Search - Brasilintime: Batacuda Com Discos on DVD

Brasilintime

Sidik M. Fofana | New York, NY | 04/10/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Get ready for some international diggin' in the crates. In Brasilintime, DJ, producers, and drummers from the American underground Hip-Hop travel to Brazil to soak up Sao Paulo's rich musical tradition. Famed Hip-Hop artists Babu, Madlib, Cut Chemist, and J. Rocc brush elbows with Brazil's musical legends as Hip-Hop flirts with Samba, Bossa Nova, and Samba Rock giving birth to a kaleidoscopic sound. Vinyl shopping and jam sessions are the past time of choice when these Hip-Hop journeymen embrace Sao Paulo's hearty culture and expand on their own musical tastes.



Viewers can see the utter excitement in Madlib's face as he browses flea markets and local music shops filled alternative instruments. Madlib and his crew of Babu, Cut Chemist, and J. Rocc meet up with jazz legends Paul Humphrey and James Gadson, and Ivan "Mamao" Conti in a collaboration of global proportions. Amongst the endless jam sessions, the ensemble comes up with the funky idea of assembling a band of DJ's who spin in unison and use their turntables as live instruments.



Midway through the film, there's a fascinating segment on the breakbeat, where the narrator goes over the origin of the classic Apache, a centerpiece of Kool Herc's routine in the parks of the South Bronx and a staple backdrop in Hip Hop.



Brasilintime leaves nothing out, which is a positive but also explains why the documentary lags at times. Sometimes the cameramen are filming a travel journal rather than a documentary, with excessive hotel room scenes. Still, if anything, Brasilintime shows the lengths that some Hip-Hop producers are willing to go to create something new. They bring the vinyl scavenger hunt culture to an international forum and produce the remarkable results of Bassanova and Samba laced Hip-Hop.

"

Beautiful Eclectic

Soapboxkid | Torrance, California United States | 05/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This film was showing at the Hammer museum near UCLA. I went in fully ingnorant about the connections between Brasilian music and Hip Hop. I came out elightened due to the amazing colaboration among some very talented Brasilian and American musicians..."