Word: hopã
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Dates: during 2001-2001
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James Wong, the director of Final Destination, demonstrates true artistic flair with his direction of The One. Additionally, he wisely eschews the usual clichés that seem to dog many American-made, Hong Kong-styled movies. The tired “kung-fu hip hop?? of Rush Hour and Romeo Must Die is thankfully absent, with the actors essaying roles and not racial caricatures. There are no Ebonics or broken accents found here. Nor does he fall into the trap of simply repeating what came before. For example, countless other films from Reservoir Dogs to Kiss...
Long Beach’s Ugly Duckling, who opened the show, only managed to worsen my expectations. These guys exemplified purist hip-hop??s worst qualities—a formulaic, unexciting musical aesthetic of mediocre loops and scratches, paired with uncharismatic M.C.s who, with their “clever” yet predictable punchline lyrics, ended up saying as little as any “thug kna’a mean?” gangsta rapper. Occasionally taking breaks from their set for some rather awkward sketches, lame jokes and clichéd sermons on the real meaning...
...This action and that statement set the tone and clarified the goal of the lecture. West then identified himself as a figure and not an artist, stating, “Hip-hop is a rich moment in a long tradition [of] struggle.” West emphasized hip-hop??s historical and intellectual context, instead of a pop-cultural one. Many tend to inaccurately see hip-hop and its followers as markedly unintellectual. However, as West argued, hip-hop articulates the pressures of living an unstable, uncertain life. West connected the genre to “tragicomic?...