Rhymefest says that, based on the trailer of Spike Lee’s forthcoming Chi-Raq movie and a version of the script he’d received from an actor who was asked to be in the film, the director owes Chicago an apology.
“I saw the trailer,” Rhymefest says of Lee’s movie, which is based in Chicago and includes a portrayal of gang culture in the Illinois city, during an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times. “It looks just like the script I read, and it verified everything I thought. I was more shocked when I saw the trailer than when I was reading the script. I grieved for the 9-year-old little boy who was shot [Tyshawn Lee], and now a comedy [Chi-Raq] is being made about death in Chicago.”
Chi-Raq’s plot follows that of the comedic Greek mythological tale of Lysistrata, in which women withhold sex from their men in order to end the Peloponnesian War. The women in the Chi-Raq trailer say they will employ similar tactics.
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“THAT’S how we want to depict our community?” Rhymefest says, “THAT’S the answer?
“I’m a fan of Spike Lee, and also fan of some of the films he has made,” Rhymefest adds elsewhere in the interview. “But this is a perfect example of somebody not from Chicago who comes to Chicago and exploits the violence and the situation without leaving anything sustainable in its place.”
Yesterday, such Chicago rappers as Lil Bibby, Lil Reese, Lil Durk, Ric Wilson and Rhymefest criticized Chi-Raq via social media.
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“That Chiraq trailer look like a Parody,” Lil Bibby said.
