Jeanie Finlay, the director behind one of the Quietus’ favourite documentaries, 2011’s Sound It Out, has got a new film set for release this year. The Great Hip Hop Hoax will get its premiere at this year’s South By Southwest – have a look at the trailer below:
SXSW World Premiere 2013 – The Great Hip Hop Hoax from Jeanie Finlay on Vimeo.
The documentary follows big-hittin’ Californian hip hop duo Silibil N’ Brains, otherwise known as Dundee students Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain, who in 2003, having been dubbed the "rapping Proclaimers" by Polydor’s A&R people, adopted the more commercially-friendly, but, crucially, fictional, personas of a pair of West Coast homeboys. While it brought them their fair share of success – signing with Sony, touring with D12 and Eminem, playing Brixton Academy – the task of living a lie took an immense toll on the pair, who called time four years later.
Finlay has combined archive broadcast footage with their own personal home videos, which will be set side-by-side with new interviews with Boyd and Bain, for what looks set to be another excellent documentary – watch this space for more.
In the meantime, head to the film’s website here for more.
