Sunday night marked the television premiere of VH1’s TV-movie about the rise of 90’s hip hop in New York City "The Breaks," and industry veterans have already begun to question to question the movie’s much-touted authenticity.
Murder Inc. executiveIrv Gotti took to Instagram and MC Hammer took to Twitter to voice their disdain for the film. Both artists lambasted VH1’s depiction of the era, although a closer look reveals both artist are just looking out for their own.
The film throws shade at the state of hip hop during the era when Vanilla Ice and Hammer himself ruled the airwaves, as the protagonists of the film try to break into an industry that only accepted you if you had a dance move to sell. MC Hammer directly addressed and defended his own legacy as a result, reminding his followers of his business and artistic success.
Irv Gotti’s complained specifically about how his native Queensbridge was portrayed in the film, and that an old beef was brought up as KRS-One’s “The Bridge is Over” was played during a commercial.
While both people probably have a point given that VH1 isn’t known for telling supremely gritty stories, their complaints seem to focus more on their own legacies than any grander sense of truth. At least they didn’t find anything to fault in DJ Premier’s scoring of the film.