Growing up in Compton (Surrey), I guess it was inevitable that I’d be drawn to hip-hop.
I’d love to say that it was politically-conscious, musically-progressive artists that first attracted me to the genre but that simply wasn’t the case. For the 13-year old Mark, good music meant songs with so much swearing in they resembled weird auditory experiments in mixing sound and silence when played on the radio. If there was also a heavy dose of violent and misogynistic content in it, then all the better.
These kinds of songs became so prevalent in the ‘90s that for many people, namely my parents, they’ve come to define what hip-hop music ‘is’. This is a real shame. As with any type of music, the content of a handful of performers provides only a tiny glimpse of what’s truly on offer. Once my youthful obsession with offensive-for-the-sake-of-it songs wore off, it was these other artists who ensured that my love of hip-hop stayed strong.
Take DJ Yoda for example. The multi-award winning, scratch, cut and paste maestro is about as far away from the world of ‘gangsta rap’ as possible. His style of music, mixing technically accomplished beats with a heavy dose of humour and nerd-culture, has seen him establish a position as one of the most critically-lauded and respected DJ’s in the world.
As a hip-hop fan and self-confessed geek, he’s also one of my favourite musicians, chuck my film obsession into that mix, and you can imagine my excitement over his new joint-venture with the British Film Institute coming to Yorkshire next week. The Final Frontier will see DJ Yoda apply his turntable skills to mashing-up audio and visuals to some of the greatest sci-fi films of time. It’s difficult to know whether to describe it as a concert, screening or something in-between but it certainly promises to be a unique combination of moving image and music.
Part of the BFI’s ‘Sci-fi: Days of Fear and Wonder season’, the show had its world premiere in London earlier this month and is now coming to Ilkely, Huddersfield and Wakefield as part of Ilkley Film Festival and Film Hub North’s ‘The Final Frontier event. With no permanent independent cinema provision, the event organisers have got creative and are transforming the following locations at each of the host areas into suitable venues.
- Thursday 27 November – Unity Works, Wakefield
- Saturday 29 November – St. Georges Square, Huddersfield (family-friendly event)
- Sunday 30 November – King’s Hall, Ilkley
As if a collage of music and images from films such as Robocop, Total Recall and Muppets in Space wasn’t enough, your £15 (free at Huddersfield!) also gets you a warm-up act. Huddersfield’s own, The Stems, will be providing a live score to the George Melies seminal sci-fi short A Trip to the Moon. The impact this film has had on cinema and pop culture in general can’t be overstated and is essential viewing, the fact you’ll be seeing the full 16-minute restored version with hand-coloured cells is an added bonus.
To find out more about The Final Frontier season and book your tickets, visit: http://www.ilkleyfilmfestival.co.uk/final-frontier-film-live-music-collide/