SITE TOOLS
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Echo Park
- The Review
By David Dodson
In recent years as new generations began ushering in a new era for hip-hop, it
seemed that much of the movement's history was being forgotten. In the spirit of
historical preservation, co-producers/writers Kelly D. Scott and Sean Couch have put
together Echo Park: The Hip-Hop Musical. Narrated by hip-hop legends Kurtis Blow and
Grandmaster Caz, Echo Park recreates the early life of Caz and hip-hop itself. The musical
highlights all of hip-hop's four elements (graffiti, b-boying, djing, and mcing) as it
depicts the true story of how hip-hop first became a recorded music - a story seemingly
pulled directly from Caz's life.
A DJ and an MC, Caz was the writer behind the original hip-hop hit "A Rappers
Delight" released by the Sugarhill Gang. As Echo Park indirectly explains through
fictional characters, Big Bad Hank went from being Caz's manager to a member of the rap
super group after passing off Caz's lyrics as his own. Echo Park clearly portrays this act
as the antithesis of the principles hip-hop stood for in its inception and a violation of
trust. That this violation propelled hip-hop into mainstream media is a profound statement
on how hip-hop has evolved and speaks volumes on the need for projects like this.
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Unfortunately, where Echo Park is strong in intention,
it fails in its execution. The musical plays as pure fiction to the uneducated since the
historical validity of the story is never addressed. Even though Caz narrates Echo Park,
it is the story of a fictional DJ Scott Rock and his manager Doc, not Caz and Big Bad Hank
that we follow. Because of this, the relevance of the story is completely lost amidst the
cabaret comedy that we get from going "waaaay back!" The aerial work of the
b-boy's in the cast are quite the spectacle, however, their acting ability (and those of
the other actors in the musical) leave much to be desired. Most of the music selections
were true to the time period utilizing numerous classic break-beats. One exception occurs
in the middle of the first act during a contrived dream sequence. DK Dyson (playing Scott
Rock's mother) breaks out into a song, while appropriate for the story being told, seemed
inappropriate for the hip-hop musical.
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At a time when hip-hop is in need of projects that share
and preserve the history of the movement for future generations it's hard to speak
negatively about anyone fighting for that cause. However, while the need exists, I cannot
be satisfied with the way Echo Park has attempted to fulfill that need. More importantly,
the story of Echo Park is unclear because it's quite possible to leave the theater
completely clueless as to what you have just seen.
The reasons for this are numerous. I can only hope that the creators are
able to correct these problems before the next installment of what is supposed to be a
trilogy is completed. M
June 2000 |
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