Dope

It appears that the rest of the world, or America anyway, is finally catching on to what Juneteenth is. For those who don’t know, June 19th is the day that word finally got to Texas slaves that they were free. The local rednecks chose to keep that rather important information from them because well…that’s Texas; people do what they want in this state!

The reason I say this is because a few years ago Dave Chappelle decided to put on an impromptu show at Austin's historic Paramount Theater on the 19th of June; and everyone was so excited that they got completely hammered and ruined the show by shouting every random thought that popped up in their heads. And while the theater was mostly Caucasian that night, it was very Night at the Apollo of them to act Black and feel like it was their God given right to shout whatever they wanted at the stage.

Well enter 2015, the year that the studios decided to release producer Pharrell Williams’ coming of age movie Dope on the now infamous Juneteenth. I guess they felt sorry for the average moviegoer and decided to release a "black" movie in the theaters so that they wouldn’t have to deal with both screaming kids and screaming Black people as they attempted to watch Pixar’s Inside Out. Well guess what America, I’m still going to see Inside Out and I’m sneaking in a 40oz when I do!

Anyway, being black, I decided to pop in on the movie Dope first and I am so happy that I did. This movie is an instant classic in the same way that Dazed and Confused, Clueless, or even PCU were when they first came out. It’s about an underdog kid who, through a series of wild events, is able to change the way the world sees him and ultimately grows up and becomes a man as a result of it.

In this movie you are introduced to Malcom and his two best friends who are all considered to be the geeks of their high school in Inglewood, California. They rock the hairstyles, clothing, and even all of the hip hop music from the 90’s and they are treated as outcasts (I almost spelled that Outkast, that’s how dope that group is) because they do what’s considered "white people" stuff; like getting good grades, wanting to go to college, and liking bands like TV on the Radio and Trash Talk. They even have their own punk/rap band, who makes some of the worst music you’ve ever heard in your life. And this is not a knock on NERD because I actually like them, but at first I thought this was Pharrell’s autobiography being brought to life on screen. It’s not.

One day while trying to avoid the local gangs on their way home from school, they run into local drug dealer Dom (A$ap Rocky) who convinces Malcolm to come to his birthday party. Malcom agrees to go because local hottie Nakia (Zoe’ Kravitz) will also be there. Now this is the point of the movie where I thought it was my autobiography, a kid who falls in love with Lisa Bonet’ or her daughter? Yeah, I’d go to a drug dealer’s birthday party in the hood too!

Anyway, going to this party sparks a chain of events that will dramatically change their lives for the next few months. All of a sudden they are introduced to a host of odd characters who include drug kingpins, rival gang members, and random hot Blasians (Black-Asians) who answer the door completely naked.

This movie takes you on a wild ride and it’s one that you hope never ends because it’s fun, funny, and one that every kid wants to experience, at least on some level. It’s smart as it tackles some pretty heavy social issues without ever being preachy and it also never forgets what it is and that’s a coming of age comedy. I loved this movie and I give it a solid rating of TIGHT!