Tonight was the premiere of the VH1 Original Movie The Breaks, based on hip hop journalist Dan Charnas' The Big Payback (a book on the history of the hip hop business). Seith Mann (The Wire, The Walking Dead, Homeland) wrote and directed the film, and was also one of the executive producers, along with Mann and others. DJ Premier was the executive music producer for the film, and he did an excellent job of incorporating old school jams from both hip hop and r&b (of course I was 5 years old in 1990, so some may disagree, but I doubt it). And when "Poison" came on and I did the normal 21st century thing of singing along loudly with exaggeration, the calm dancing in the club scene reminded me people didn't get THAT hype to it in 1990 (though it was still the jam). #RandomThought LOL
The film did a great job of sharing not only the stories of the two main characters, Nikki Jones (Afton Williamson) and DeeVee (Tristan Wilds), but also the stories of other characters like Nikki's boyfriend David (David Call) and Ahm (Antoine Harris). Though I would have loved to have more of Wood Harris, who played Barry Fouray, in the film. Beyond the fact that I absolutely love Wood Harris, and was disappointed he was MIA pretty much all of the movie except for the beginning and the end, I'm not sure how a film about the hip hop business declines to give us some of the story about how Barry Fouray founded his own label. The label that is pretty much at the center of the film. I would have loved some of the time spent on David's father's background (and him going and getting his son's job back) to have been spent telling us more about this Black-owned record label in 1990. They could have given us a little something more.
But besides that, I really enjoyed the film. Not only did the film manage to develop some of the supporting characters, it also did a pretty good job of depicting three focal points of the industry. Nikki loves hip hop, but is not a part of creating the actual music. So David's father tells her she can either be a fan or find a way to help with the bottom line to get into the industry. It's that advice that eventually gets her from scrubbing the toilet and then counting receipts from tours to the role of Barry Fouray's personal assistant (which is the role she is in at the conclusion of the film). DeeVee is a producer who records in his father's garage when his father is at work, because his father detests hip hop. Interestingly enough, his father is played by Method Man. DeeVee is looking for the right MC to put on his beat to get him on, and he ends up finding it in Ahm, a drug dealer in the projects DeeVee used to live in. The film gives an interesting amount of screen time to Ahm's story, though I felt it could have given a bit more. I would love to know if he truly wanted to pursue a rapping career, or if he ended up recording with DeeVee merely to have an alibi. But if I'm honest with myself, it came across like he just wanted an alibi but the film depicted him as such a good rapper perhaps I wanted it to be more. Then there's Nikki's boyfriend, David. A White guy who loves hip hop, hates Hammer and the fact that he's so mainstream when the rest of hip hop isn't getting as much playtime, and works at a Black radio station that has a motto stating it won't play hip hop.
There were some interesting twists towards the end regarding Nikki's story. The most interesting part about the twists was that they could have easily been complete story changers, but instead they are kind of just laid out on the table with a shrug. And beyond that, there wasn't really a huge happy ending. I mean, you're watching a film about three people trying to make it in the hip hop industry, in different ways. And though there aren't really any major let downs or flops (which would have been one way to end it), their final destination wasn't that high either. Nikki's a personal assistant. DeeVee's demo tape got played at the club. And David doesn't even work at the radio station anymore. And while I think about it, it seems like the ending actually left much to be desired. For instance, in the final scene David looks across the club at Nikki with Fouray, and he gives this look that suggests he's going to see something happen. But then nothing really happens. And I really would have liked more on Ahm's true intentions. And again, could have had more of Fouray's story. So maybe I'm not that impressed with the story they gave us.
Did you watch it? What did you think??