Friday Funk: Genre Movie Edition

In the late '80s and early '90s, Hollywood discovered the newfangled "rap" thingy that all the kids seemed to be talking about. Faster than you can say "Sugarhill Gang" a hip-hop media bubble was born, fueling the popular misconception that anyone with even the faintest hint of rhythm and a pair of Wayfarers could be a rapper. Along with all the ill-advised Wendy's training videos, grandmothers, and exercise videos, rap flooded into pop culture though multiplexes and the endlessly repeated dregs of cable movie channels.

Here's a track from the obscure 1990 group The U-Krew, as seen in the Dolph Lundgren vs. Extraterrestrial Drug Dealers movie, I Come in Peace:




Especially in B-movies of the time, rap was treated as a gimmick, but more serious directors managed to find room for artists with more staying power. Staple New York auteur, Abel Ferrara cobbled together a formidable soundtrack for his Christopher Walken led gangster film King of New York, prominently featuring this track by Schooly D:

Even the blockbusters weren't willing to miss out on this trend. Most people forget that Die Hard was a Christmas movie, so here is some holiday cheer from the soundtrack to remind you.