HIP-HOP EVOLUTION (Darby Wheeler, Canada). 90 minutes. Rating: NNNN
A beginner’s guide to hip-hop often sounds off with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s hard-knock anthem The Message. But we don’t hear it until the very end of Hip-Hop Evolution. The Canadian doc digs deeper through the days before Wild Style, shining a light on every minor but essential cog that made the music happen.
Our very own Shad brings his show-host skills and affection for the genre to conversations with icons like Melle Mel and Cold Crush’s Grandmaster Caz and unsung heroes that came before them.
If The Message gave birth to hip-hop as we know it, this doc is about the labour, the three trimesters, the broken condom and the drinks that got the party started.
Apr 29, 7:00 pm, TIFF 1 May 5, 9 pm, Innis (free Docs at Dusk screening, weather permitting) May 6, 9:15 pm, Bloor Hot Docs