‘Up in Smoke’ DVD Offers Rap History in the Making
Last summer’s “Up in Smoke” tour was a milestone in hip-hop--a mixture of showmanship, star power and state-of-the-art production values that was widely hailed as the coming of age for arena rap concerts.
The tour, co-starring Dr. Dre, Eminem, Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg, is toasted in a documentary that is one of three hip-hop-related entries in this periodic look at music-themed videos, DVDs and books.
*** “The Up in Smoke Tour.” Eagle Vision Inc. and Aftermath Entertainment. DVD edition. Just as the tour leaned heavily on proven rock show concepts, this documentary also follows in the tradition of rock concert videos--too closely.
As with rock videos generally, you don’t get the energy of the audience to add to the dynamics of the music.
In the formal documentary and the added 30-minutes of DVD bonus features, we also see random footage of the musicians fooling around backstage and lounging on the plane--along with lots of bare female breasts in the audience.
Within those limitations, however, “Up in Smoke” is valuable because it captures the live hip-hop experience so artfully. Director Philip G. Atwell, gives us a faithful look at both the street-driven self-affirmation and the crude sensibilities of this music. The documentary, which carries a parental advisory sticker, includes original videos shown at the concerts--videos filled with violence, casual sex and drug use.
One of the most interesting segments of the bonus footage is the behind-the-scenes struggle with the Detroit police who threatened to close down the show if those videos were shown. When future generations want to look back at the state of commercial hip-hop in 2000, this will be an essential starting point.
*** 1/2 Bruce Springsteen’s “The Complete Video Anthology/1978-2000.” Columbia Music Video. DVD edition. Even if you had a VCR ready every time Springsteen went on television over the years (either for live performances or in new videos), you still wouldn’t have all the footage contained in this nearly three-hour, two-disc collection.
Springsteen came late to videos, which means we don’t really pick up his career until the “Born in the U.S.A.” superstar period. The only earlier footage here is the often-seen “Rosalita” concert performance from 1978 and Springsteen’s versions of “The River” and “Thunder Road” from the “No Nukes” documentary in 1980.
When Springsteen did break into the video world, he often worked with celebrated Hollywood directors, including Brian De Palma (“Dancing in the Dark”), John Sayles (“Born in the U.S.A” et al), Tim Robbins (“Dead Man Walkin’ ”) and Jonathan Demme (“Streets of Philadelphia”). But he worked most often with Meiert Avis, who set Springsteen in gritty, grainy frameworks that were particularly effective.
Supplementing the more than two dozen formal videos is a variety of material, ranging from a previously unreleased live performance of “If I Should Fall Behind” from the reunion tour with the E Street Band to live, acoustic TV performances of “The Ghost of Tom Joad” and “Born in the U.S.A.” to an acoustic version of “Fire” that was performed at Neil Young’s 1986 Bridge School benefit concert.
*** Eminem’s “E.” Aftermath Entertainment. DVD edition. The centerpiece of this collection of eight Eminem videos is “Stan,” the song in which Eminem warns a crazed fan not to accept everything in the rapper’s sometimes hateful, self-destructive music as an acceptable code of behavior. The DVD also includes the more cartoonish “The Real Slim Shady” and “Guilty Conscience,” a perversely amusing look at good and evil that was one of the most talked-about tracks from his first major-label album, “The Slim Shady LP.” The imagery in the videos is frequently as imaginative as Eminem’s rhymes, but there is enough sex, drugs and violence to make it important that parents heed the advisory sticker. The DVD also includes a behind-the-scenes look at the making of “Stan.”
*** Eminem’s “Angry Blonde,” Regan Books. Though the rapper leaves “Stan” out of this collection of lyrics and photos, the hard-cover book does contain lyrics to most of Eminem’s other songs, spelling out the pathological rage behind the controversial “Kim” and “Kill You.” The words lose power without the often frantic energy of the music, but Eminem opens up a bit by reflecting on what led him to write the songs. The comments won’t convert those who find his music repellent, but they do help humanize him and explain some of the creative process.
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