When you have someone who wishes to make a video about themselves and they produce it and essentially script it, you must be prepared to accept the consequences. A good songwriter does not a scriptwriter make…

And so, we have Bandana Swangin', an 84 minute bio-pic that is little more than self-aggrandisement. But, that’s kinda what we’ve come to expect from rap stars and hip-hop stars in general. I’ve got nothing against self-promotion, personally I’d not be where I am today without it, but this just gets wanky real fast and doesn’t let up.

Basically it’s a documentary brought out by this WC guy (I think it stands for West Coast) about how great his influence has been on rap. It then shows us the murky underside to rap (apparently), although the murkiest I could detect was a promoter whose electricals weren’t fully working, disappointing the fans and performers. Talk about shady.

Myriad names are dropped throughout to prove this guy has some sway, but what is also dropped relentlessly is this rap guy’s constant barrage of the phrase ‘All That Glitters Ain’t Gold’ and the other eternal favourite ‘Bandana Swangin’ (whatever the hell that means). Plus, there’s the absolute constants ‘muhfuk’ and ‘knowmsayin?’. This peppers the whole film like glitter (but it ain’t gold, knowmsayin’?) I know this isn’t aimed at the Mother’s Day market, but even so this use of but two simple phrases over and over sorta derails the usual lyrical excellence of good hip-hop/rap writing.

If you’re a fan of this sort of thing, then you’ll probably like it, but then again you might not. There is a liberal spattering of musical performances and music videos included, but personally the whole thing smacks of wank. Also, some of these guys had obviously never seen a camera before because they felt compelled to look menacing, throw a hand gesture or nine, say something particularly clichéd (yo, all that glitters ain’t gold, knowmsayin’?) or do pirate impersonations. Get over yourselves guys, you’re not as huge as you may think.

Shot via a collection of different video capture devices over the course of 15 years, the picture quality varies from modern and clean to old school decayed and scratched crap. Therefore colour and such varies as well, though flesh tones usually seem quite natural. Forget shadow detail, but blacks are true enough. There’s some nice graphics added to modernise the whole shebang and bring it into the 21st century and, due to the documentary nature of the film, the mixed quality of videos doesn’t really matter.

Audio wise there’s no complaints. Delivered in the choices of Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0 or DTS 5.1 surround, there’s something for all systems. The music here is mostly great and has been transferred quite well. The ‘score’ has been created by six fellows with the names DJ Crazy Toones, Battlecat, Fredwreck, Ruk, Tnyse and some weirdo with the zany handle Dave Lopez. (Wasn’t Battlecat the gay tiger in He-Man?) Naturally, this hip-hip soundtrack is all classical music.

As to extras there are a few, though not much of any merit to those unfamiliar or uncaring about the music herein. First there’s six outtakes which were (apparently) too good to ditch, but not good enough for the final cut. Five music videos for WC songs The Streets, Pay Ya Dues, Dress Code, Cheddar and Ain’t a Damn Thing Changed. Then there’s a photo gallery of little merit and an Easter egg you can learn more about by engaging our Egg Wing here at DVDnet.

If you know of this dude’s work and enjoy it, then this will probably have you thumpin’ your dawg, but for the rest of us, this isn’t much to excite. Being so self-serving and self-praising is a real turn off and I didn’t walk away impressed by this in the least. However, this isn’t truly my thing, so those in the know may find it far more invigorating. Knowmsayin’?