''Big Fun in the Big Town'' is a Dutch music documentary made by the

VPRO The VPRO (stylized vpro; originally an acronym for , ) is a Dutch public broadcaster, which forms a part of the Dutch public broadcasting system. Founded in 1926 as a liberal Protestant broadcasting organization, it gradually became more ...

in 1986. It was directed by Bram van Splunteren and presented by Belgian TV presenter

Marcel Vanthilt Marcel Céline Gerard Edgard Vanthilt (; born 24 August 1957) is a Belgian singer and television presenter.Heerema,Y.Marcel Vanthilt – Presentator Marcel Vanthilit NCRV-gids 1, 5 till 11 January 2008. Retrieved 29 April 2011. Early life Mar ...

. The documentary was shot on location in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and consisted of two parts, one about rock singer

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the " Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of proto-punk band The Stooges, who w ...

and

the Stooges The Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, also known as Iggy and the Stooges, was an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Da ...

, the other about the American hip hop scene. The latter turned out to have a much bigger impact on the Dutch music scene and enjoys a

cult classic A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

status among hip-hop fans.VANTHILT, Marcel, ''"Marcel 55"'', ''Lido'', 2012, page 107-111.

Recording

The documentary was made in September 1986 in eight days time and filmed in the streets of

. Vanthilt and his four Dutch colleagues had hired some body guards for protection from local street gangs. They managed to interview several important pioneers of early hip hop, including

Run–D.M.C. Run-DMC (also spelled Run-D.M.C.) was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens, New York City, founded in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of ...

LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, along ...

Doug E. Fresh Doug E. Fresh (born September 17, 1966) is a Barbados-born American rapper, record producer, and beatboxer, also known as the "Human Beat Box". The pioneer of 20th-century American beatboxing, Fresh is able to accurately imitate drum machines an ...

Grandmaster Flash Joseph Saddler (born January 1, 1958), popularly known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is an American DJ and rapper. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Hip Hop DJing, cutting, scratching and mixing. Grandmaster Flash and the ...

Roxanne Shante Lolita Shante Gooden (born March 8, 1970), better known by her stage name Roxanne Shante, is an American rapper. Born and raised in the Queensbridge Projects of Queens, New York City, Shante first gained attention through the Roxanne Wars and w ...

Biz Markie Marcel Theo Hall (April 8, 1964 – July 16, 2021), known professionally as Biz Markie, was an American rapper, singer, songwriter, DJ, and record producer. Markie was best known for his 1989 single "Just a Friend", which became a Top 40 hit in ...

MC Shan Shawn Moltke (born September 6, 1965) better known by his stage name MC Shan, is an American hip hop and R&B recording artist. He is best known for his song "The Bridge" produced by Marley Marl, and for collaborating with Snow on " Informe ...

Russell Simmons Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. Simmons ...

Mr. Magic John "Mr. Magic" Rivas, (March 15, 1956 – October 2, 2009) was a prominent hip hop radio DJ. Career Mr. Magic debuted in 1979 on WHBI in New York City with “Disco Showcase” on the pay-for-time FM station. It was a far cry from the prime ...

Schoolly D Jesse Bonds Weaver Jr. (born June 22, 1962), better known by the stage name Schoolly D (sometimes spelled Schooly D), is an American rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Career Schoolly D teamed up with DJ Code Money in the mid-1980s. His ...

and

The Last Poets The Last Poets are several groups of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African-American civil rights movement's black nationalism. The name is taken from a poem by the South African revolutionary poet Keorapetse Kgositsile, who bel ...

. Grandmaster Flash showed his talents in

scratching Scratching, sometimes referred to as scrubbing, is a DJ and turntablist technique of moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable to produce percussive or rhythmic sounds. A crossfader on a DJ mixer may be used to fade between two record ...

and

DJing A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

, Doug E. Fresh did

beatbox Beatboxing (also beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (typically a TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice.

ing on a busy street corner in Harlem, New York and LL Cool J still lived with his grandmother at time of recording. The documentary crew literally arrived at a turning point for hip hop. Run–D.M.C. had just released the single "

Walk This Way "Walk This Way" is a song by the American rock band Aerosmith. Written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, the song was originally released as the second single from the album '' Toys in the Attic'' (1975). It peaked at number 10 on the ''Billboa ...

", their duet with the rock band

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whitford (guitar). Their style, which is rooted in blues ...

, which would cause mainstream acceptance of the genre by a major white audience. Because of this element ''Big Fun in the Big Town'' still provides a unique time capsule.

Impact

''Big Fun in the Big Town'' was broadcast on Sunday 30 November 1986 at 8:10 p.m on

Nederland 2 NPO 2 (''NPO twee'', formerly Nederland 2 until 2014) is a Dutch television channel, sister channel of NPO 1 and NPO 3. It was established on 1 October 1964 at 20:00, initially with a 2.5 hours schedule until 22:30. NPO 2 tends to broadcast art ...

, receiving a lot of praise afterwards. The documentary has been rebroadcast several times since, and was given credit by an entire generation of Dutch rappers and hip hop artists as an important inspiration; including

Osdorp Posse The Osdorp Posse, founded in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 1989, was one of the first groups to make rap music in Dutch. All four members are related to each other. Influenced by gangsta rap Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reali ...

, The Opposites,

Kraantje Pappie Alex van der Zouwen (born 1 July 1986, Rozenburg), better known by his stage name Kraantje Pappie, is a Dutch rapper and television presenter. Van der Zouwen is signed to the label Noah's Ark, which released four major albums alongside several sin ...

Gers Pardoel Gerwin Pardoel (born 12 May 1981), better known by his stage name Gers Pardoel or mononymously as Gers, is a Dutch rapper. He rose to fame in 2009, due to his successful collaboration with The Opposites on the single " Broodje Bakpao". Pardoel' ...

De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig (The Youth of Today) is a Dutch hip hop and R&B group based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, renowned for their musical approach of irreverent, humorous lyrics and electronic beats. Their humorous style is characterised b ...

Brainpower Gerrit-Jan Mulder, known professionally as Brainpower (born 5 February 1975), is a Dutch rapper who writes, records and performs in both English as well as his native Dutch. He was born in Belgium and grew up in the Netherlands. He started mak ...

and Def P. among others.

Availability

The documentary became available on DVD in 2012. ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' praised it in their reviews. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' ranked it at number 10 in their list of the ten best music documentaries of all time.

Soundtrack album

A soundtrack album was also made available in 2012.

Track list

From Discogs. # "South Bronx" –

Boogie Down Productions Boogie Down Productions (BDP) was an American hip hop group originally composed of KRS-One, D-Nice, and DJ Scott La Rock. DJ Scott La Rock was murdered on August 27, 1987, five months after the release of BDP's debut album, '' Criminal Minde ...

(5:10) # "9mm Goes Bang" –

(4:19) # "Cold Getting Dumb" –

Just-Ice Joseph Williams Jr. (born June 22, 1965), better known by the stage name Just-Ice, is an American rapper from New York City. A former bouncer at punk clubs, Williams was the first of the New York rappers to embrace gangsta rap, and when he bur ...

(4:32) # "Latoya" –

(4:11) # "Breaking Bells" –

T La Rock Terrence "Terry" Ronnie Keaton known by the stage name T La Rock, (born September 16, 1961) is an American old-school emcee best known for his collaboration with Def Jam Recordings co-founder Rick Rubin and the 1984 single "It's Yours." Biog ...

(5:24) # "Back to Burn" –

(3:35) # "Jockbox" – Skinny Boys (4:33) # "Leave It to the Drums" – Tricky Tee (4:40) # "Bassline" –

Mantronix Mantronix was an influential 1980s hip hop and electro funk music group from New York City. The band was formed by DJ Kurtis Mantronik (Kurtis el Khaleel) and rapper MC Tee (Touré Embden). The group is primarily remembered for its pioneerin ...

(5:27) # "Ladies" –

(6:54)

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 2323202 1980s short documentary films Dutch television films 1986 television films 1986 films 1986 documentary films Documentary films about hip hop music and musicians Dutch short documentary films Dutch hip hop Documentary films about New York City New York City hip hop Dutch documentary television films 1986 in New York City 1980s English-language films