those drugs

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out of their hands or, you know, replace

the money that's, you know, to make

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payment for those drugs.

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And it just sets them on a wild goose

chase.

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Like it's so, it's such a series of

unfortunate events, but like watching them

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unfold in a film is just, it's so funny to

watch.

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But yeah, if you have a...

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You know, if you get easily offended, you

probably shouldn't watch it, but I

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definitely had a good time watching this

one.

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DynoWright, you want to add some

additional commentary on the wild ride of

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Dope?

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Yeah.

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Yeah, it got an R rating for a reason.

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There's a lot of adult situations in this.

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For a coming of age film, you know, they

sort of got all the adult situations.

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They encountered every one of them.

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So, yeah, it's they grew up quick with all

the things you see in this movie.

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It's when my brother -in -law told me

about this movie and he's like, oh, you'd

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like it.

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And when you just see the preview, you

don't really, you think, oh, this is high

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school kids and they like 90s Hip Hop

music.

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And I thought it was just going to be like

a fun ride, but it ends up being something

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crazy.

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Like, like Stand By Me meets Pulp Fiction

or something like that.

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It's just like, whoa.

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It's like, gets out of

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control. So there's geeky crew, the three

like super smart high school seniors takes

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wild

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turns.

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And to get into some of the themes and

maybe some of the stars as well, you have,

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you know, tied into Hip Hop.

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Dom played by A$AP Rocky.

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You know, I think one of the first jaw

-dropping moments is like, he just beats

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up the security guard at the

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club. You know, like, wow, where did that

come

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from? And then, then there's, there's a

gun violence and assassination over

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drugs. They even make like a joke about

one acquaintance or friend of them who got

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who got shot and killed at a fast food

joint while he was finishing his GameBoy

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and stuff like that.

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I'm like, wow, this is out of control.

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It was

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wild. And drug use is a theme, Molly, the

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drug Molly. And there's the one girl they

encounter, Lily, who likes

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to get naked. She got into the drugs and

took them on

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And her brother, you know, wanted to be

gangbanger.

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You know, even as if having to shoot out.

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It's like, what?

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I mean, very serious, very serious topics

were touched upon, but they make it so

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lighthearted in how it's portrayed in a

film that it's just like laughable.

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Yeah, a lot of crazy characters.

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And then it, you know, speaking of like

nineties themed Hip Hop movies, you know,

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one of our favorites Do the Right Thing,

you know, featured the character Smiley

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and Roger Guinevere Smith is in this as

AJ, Austin

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Jacoby. And yeah, he, he has a unique way

of talking very slowly and like in a

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creepy

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fashion. He was the one that

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was the one that was going to help them to

get to Harvard because he somehow got to

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Harvard but he was running a very shady

business.

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So it was interesting to see them featured

as well.

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And then you had William the stoner kid

who was funny because they needed an

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expert in how to handle illegal drugs and

paraphernalia and how to get rid of it.

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And he was kind of a master of the dark

arts or like the dark web.

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And he was kind of funny.

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Yeah.

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you, guys.

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Yes, a wild, wild series of events.

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just crazy, not to give you the whole

plot, but these odd things happen and

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you're just like, what just happened?

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One after the other, after the other,

after the other.

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starts with him, Malcolm, trying to

convince his guidance counselor that he

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should write his Harvard essay about Ice

Cube's good day.

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And then he has two no good, very bad

couple of days.

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Yeah.

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It's true.

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But then he recovers.

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I guess there's a happy ending.

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I don't

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know. I guess you could debate whether

it's a happy ending

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Right.

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Yeah.

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is that the guidance counselor was not

really that supportive of, you know, of

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him and didn't really support him.

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But I thought that was a cool concept to

write about the Today Was a Good

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Day. That's been analyzed before as to

what day of the year that was, et

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cetera. It's been a lot said

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about that. Now let's get into like a

soundtrack, you know, our takeaway number

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two is a soundtrack is a goldmine of 90s

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Hip Hop jams. If

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What we believe is like the golden age of

Hip Hop.

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I mean, it is just like, hit after hit

after hit.

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BooGie, you want to take us through some

of the brilliant songs that they put in

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here?

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Yeah, I was jotting them down as they were

coming across like, oh my God, oh my God.

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So it starts, we start off with Hip Hop

Hooray by Naughty by Nature.

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And it's coming in, it's in the beginning

of the film as we first get a glance at

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Malcolm's room and how he's got Hip Hop

posters and things all over the

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room. We have,

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Woo Hah! Got You All in Check by

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Busta Rhymes. And that song was, I love

the placement

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of that

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Malcolm was running away from Bug, AKA

Marquise, and instead of, as they were

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trying to steal his pair of throwback

Jordans that he had on.

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But as they were running through the

hallways, that song was playing its

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perfect placement.

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We have another one, The Choice Is Yours

by Black Sheep.

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And that's when the trio were leaving

school and were trying to figure out which

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way to go home.

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And they were just kind of trying to

figure out which way we should go this way

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or that way.

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Buggin Out by Tribe Called Quest.

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No.

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favorite needle drop of all of them.

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That was the perfect realization when he

realizes what's in his backpack.

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That's the perfect song to describe that

situation.

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Yes.

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Like you said, not just the songs, but the

placement of them really fit the action.

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Yeah, then we have Know the Ledge, the

Juice theme by Eric B.

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and Rakim As Malcolm and the crew, they're

getting chased by the guys in the red El

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Camino who are trying to confiscate the

illegal drugs in the backpack.

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And that was cool too, because it was like

a chase scene.

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So you got that hyper track going wrong

with it.

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That was another, I love the place on that

as well.

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The World is Yours by Nas.

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The crew finally gets away from El Camino

and they're taking the backpack over to

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AJ's house.

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As they're walking around through the

house and they're looking at how well AJ

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lives.

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Then we have, this one was another funny

one that I loved the placement was the

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Scenario by Tribe Called Quest and the

Leaders of the New School as Lily is

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driving, trying to drive Malcolm to his

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And at the same time, you have Diggy and

Jib.

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They're with Jalil at the Jimmy's Burgers

trying to get some

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snacks. You have Rebirth of Slick (Cool

Like Dat) by the Digable Planets, which

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was another cool placement was there,

meeting the elusive William Ian Sherwood

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III,

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criminal

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Yeah.

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Rebel Without a Pause by Public Enemy, as

Malcolm is running through the hallway,

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trying to get his backpack, to get his

backpack and elude the police who are

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doing a search through the hallways, as to

see if the dogs could smell any drugs in

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the building.

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And then like the end credits scene was

perfect, the Humpty Dance by Digital

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Underground. And then we have, you know,

classic Shameik Moore, being Shameik

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doing all their old school dances, like

another perfect placement, like very, very

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deliberate with the songs and the

placement of them.

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Well done.

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Hehehe

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Yeah, I think you nailed it.

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This may be my favorite soundtrack of all

the movies we've covered from top to

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bottom.

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There's a lot of detail in these

selections and the Humpty Dance, he does

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it, Famuyiwa does it to a Pop Up Video

homage.

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So you remember that show from the 90s on

MTV.

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So if you rewatch that scene, the little

pop -ups with the

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credits. Really nice, really well

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Yeah.

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When I, when they played Rebel Without a

Pause, I hadn't heard that in a while.

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And as we're watching it, we were

preparing to go see Chuck D perform, uh,

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do a, do an interview and speech at

Northampton Community College.

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And it really was perfect timing.

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And I was like, yes.

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Um, the rhythm, the rebel was so great.

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Yeah.

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And that, that repetitive, uh, you know,

background from, from.

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Terminator X, it worked so well.

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Brilliant, just brilliant.

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Yeah, so.

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Man, that soundtrack is unreal.

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So we get more to Shameik

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Moore. That was our next takeaway is

Shameik Moore was charismatic as a

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leading man.

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I knew him. I don't know a lot of his work

and know much really mostly from playing

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Miles Morales in the

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Spider -Verse movies. He

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did an amazing job. You guys want to talk

about how well Shameik Moore did as

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Yeah, I think you get the perfect

dichotomy of kid that wants to fit in, kid

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that wants to be cool, kid is unaccepted,

but super brilliant.

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You could tell he was because of the

formulation of his essay, you know, for

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his final admissions essay and how he put

that

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together. But yeah, you want to root for

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the kid. I mean, he's just, he's got the,

he also

235

He's charismatic, but he has this sort of

innocence about him as well.

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And I mean, like I've seen him in some

other things too, but yeah, this is

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probably the first role that I actually, I

think I actually recognized him and

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remembered him

239

from. I think the other, the next role I

think I remembered him on was the, is The

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Get Down If you ever get a chance to check

that out, I highly recommend it

241

on

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about the early stages of Hip Hop in the

Bronx.

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It's very accurate.

244

But unfortunately, I canceled, but yeah,

but he was good in his

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role. I really enjoyed

246

This is his first lead role, which is

pretty great.

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And he's written really well.

248

Malcolm's written really well.

249

There's a theme in this movie about

whether he's just like the other guys

250

that, you know, in his peer group.

251

And it turns out that he's different than

them, but in some ways the same.

252

And that was an interesting plot point

that they hit on a couple of times.

253

The movie starts with these three

definitions for the word dope.

254

And it sets a tone for his coming of age,

but it was also like coming into his own

255

identity.

256

because he struggled with, you know, he's

Black, but he's got a lot of white

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interests.

258

Like this is how good the character's

259

written. His favorite band is the

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Thermals. The Thermals is an indie rock

band from, from I think

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Portland. They're on the Sub Pop label and

like that in the

262

aughts. And like you really had to know

your like indie rock to know that his

263

first, his favorite band was

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the Thermals. And he liked TV on

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the Radio. Another like happened to

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almost all Black members, but like a white

indie rock band.

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So he got a lot to work with and he really

took it and really brought it to life.

268

I could feel the contradictions within

himself.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, I had three adjectives that I

described the character of Malcolm with

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like charming, intelligent, relatable.

272

So yeah, he was

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awesome. We can relate to him and we're

somewhat of nerds and into 90s Hip Hop

274

culture. And, you know, we try to keep a

straight and

275

narrow path. So you definitely can see

like I think he was a great term, BooGie

276

dichotomy is like wanting to fit in

277

a little bit more like street cred,

wanting to relate, but also, you know, he

278

had a path forward.

279

He wanted to go to Ivy League school.

280

And it's hard to navigate that world with

both.

281

I found him very relatable.

282

I mean, he grew up in, he was in

Inglewood, I grew up in Newark.

283

I wanted to go to college and he wanted to

go to college.

284

He had to walk and navigate through the

neighborhood to get to school.

285

I had to navigate through the neighborhood

to get to him from school.

286

I saw some things and he's seen some

things.

287

So yeah, it's, yeah, very relatable.

288

I mean, this was such a well -written

character.

289

Takeaway number four was director Rick

Famuyiwa gifts us a tribute to Hip Hop

290

culture, just as he did with Brown Sugar,

which was, I know Boogie, that's one of

291

your favorites of all time.

292

Really interweaves the power of Hip Hop

culture and coming of age into the plot

293

line. You want to take us through a little

bit

294

Yeah, I could start off.

295

I mean, first thing obviously was the

296

soundtrack. I mean, definitely like it's

297

all there. I mean, the layout of Malcolm's

room, the appreciation for the culture,

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the way they dressed and spoke and

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everything like that. Even Malcolm

300

and Dom's original conversation. And then

he started talking about

301

and how they were going back and forth

debating on Hip Hop from the 90s.

302

And I was just like, wow, this is pretty

cool.

303

This is actually an interesting

conversation right here.

304

There were some other references

throughout the

305

movie. And also, like I mentioned earlier,

the old school dances and

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end credits. That was so cool

307

I remembered all of those dances and I

remember doing all of those dances at some

308

point, which is kind of embarrassing.

309

But yeah, that's a few that I grabbed out

of it.

310

Pretty sure you guys picked up on some

other ones.

311

Yeah, DynoWright, You have a few more as

well.

312

Yeah, so Rick Famuyiwa he's like a, I know

he's the director of this film, but he's

313

like a producer of like a song producer.

314

Like he weaved in a lot of different

little tidbits.

315

Malcolm's room was, there was a lot of

detail in his room and all the other

316

things. I felt like even though there was

a lot of things happening, like in

317

in the plot of the story moving along.

318

It all fit together really nicely.

319

And I, you know, it's hard to do.

320

So I think like it felt like he had the

beat, he had the melody and he had the

321

harmony and he had like, he made a film

that was like very musical, that was not

322

just the music itself, but like it had a

flow to it.

323

And I really enjoyed it.

324

There was some criticism about some of the

other characters, the side characters not

325

being so written.

326

as detailed, but I think it really worked

to have the character of Malcolm be so

327

well written and his friends were

relatable in their own way.

328

And then the side characters really made a

good contrast with the main characters.

329

So, thumbs up from me.

330

Yeah, definitely.

331

I saw

332

it. It's almost like an education in 90s

Hip

333

Hop. If you take someone like from the

younger generation today, like teenager,

334

and you want to give them a quick lesson

in 90s Hip Hop, like watch this movie

335

because you see some of the fashion, you

see the soundtrack, at least for the

336

music. Does a great job with

337

it. And as I mentioned before, it's a

little bit of a nod to do the right thing

338

to have RG Smith in

339

it. Roger

340

Same as you mentioned, I picked up on the

dialogue about the golden age of Hip Hop

341

with Malcolm and Dom.

342

That was awesome.

343

And they were saying, Malcolm was saying

how he loved all these artists.

344

And I think he mentioned like, It Takes a

Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.

345

And I think Dom was arguing, that's from

the 80s.

346

That's actually from the late 80s.

347

He's like, you know, you get the point,

it's 90s.

348

And then I think Dom brings up like

Vanilla

349

Ice. He's like, all right, well, not all

of the 90s was legit, but it was the

350

golden

351

age.

352

There was also reference to a Tribe Called

Quest song, Sucka Nigga, which about the

353

appropriate use of the N word.

354

And they made a little joke about that and

how slaps were

355

happening. And that was kind of funny

seeing how they danced

356

around that. Because there's always a hot

topic is like, hey, how can they can use

357

the word, but

358

we can't. Or like, hey, this guy's Latin,

how can he use it, but

359

I can't. And that's always been

360

thing because like Fat Joe uses the word

it's like hey how does he have the right

361

to use the word and stuff like that so

they they like address that in a humorous

362

way yeah I mean it's it's a goldmine of

90s Hip Hop culture and music

363

And then takeaway number five is there's a

powerful social message in this movie

364

about stereotyping based on socioeconomic

status.

365

We get that towards the end in the form of

the essay and it really makes you

366

think. DynoWright, you want to talk a

little bit about

367

Sure.

368

He pivots from doing analysis of Ice

Cube's Good

369

Day. But I liked it in that he really put

it out

370

there. He was sort of challenging the

Harvard admissions committee about who are

371

you taking, who are you admitting to

372

this institution.

373

He was as complicated as any other people

in the film, but these complications

374

served to have him as like, you know, a

worthy person to go to Harvard.

375

So that was a really cool way they ended

the film with his personal statement.

376

Yeah.

377

Wrong.

378

Boogie you have more on that as well?

379

Yeah, I think it was perfect.

380

Gave two scenarios, you know, one student,

you know, straight A's, you know, awkward,

381

you know, doesn't really fit in, but seems

an all around good student.

382

You know, student B, you know,

unfortunately he's not doing as well as

383

student A, but due to circumstances beyond

his control and dealing with his

384

environment, you know, he's dealing with

what life does, he has to deal with it.

385

And he's like, you know, then you have me.

386

He's like, who am I?

387

You know, maybe I'm caught in between both

of them, you know.

388

And he describes himself and all his

credentials.

389

Like, you know, he's a nearly perfect, you

know, SAT scores, plays in a punk band,

390

has a list of, you know, stellar

extracurricular activities.

391

You know, he's a Google science fair

participant.

392

This was the funny one.

393

And he helped an online business make $100

,000.

394

It is true.

395

So it's like, he ends it, but I love the

way he ends it though.

396

It's like, so why do I want to attend

Harvard?

397

And he says, if I were white, would you

even have to answer that question?

398

He's like, so I mean, it was powerful,

powerful and very relevant even today.

399

But I think, yeah, it was good.

400

I think it was spot on.

401

Yeah, it was unique how they handled that

situation because they were so brilliant

402

with technology and science and they were

like, hey, we can sell things through the

403

dark web and use cryptocurrency and it's

not really tracked by a traditional bank.

404

And it was wild.

405

But yeah, getting back to the point,

describing the two students and the

406

dichotomy between the two, it's like,

maybe I'm both, you know, like who, which

407

person are you looking?

408

to admit it was powerful.

409

It left you thinking, wow.

410

Brilliant.

411

Yeah, so I mean, I think we covered all

the takeaways there.

412

You guys want to go around the room and

give a rating for the movie?

413

So.

414

All right.

415

Boogie, would you say bring this funky

flick back or leave it in the vault?

416

Bring this funky flick back.

417

Such a fun ride.

418

I'm pretty sure if I watch it again, I'm

going to find some other things that I

419

didn't

420

DynoWright?

421

I'm also going to bring this funky flick

back.

422

It's so well crafted, I think I would find

more things the second time around.

423

Any good song has these little things that

you just don't notice right away and then

424

repeated listens will give you the goods.

425

Yeah, I'm with you guys.

426

Definitely bring this funky flick back.

427

Soundtrack is

428

amazing. Lots of action, lots of

429

good dialogue. There's nothing to dislike

430

about this. I've already told some friends

431

about it. Like, have you

432

seen this? You have to

433

see this. I'm continuing to

434

promote it. I told my son he's going to

435

watch it. He's like, yeah, I'll watch

436

it soon. I don't think he's got it round

to it

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just yet. But

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All right.

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All right.