TV Reviews : ‘Rap City Rhapsody’ a Valuable Primer

If you’re curious about rap and know little about it, “Rap City Rhapsody” on KCET Channel 28 tonight at 11 is a fast-paced, often unsettling, informative guide.

A black musical form that emerged in the black community in the early ‘80s, rap has become a dominant force in the music business and pop culture in the past few years. At its best, rap reflects the sociopolitical stance of the black community. At its worst, it’s a vehicle for bragging and sexism.

For the uninformed, producer Akili Buchanan has inserted many helpful signposts. At the beginning, printed definitions of rap slang help orient you to the milieu. As video clips of various rappers like Digital Underground and Too Short play, lyrics are flashed on the screen. Warning: They include a few four-letter words.

Incisive, scholarly overviews by author/critic Ishmael Reed and radio deejay “Davy D” Cook have considerable impact. The gritty street flavor of rap swirls all through this hour, which was partly filmed in poorer areas of Oakland. You get a sense that rap isn’t just a bunch of silly rhymes but the honest expression of the young voices of a subculture.

While touching on issues like white rappers, female rappers and sexism, “Rap City Rhapsody” continually hammers home the point that rap mirrors what’s happening in the ghettos. Rappers’ frequent outpourings of rage against the police has its origins, this documentary suggests, in actual police brutality. There’s an ominous, underlying theme that hard-core political rap is a desperate message from ghettos ready to explode.

The problem with any documentary on rap, however, is that it can quickly become out of date. Rap changes so fast that there’s a new lineup of heroes every six months or so. Since this documentary was made last year, M.C. Hammer and Vanilla Ice have made rap a huge success in the pop mainstream, but they’re not featured here.

Taken as a historical primer on this musical and cultural phenomenon, however, “Rap City Rhapsody” is invaluable.