![]() This is not hip-hop 101, but a competition immersed in a genre that is thriving but hasn’t been centered enough in reality TV. The episodes I watched never tried to make the show for everyone. I’m not overly familiar with or knowledgeable about hip-hop, its stars and variations, I don’t think I’m the target audience-and that’s something I genuinely appreciated about the show. But, as with any review or recation, this may be about me. The show didn’t really keep my attention I wasn’t necessarily excited for today’s final three episodes. this morning, but Netflix itself isn’t even live-tweeting those three episodes until tonight. It’s possible people watched the final three episodes starting when they were released, at 3 a.m. While I appreciate that experimentation, the idea of withholding the reveal of finalists and the winner was undercut entirely by People magazine publishing an interview with the winner at 6:30 a.m. Its distribution model-spreading the show over three weeks-did get attention. I’d say the show hasn’t seemed to break through into the larger cultural conversation in the way, say, The Masked Singer did earlier this year, but what Netflix show has? Queer Eye, maybe? Mars, T.I., and Nipsey Hussle listen to a performance by a potential Rhythm + Flow contestant. That’s played as a spontaneous visit, but there are marks taped to the floor where everyone needs to stand. saw Nipsey Hussle before he was killed in that very place), they go listen to a potential contestant. meets with Nipsey Hussle (as he says in a voice over, that’s one of the last times T.I. Still, there’s often evidence that all of this is just as (over-)produced as The Voice, like what sounds like audience sound effects.įor another example, in episode one, after T.I. There’s no desperation to be everything to everyone. It’s not The Voice or American Idol with hip-hop instead of pop and rock, and that’s refreshing. This is also a music competition that’s not confined to a soundstage set, which lets a formatted show drift into unformatted territory. There is a looseness to everything, from Cardi B’s witty commentary to the way an audience member leaps onto the stage even though he’s not an actual contestant. And that’s fine, especially since, while it’s using established elements of other reality TV competitions, it also adds its own twists, from the cypher round to just the general tone of the show. ![]() Later, there’s a battle round, and a music video challenge. end up in chairs in front of a screaming audience, although in a club, not a soundstage and that audience sometimes sounds suspiciously like the same audience sound effect that gets layered on top of broadcast network competitions to make it sound like people are clapping and cheering nonstop. In the opening audition episodes, contestants are introduced with clip packages and b-roll series judges and mentors Cardi B, Chance the Rapper, and T.I. Yet Rhythm and Flow has still retained a lot of the same beats as the shows that have preceded it. It’s dispensed with the facade of artificiality that surrounds American Idol and similar shows, and has made other changes such as just giving its winner $250,000 in cash (instead of as part of a record deal). But notably, those are smaller, lower-budget competitions on cable networks Rhythm and Flow is definitely the most high-profile entry. There have been other hip-hop and rapping competitions: season two of MTV’s Making the Band, VH1’s Ego Trip’s The (White) Rapper Show, BET’s One Shot, the T.I.-produced Oxygen show Sisterhood of Hip Hop to name a few. ![]() But is this a show you’ll remember while you’re getting fucked? I’m not sure. ![]() It’s giving attention to talent and a genre that has been rarely included in-or completely excluded from-the big singing competitions. She has a blunt answer for him: “No.” Cut to Snoop Dogg: “This ain’t The Voice, motherfuckers.” asked a rapper auditioning for Rhythm + Flow, Netflix’s hip-hop competition series. “Am I going to remember you later on when I’m getting fucked?” Cardi B. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |