Backstage and Turn It Up

Jay-Z's 1999 Hard Knock Life Tour was one of the most successful hip-hop package tours ever. There were no violent incidents and it made tons of money, silencing critics and paving the way for similar outings like the Ruff Ryders/Cash Money Tour and the Up in Smoke Tour. First-time director Chris Fiore gets the whole thing on camera in Backstage, a standard behind-the-scenes tour documentary. By definition, it's for fans only -- though non-fans might easily be converted after watching the antics of this gregarious bunch, including Jay-Z, DMX, Method Man, and Redman.

Backstage isn't exactly packed with performance footage. But what it's got is stellar, especially the Jay-Z posse cut "Can I Get A . . . ," featuring Amil and Ja Rule. The fun is in the down time, which the rappers spend drinking beer, yelling at one another, and messing around with groupies. Method Man and Redman get really high and start freestyling; DMX toys around with a remote-control car. Record-label honcho Damon Dash (who also produced the film) brings the party down a few times with his biz-savvy lectures, but altogether the film is a pretty outrageous piece of celebrity voyeurism.

In an interview from Backstage, 2Pac look-alike Ja Rule talks about the days before stardom, when he made a living dealing crack on the streets. That's the role he plays in Robert Adetuyi's Turn It Up, a dour look at the struggles of breaking into the hip-hop world. Diamond (Pras, the least-distinguished Fugee) is an up-and-coming MC who pays for studio time running coke deals with his buddy Gage (Ja Rule, channeling some of Pac's charisma in his acting debut). He's got a cokehead producer keeping his music from taking off, plus a host of personal problems: his mother dies, his estranged father starts freeloading off him, his girlfriend gets pregnant. And just as he's decided to give up drug running for good, Gage shows up with a wad of stolen cash to fund his CD.

Like the film, Diamond is all talk, no action. He's constantly praised for his mike skills, but we hardly ever get to see him rap. What music there is in the film isn't even that good, especially not compared to Pras's previous soundtrack smash, "Ghetto Supastar" (from Bulworth). Throw in some unfortunate melodrama between Diamond and Gage and Diamond and his father and you've got a hip-hop star vehicle that falls just as flat as Hype Williams's Belly, without any of that film's eye candy to save it. Backstage screens at the Hoyts Providence Place 16 and Showcase Seekonk 1-10; Turn It Up screens at the Hoyts Providence Place 16 and Showcase Warwick and Seekonk 1-10.
-- Sean Richardson