It Was All a Dream (dir. Dream Hampton)
By: Adam Freed
It is hard to fathom, but there was a time in which hip-hop music was almost exclusively a coastal artform. Long before kids raised in midwestern suburbia allocated their allowance dollars for the purchase of Wu-Tang Forever (1997), there was a tiny magazine on the front lines, capturing the intricacies of the cultural movement. The Source, exclusively celebrated and critiqued all things in the world of hip-hop music and black culture. Launched in 1988, The Source made it possible for music lovers, urban, suburban and rural feel invested in America’s quickest growing artform. At the center of that publication were the staff writers who acted as the conduit between the realm of rap music and those who found themselves on the outside looking in. Using an impressive collection of personal camcorder videos, former The Source staff writer, and current producer and director, Dream Hampton (Surviving R. Kelly) sews together an impressive and reflective visual memoir, It Was All a Dream.
Spanning a period of time from 1993-1995 Hampton’s nostalgic look back at hip hop’s early days features incredible access to its founding fathers and mothers. Most notably It Was All a Dream invests its time in Hampton’s friendship with deceased hip-hop icon Biggie Smalls, one of the undisputed kings of the New York music scene. In addition to prominently featuring Smalls (Christopher Wallace), Hampton spends significant time with the Wu-Tang's Method Man, along with Mobb Deep and Lil’ Kim. Solidifying the argument that hip-hop’s greatest influences were indeed bicoastal, Hampton uncovers unseen footage of interviews conducted in Los Angeles featuring Ice-T, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Warren G.
Woven throughout the entertaining and nostalgic documentary is Dream Hampton’s long championed feminist ideology that openly pushes back against hip-hop’s flippant use of the terms “bitch” and “ho” in reference to females. Despite being met with resistance, Hampton’s persistence to represent feminine strength and unity in a time in which it wasn't a common occurrence, proves admirable. There is something about It Was All a Dream that feels immediately essential for lovers of hip-hop and 90’s nostalgia. In the same way that historical records are preserved for the benefit of future generations, Dream Hampton’s film may one day prove to be a valuable time capsule of an acute and influential moment in American music history.
Target Score 8/10 Utilizing the incredible access provided her through her affiliation with The Source Magazine, writer, director and producer Dream Hampton unveils a documentary that is required viewing for hip-hop historians. Providing unrivaled access to hip-hop's influential early 90’s period of explosive growth, It Was All a Dream is a wistful memory of the time before mass commercialization brought hip-hop to main street America.
It Was All a Dream was screened in conjunction with Movie Archer's coverage of the Tribeca Film Festival