“I do whatever for the dollar, you know me I’m Tommy Brown…”
That is how the opening monologue to Hype Williams’ 1998 debut movie Stomach ends. Afterward, the digital camera shortly strikes to the mesmerizing and basic theft scene that captivated each viewer who noticed the film that yr. Lit in an ultraviolet filter and scored by an acappella model of Soul II Soul’s “Back To Life (However Do You Want Me),” the movie opens with the viewer warped right into a world of crime, medicine, and intercourse via the course of Hype Williams and the alluring cinematography of Malik Hassan Sayeed. That they had executed the unthinkable – they created a 96-minute music video.
Hearken to the soundtrack to Stomach now.
When Stomach got here out in 1998, the “hood classic” reigned supreme with a slew of function movies marked by not solely their coming-of-age storylines however their musical alternatives. Assume Grasp P’s Silly and I Received the Hook-Up. Simply as these movies did with No Restrict, Stomach tapped into the wealth of expertise at Def Jam Recordings for a soundtrack with cuts from rising hip-hop stars to assist the film. The movie, which starred DMX and Nas, tells the story of two associates and their lives as avenue criminals. Nas’ character, Honest, longs for a life exterior of crime, whereas DMX’s character Tommy sinks additional into the drug recreation. Their lives take a flip after Tommy makes an enormous resolution that would find yourself costing them their lives, and threatening their unlawful enterprise.
Upon its launch in 1998, CNN film critic Paul Tatara mentioned: “There is no actual story, or, at least, no story that you could understand as spoken by the characters,” a sentiment that was mimicked by many critics. However the place the plot lacks, the soundtrack performs a important function in connecting music to the characters and their lives.
Launched by Def Jam just a few days forward of the movie, the primary single, “Grand Finale,” set the tone for the film. The monitor opens with DMX saying: “I ain’t going back to jail. Next time, the county or the state see me it’s gonna be in a bag,” a line from the film which captures his character Tommy’s unbreakable bond to his legal life-style that had given him a lot. Technique Man takes the opening verse rapping about useless associates, murder, and robberies; a life all too acquainted to his character, Shameek a.ok.a. Father Sha, who known as upon to take out Tommy and ultimately kills an area drug vendor. Nas seemingly raps within the voice of his character Honest, alluding to jail because the “belly of the beast,” saying that it “ love[s] to eat black meat.” His verse is a sentiment not too far off from his character, who’s seemingly extra enlightened and mental than his counterpart Tommy.
On “Story To Tell,” which was initially launched on Ja Rule‘s album Venni, Vetti, Vecci, he details a multi-city drug operation just like Tommy’s which touches Omaha, Jamaica, Queens, and Atlanta. He speaks from the attitude of a drug-dealing veteran who is aware of the sport, and acknowledges the attract and luxurious that comes with it. In Stomach, Tommy faces jail time and demise, nevertheless, the youthful technology nonetheless appears as much as him.
The rating in Stomach additionally helped carry all of those concepts collectively. As talked about above, Soul II Soul set the tone early, whereas Dancehall infiltrates the film with tracks like Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam,” “Sucky Ducky” by Mr. Vegas, and “Top Shotter” which options DMX, Mr. Vegas, and Sean Paul. A serious plot in the movie is Tommy’s relationship with a Jamaican drug lord named “Ox.” The film makes use of this style of music to additional immerse the viewer into the seedy world of crime in Jamaica.
A New York Occasions overview of Stomach mentioned that it was a “film that begs for a pat on the head for its virtue while catering to cinematic tastes more interested in crotch shots, topless dancers, wall-sized television screens, ganja galore and, wherever possible.” The overview tackled the film’s theme of glamour and materialism – however leaves out a key message.
D’Angelo‘s “Devil’s Pie,” initially launched on his Voodoo album, breaks via the movie’s over-glamourization of medicine. He compares the life-style to, actually, “devils pie,” a metaphor for the vices that align with “street” tradition. The monitor performs after a scene the place a Reverand convinces Tommy to not kill him in a soliloquy that connects the youth’s fascination with medicine, intercourse, and weapons to their lack of religious connection. His message is central to D’Angelo’s, who denounces the sinful wishes and actions of the youth – taking medicine, violent gang exercise, and illicit sexual relationships. This tune is an indictment of individuals like Tommy and his girlfriend Keisha, who’re addicted to those vices and the push that wealth and their high-stakes life-style rings them.
The Stomach soundtrack was not solely only a landmark in hip-hop films, however it was additionally a deeper remark of the characters that impressed it. Though Tommy and Honest are fictional, their tales and the results of their existence resonated within the music that we hearken to then and now.
Hearken to the soundtrack to Stomach now.
Editor’s word: This text was initially printed in 2018.
