Fear of a Black Hat is a film satire on the evolution and state of American hip hop music. The film’s title is derived from the 1990 Public Enemy album Fear of a Black Planet. Released on June 3, 1994, Fear of a Black Hat was written and produced by, and co-stars, Rusty Cundieff.
Characters
Along with the film’s title and its central characters, there are other characters seen briefly who are parodies of real-life prominent figures in hip-hop:
- Jike Spingleton: filmmakers John Singleton and Spike Lee (the character criticizes both filmmakers)
- M.C. Slammer: M.C. Hammer
- Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme: Salt ‘n’ Pepa
- Vanilla Sherbet: Vanilla Ice
- Yo Highness: Queen Latifah
- Ice Tray, Ice Box, Ice Coffee, Ice Berg, etc.: variations of the name “Ice” and the overuse of it in general in the rap industry.
- The Jam Boys: N.W.H.’s main rivals; though there is no direct comparison to a single contemporary hip-hop act, they may parodize hip-hop groups in general.
- Marty Rabinow: N.W.H.’s manager; his name is similar to Rainbow, which is a joke on Jewish names containing colors (e.g. Goldman, Goldberg, Greenberg, Silverberg); he’s also a parody of stereotypical Jewish managers of African-American performers, such as N.W.A.’s Jerry Heller.