Rap World

Rap-World
Rap World

Rap World is a hangout movie. A period piece, almost. An actual mockumentary that has holographic qualities as if it’s a film created on a camera that you just stumbled upon. This is a film that will be uploaded on Youtube with the tagline ‘So crazy it’s sad’ where consumers had to sift through a cringe video only to get metaphorically punched in the face by irony and manic nostalgia.

We’re in 2009. Three friends, who are played by Conner O’Malley, Jack Bensinger, and Eric Rahill respectively, with a fourth one behind the camera, in this case, Danny Scharar, who is one of the film’s co-directors, have plans to make it out and succeed within a single night in Tobyhanna Pennsylvania. A rap album and a ‘making of’ the rap album documentary were on the minds of these kids. The only remaining question is not if they will accomplish their goal, but how far will their fame reach.

In the first film, O’Malley is the dominant of the group, he plays a wannabe rapper who works in a franchise of a local cinema. Here begins the story of the film where he meets his smiling significant others and they set off wondering with arms wide open to a great night about which their kids will tell stories. That all will soon fade all great sleepovers, and most do. The only difference is the fact that these are boys who are in their mid-20s to early 30s allowing them to carry a tired sense of idealism and actual loss of realistic time due to the wild plans they’ve made for the night.

In an ironic twist of fate, the filmmakers decided to kick start the journey from the other side of the earth and their first premiere was supposed to take place in New York the last week when they got a strike at a corner of the Brooklyn Academy of Music bathed in light from rave crowds who were hungry to snatch the film. Such is the irony of the film, which seems to be counterproductive and very different to the artworks, that many friends were actively making fun of, two and three are that of a ‘friend-white’ so to speak.

The advance does not, therefore, amount to a dismissal of the home music and movie production which appears out of whack, but as an homage to the endeavor, thus giving the Rap World an endearing, if funny and melancholy feel at the same time.

One can imagine what the three of them were like when they were much younger, and perhaps younger is what the creators of 2009, the year in which fragments of the cast’s preparation took place, would be. The diligent approach to set design illustrated especially well supports the atmosphere, which is both festive and sad at the same time. They treat the cinema as if it were a temple, its hallways are playgrounds, its dark passageways and vacant auditoriums are wondrous enigmas, even for those left behind to clean up after patrons. Then there is also the issue of technology. All the action is filmed by a digital video camera. A Samsung cellphone featuring a cool slide-out QWERTY keyboard later on connects the boys to the people they will meet. A TV with a VCR and DVD player is in the mix. Plus, they have a Nintendo Wii, nothing but false hope and promises during the advent of the Obama years.

Another dimension that Rap World also attempts to explore is that of geography.

It is amusing and yet depressing to watch these white lifers stroll the suburban streets in search of something more. The analysis illustrates the messiness of such reality with all its absurdity, but without pity or in the revisionist fetishism to which so many other ‘real’ worlds to which they are clearly so close, are subjected. There is fun and beauty in their palpable sense of place. O’Malley’s character says some of the best memories of their lives are in the parking lots.

For a viewer who is interested solely in entertainment, Rap World disguises the very processes of its making. Along with the considerable cast, the director who was also the editor Bensinger used 70 hours of footage to compose a 56-minute film. The pleasure that accompanies the film Rap World is the experience of engaging with a film that is just embarrassing yet enjoyable. It is in fact a bad, and I mean disturbingly bad, piece of work with ‘character’ that is directed by ‘guys’ and produced by ‘people’ who can pull it off.

In the same overall narrative, the film recounts very well the experiences and sore moments of male affection. To say that the night begins with an anticipatory excitement that has crossed overboard would be an understatement.

After a brief recap of events that happened earlier during the night, things get interesting. Things like pranks, fast food, and testosterone take over as boys are known for their childish acts. Later, there are alcohol, weed, and video games. This enjoyable time makes the three abandon their various missions and take a break at the grocery store. Before going to hang out at a party, this creates numerous problems for the group and causes their night to change a lot. Later, things only seem to be getting worse with the ticking clock. They become more sturdy and make it through the night together. Immediately after, they are able to regain their focus, a conversation between the,m and a new rap album.

During the Question and Answer session that took place after the screening of ‘Rap World’, the directors sounded unsure of how to describe their project but sounded more reluctant to refer to it as a film. Which it clearly is. Rap World as a series has absolutely the best features of legendary underground films. Such names as the Kuchar brothers come to your mind. The movie has easy to distinguished style that is familiar from other works of the same authors, including those on the YouTube channel by O’Malley. It is on that platform Rap World will probably live. And it makes sense, for it is where the fictional creators depicted would have most likely placed their opus.

Perhaps the video would have had a couple of dozen views, a few likes, and maybe even a comment in the span of 15 years. The dudes would slowly start pulling it up less and less as time went by. But it would stay there, just as beautiful as it was.

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