Fear of a Black Hat

The writer, producer, director, and star of “Fear of a Black Hat”, Rusty Cundieff, would go on to have a hand in almost every episode of “Chappelle’s Show”, and the best parts of this mockumentary read like test runs for that show’s sense of humor. The pointed critiques at rap icons of the early 90s haven’t aged well (Vanilla Sherbet, c’mon), but the attempts at cartoonish absurdity, from explaining the political meaning behind “Booty Juice” to a D.A.R.E.-esque program ending in violence, land with considerable frequency. It’s baffling this was a box office bomb; plenty have made more with less.

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