The idea of Scottish hip hop seems – on the face of it – quite absurd. Like German reggae perhaps, or Fijian heavy metal. However, the problem is really only one of perception, shown up incredibly by the tale of Silibil ‘N Brains – to their fans and managers they were two West coast rappers from just outside Los Angeles. In reality, they were two Scottish blokes who met in Dundee and proceeded to deceive more people in the music industry than would seem logically possible.
THE GREAT HIP HOP HOAX, through interviews with the pair – real names the painfully Scottish sounding Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain – and those they deceived and loved, charts this deception from beginning to present. Jeanie Finlay’s direction (SOUND IT OUT) and construction of the documentary also teases out ideas of identity, nationality, obsession and the modern music industry – making THE GREAT HIP HOP HOAX far more enjoyable than a simple whistle-stop tour of Gavin and Billy’s career in artifice.
“…the documentary also teases out ideas of identity, nationality, obsession and the modern music industry…”
When laughed out of a London audition along with their friend (with what might be argued the slightly racist “rapping Proclaimers” denunciation), Gavin and Billy decided to try again. This time, however, they chose to adopt American accents and pretend to be from California. Suddenly, their songs were recognised on merit and they found themselves rocketing towards a record deal, TV appearances, album cash advances, supporting D12 and playing to enthusiastic crowds.
It would be very easy for Finlay’s film to focus purely on the astounding deception the men undertook – essentially becoming Californian in their waking hours, deceiving all around them in London, somehow stopping the careful but hastily stitched tapestry from unravelling. The concept will hopefully intrigue, and it certainly does outline the scale of the lies, but the documentary content is much more substantial than gawking at the lies piling on top of one another.
The concept will hopefully intrigue, but the documentary content is much more substantial than gawking at the lies piling on top of one another.
To hear Billy and Gavin talk about adopting these (ridiculous) personas as somehow dishonouring to their upbringing, and flying in the face of being proud to be Scottish, is to understand the true difficulty of what they set out to do. By showing the deception strained at the very fabric of their being (it’s put that they had to “redesign [themselves]”), THE GREAT HIP HOP HOAX actually illuminates the strength of Scottish identity. Gavin and Billy openly say the relied on stereotypes of West coast rappers, the very sort of reductive imagery that got them laughed out of London, but – repackaged – had them welcomed. That meant leaving their identity behind – or at least stuffed under a baseball cap. The fact Billy retains a long-distance relationship in Arbroath, and marries, in the middle of this makes it all the more remarkable. It’s also slightly ironic the whole thing fell apart for standard Gallagher-brother type reasons, rather than a brutal unmasking.
The grainy footage from Dundee right through to those heady days in London (and when you see them laughing and rubbing their hands in Billy’s piss on a London street, it’s easy to see the whole charade went to their heads slightly) is also enlightening. Ahead of their time in the use of multimedia to connect with fans (ironically something that may well have unmasked them much earlier in 2013), it makes it far easier to link the now weary looking Gavin and family-man Billy to their more outlandish personas. The focus on Gavin as mastermind, who is still to this day in London rapping without the ‘Brains’ persona, also highlights the obsession of the man (he says the ongoing deception was “addictive to [him]”). At once THE GREAT HIP HOP HOAX is a mild indictment of the artifice of modern music, and a portrait of obsession and the malleability of identity. It may leave you questioning whether the hoax referred to is the audacious Gavin and Billy, or modern music itself.
Our thanks to the Cameo Picturehouse, Edinburgh for providing reviewer tickets.