The Great Hip Hop Hoax

Sep 24 - Sep 26, 2013

(Jeanie Finlay, United Kingdom, 2013, DCP, 88 min)

Seattle premiere!

Sponsored by Easy Street Records

A compelling documentary about truth, lies and the legacy of faking everything in the desperate pursuit of fame. When two young Scots named Gavin and Billy got a taste of hip-hop fame in their native land, they took the next logical step and hopped a train to London to audition for an American A&R team. What happened next set in motion a story that must be seen, and heard, to be believed.

After being laughed out of the audition, and dubbed the “hip hop Proclaimers,” Billy and Gavin vowed revenge. The pair reinvented themselves as Silibil n’ Brains, two skater boys from Huntington Beach, California, and loosed their Frankenstein alter egos upon an unsuspecting world. After months of perfecting their American accents and back stories they had a record deal with Sony and were living the dream in London.

Throughout the drink, drugs and endless groupies, the pair struggled to keep control of their spiraling deception. Director Jeanie Finlay brings their audacious story to life through ingenious animation by Jon Burgerman and abundant archive shots by Bain and Boyd themselves.

<Back to Calendar