FREE: Backstage [VHS] (2000)

The listing, Backstage [VHS] (2000) has ended.

In excellent condition, used.

This raucous documentary of the 1999 Hard Knock Life Tour--featuring Jay-Z, DMX, Method Man, Redman, and other rappers--is chaotic and confusing, but that seems entirely appropriate. Life on tour is notoriously grueling, and this tour (with such an abundance of high-profile performers and support staff) proves to be no exception. Surprisingly, the egos of the performers seem reasonably under control; the driving motor of the entire event is Roc-A-Fella Records CEO Damon Dash, who rants to great effect--in one entertaining sequence, as someone fruitlessly tries to shave Dash's head, Dash vents at length about how everyone is wearing jackets publicizing Def Jam instead of Roc-A-Fella. Backstage depicts naked groupies, drug use, internal squabbles, and hardly a sentence goes by that isn't filled with obscenities or epithets, but the rappers come across as a surprisingly genial, friendly lot just enjoying themselves. Jay-Z is particularly charming, but rapper Beanie Sigel has the sharpest comments to make as he describes the treatment of demo tapes at record labels. Curiously, the concert footage only comes across in snippets, though it certainly communicates the flavor of the show. Backstage is unlikely to tell you anything you didn't know or already suspect about the touring life or rap music, but it depicts the experience vividly. --Bret Fetzer