In Three Words: Interesting, Missed, Off
A concept that I have always wanted to see on Television is a show where a story line is created, with the only inspiration being a particular Hip-Hop song. Sure, there have been many a biopic about people in Hip-Hop but never a TV show where every episode is specific to a particular song. I've always wanted to see something like that.
And then came Irv Gotti's "Tales" on BET! Once I saw the advert and upon further research, read the description I was giddy! "Finally!" I said to myself. I couldn't wait to watch it.
The first three episodes came out in quick succession so I planned a day where I was going to watch all three.
Note: There are three more episodes coming this October so I'll just review the first three episodes.
I sat down, turned on my TV. Okay. First episode. "F**k the Police". Obviously based on the famous NWA track. Here we go... A quote from the song pops up. "And not the other color, so police think, they have the authority to kill a minority."
And then the show really began. Where the day to day lives of Black people in the hood were lived by white people and the privileged day to day of white people were lived by black people.
That's right, they reversed the roles. Which is all well and good, certainly wasn't what I was expecting. But I found the story itself very cringe worthy. Especially when they forced the storyline of the protagonist to sleep with the rich black woman that was married to his employer. Over the feature length episode, there were several times where I wanted to go "Okay, you've made your point, move it along."
The first episode was off putting other be completely honest. But I knew I was going to write about it so I pushed onto episode two, which was based on Meek Mill's "Cold Hearted".
This episode was much better. A cautionary tale of a rapper getting a record deal and falling through pitfalls. The start of the episode was the protagonist dying from a gunshot, with his homie calling out for help.
To spoil the ending, it was his homie, which I really liked. Throughout the episode, it was a matter of guessing who would shoot him. It seemed that he made enemies on a daily basis. But, as it turns out, it was the person you'd least expect. The moral of that particular story being even the best of friends can be the ones to end you. Can you trust anyone when on the come up?
The third and last for me was Notorious B.I.G's "I Got A Story To Tell". Very easy considering it has been a well talked about story in Hip-Hop lore. Biggie sleeping with a woman who was with a NBA player (who we now know was New York Knicks' Anthony Mason) and then instead of getting caught, made the event look like a robbery. The 'Tales' version was pretty on point. Focusing on the woman more than anybody and how she was being mistreated by her NBA man. I liked this episode, this was a no brainer as to what song to do an episode on.
So, overall. I enjoyed two of the three. The NWA episode was a reach too far in my opinion. I just found it jarring. The next three episodes will be based on Fetty Wap's "Trap Queen", Slick Rick's "Children's Story" and Jay-Z's "99 Problems".
Will I watch them? Maybe. Even though I wanted to see a show like this, it still leaves a lot to be desired.
Comments