Previewing Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James

For anyone under forty-five, the first thing they probably think of when they think of Rick James is the Charlie Murphy True Hollywood Story from Chappelle Show.  If they were to think of a second thing about Rick James it would probably be U Can’t Touch This, the MC Hammer song that samples a Rick James song.  If there was a third thing, it would be appearing in the Eddie Murphy music video for the song he produced.  If there was a fourth thing, it would be that Rick James was a disgusting pervert who was arrested for keeping a sex slave in his basement for him and his wife. 

 

It is kind of amazing how artists can be so huge but can be completely unknown by future generation.  James had six top five albums on the RnB charts in six years back when being able to sell albums meant something but most people under forty-five can name a song that was not sampled by MC Hammer.  Really, I am not sure most people under twenty-five could name a song by MC Hammer.

 

Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James starts off with Rick James’s daughter unpacking some her father’s belonging for storages which she has not seen for 12 years.  We get plenty of information about James’s childhood growing up in Buffalo, New York, his draft dodging days, and the time he was in a band signed to Motown with Neil Young.  This is a story I have heard before, yet every time I hear it, I am still pretty shocked by it.

 

Aside from a short intro, they really do not get into Rick’s freaky side until about halfway through the doc.  Then it does not get to his legal troubles until the last twenty-five minutes.  Anyone looking for a takedown of someone who was sent to jail for imprisoning and beating women, this is not that documentary.  Most of the talking heads posthumously make excusing for Rick James trying to make the claim that Rick was a good person if not for the drugs.  But as Rick himself explains in the doc, no one has to force you to do crack.  The lack of culpability for someone who spent years in prison for his crimes and still refused to get clean is really lacking from this documentary.

 

Also conspicuously absent from the film are Dave Chappelle, MC Hammer, and Eddie Murphy, though archival footage of all are shown including the infamous Chappelle Show sketch.  The doc was able to get new sound bites from Niles Rogers, Ice Cube, Big Daddy Kane, Bootsie Collins, and his backing band that provided the best insight.  The documentary also uses animation for a couple scenes where there was not any footage of.  I really could have done without them recreating sex scenes involving James but there is a scene inside a record executive’s office which looked out of the Chappelle Show sketch.

 

Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James airs Friday at 9:00 on Showtime.