Rappers Comment On Controversial "Django Unchained" Movie

Quentin Tarantino's new movie, Django Unchained has caused a lot of controversy since it was released on Christmas day last year (just a couple of weeks ago). And thanks to people like Spike Lee, who is totally against the movie, it has banked in 130 million at the box office already. Spike Lee is a movie maker himself, but he has been bashing the movie for the extensive use of the 'N' word...and his criticism has caused more people to go out and see the movie, which equals cheap publicity for Tarantino.






Spike Lee's major problem is the fact that Quentin Tarantino made a movie about slavery, but, according to Lee, he made a very serious issue seem very trivial. But, anyone that has seen Tarantino movies from the past (Kill Bill 1&2, Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Basterds...) know that Tarantino likes rawness in his movies. He likes gore...he likes foul language use. This is his own way of expressing art, and he has a lot of fans. So, I think Spike Lee is misunderstanding him. I actually watched a 10 minute interview of Tarantino where he dealt with this issue yesterday, and he really put it in perspective. Anyway, before I get lost in expressing my own thoughts, read what a couple of rappers think of this ongoing debate.


Below is what Uncle Luke, from 2 Live Crew had to say-

"Screw Spike Lee. Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained is a brilliant flick that more accurately depicts the African American experience than any of the 15 movies about black culture Lee's directed in his lifetime. It's why the movie took home a Golden Globe award for best screenplay over the weekend and why it was recently nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Since Django Unchained hit the theaters, Lee has been publicly trashing Tarantino. In announcing his personal boycott of the movie, the Do The Right Thing filmmaker tweeted, "American slavery was not a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western," and "It Was A Holocaust. My Ancestors Are Slaves. Stolen From Africa. I Will Honor Them." (Miami New Times)










And below is what Talib Kweli had to say about the movie-

"I liked it a lot, it was thorougly, thoroughly entertaining," Kweli said in an interview referring to Tarantino's latest flick. "[Offended by it?] Nah. I'm a fan of Quentin Tarantino. I'm a student of his films. I know what I'ma get when I go see his films. Slavery was the real backdrop of the story and I think that's where the real debate lies. Slavery should be the backdrop, whether or not you should use the Spaghetti Western format to tell the story that involves slavery but once you get past that argument, it was a great story. It wasn't no Pulp Fiction, but it was real good. ... I don't think [the N-word usage] was an issue with Django Unchained. Clearly it is of the time, clearly the N-word was a word that was used way more times than a hundred times. ... The word 'N*gga' in the movie Django Unchained was perfect -- when you're having arguments and people are weighing in on social networks, what the actual argument is gets lost. Spike Lee, even though he's had problems in the past with Quentin using the word 'N*gga' in his films, in Reservoir Dogs, in Pulp Fiction, that was never his issue with this film. He never said, 'My issue is...' People assumed that was his issue. His issue was, 'Slavery was, to my ancestors, such an important topic that if you're going to make a film about it, it needs to be treated as serious subject matter." (Hot 97)











And Nas also chipped in-

"I didn't see what the big fuss was about," he said matter-of-factly, pointing out that the term worked in the context of a Spaghetti Western revisiting the horrors of slavery, from a director known for his "language" and "goriness." "It's a movie, movies by [Tarantino], why should we be surprised if the movie is raw? ... He's one of the greatest filmmakers of our generation, and we don't go there to see anything less than rawness. He's an artist, and artists have to express themselves." (MTV)

Rhymefest also had some words

"I think that sometimes you got to know when you've won. And I think Spike Lee won but he's ruining his win. Now he's putting himself in a position where he's going to have to win again. Furthermore, make some good a** movies and show "us" how it's done. I'm going to tell you something. I don't think black filmmakers can make good movies about slavery. I don't think it's possible. I think we're too close to it. You can [quote me]. A lot of people are going to hate that. Some subjects, as black people, we get so emotional about things that we don't think about the artistic entertainment value of it as well as the historic accuracy of it." (SOHH Guest Star)

Briliant words from these guys...brilliant. I particularly like how Rhymefest put it. Just in case you don't know, Spike Lee has directed over a dozen movies. A few i can mention are Malcom X (1992), and Inside Man (2006).