Hip-hop

What do you do when you attempt to make a “serious” film about a gangster from Harlem’s rise to riches and spend over a $100 million doing so? You pander like a politician to to the young generation to fill seats. And who better to fill seats than the “dumb” hip hop generation. The marketing of this film has been impeccable. Everything from the trailers showing Denzel Washington pumping his fist over Jay-Z’s classic record “Heart of the City” to casting rappers T.I., Common and RZA and let’s not forget Jay-Z releasing an album by the same name that he says is “inspired by the movie”. To any hip hop head, having Jay-Z inspired by your movie, so much so to make an album about it, is a flashing light sign saying “MUST SEE”.

Read the full review of the movie American Gangster from a hip hop perspective.