Fade to Black

Fade to Black (Directors: Patrick Paulson, Michael John Warren)

If you are not a fan of rap I guess you would not be a fan of Jay-Z. Personally, I like some rap as long as it has some emotion behind it and it makes a statement. Some rap, like a lot of genres, is very stale and speak about the same things in the same way, and for a guy who is not completely into rap as I am, this is the worst kind of music when it's bad.

However, Jay-Z is a superstar in this medium, and his raps have a Pied Piper lure to them, and this film documents Jay-Z's sold out Madison Square Garden show in his retirement tour. The film covers the early stages of his very last recordings, "The Black Album," and intercuts with what is the bulk of the film, the concert. I must say, Jay-Z's appearance on stage, with no fanfare, just starting in on one of his songs, accompanied by five large screens depicting blasting speakers surrounded in green, was beautiful. And seeing every color and creed singing along with these lightning-fast raps is amazing.

And we see some cutbacks to songs in their infancy and Jay-Z commenting on originality, and others commenting on how great Jay-Z is...this might sound like I'm making fun in some way, but it is truly astounding how Jay-Z doesn't write any lyrics down, just remembers them in his head, and records them. One guy states that Jay-Z's got about thirty raps in his head at once, remembers them all.

More concert footage, and Jay-Z gets joined by several backup guys who are all established rappers. Then hottie Beyonce Knowles comes out and does a mini-concert while Jay-Z takes a rest, actually pretty disappointing since Beyonce does very little singing and most of it blares out through the speakers. She's nice to look at, but perform dammit!

As a concert film, it's good stuff. Fans of rap or those who are curious will find themselves getting involved, as I did.