The Great Hip Hop Hoax
Jeanie Finlay:
The Great Hip Hop Hoax (UK, 2013)
88 min. - English
K-12
As the über-Californian rap duo Silibil n’ Brains was on their way to superstardom no one had any idea that the cool American rappers were actually Scottish students.
The story of The Great Hip Hop Hoax has been met with surprise, astonishment and fits of laughter at film festivals. The story in the film begins when twenty something Scots Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain are attempting to get British record companies interested in their music. When the smug record moguls only show the two yokels the door, they decide to try another approach. They create false identities for themselves and begin to talk with American accents. British record bosses, hungry for anything American, go nuts about the street credible duo, despite the fact that Billy and Gavin have never even set foot in the United States.
Soon these “LA Homeboys” score a record deal with Sony and begin living the good life. For three years the duo live the life of an American celebrity: they party with Madonna and play joint gigs with Eminem’s posse D12. At times, they get very close to getting caught, but disguise the truth with vociferous behaviour and crazy stunts. In the end, full-time pretending begins to take its toll.
The Great Hip Hop Hoax depicts Billy and Gavin’s incredible hoax from beginning to end. There is a lot of extravagant material, shot by Silibil n’ Brains during the initial stages of their success. The more outrageous the hoax, the greater the appetite.
Sun 17th Nov at 5:15pm Tapio 3