Less than a decade after This Is Spinal Tap (1984) lovingly lampooned heavy metal, Chris Rock starred in the mockumentary CB4, a send-up of gangsta rap.
Rock plays a wannabe rapper named Albert Brown, who assumes the identity of a gang member called Gusto.
When the real Gusto (Charlie Murphy) goes to jail after Albert accidentally causes his arrest, Albert becomes MC Gusto, and his middle-class Los Angeles buddies Euripides (Allen Payne) and Otis (Deezer D) take on the aliases Dead Mike and Stab Master Arson to make up CB4 (short for “Cell Block 4”).
The trio record tracks like Straight Outta LoCash – an NWA parody with Rock (who sounds a lot like Eazy E) rapping, “I fucked ya wife, ’cause the bitch is a big ho/I fucked ya sister, I fucked ya cat/I would have fucked ya mom, but the bitch is too fat!”
The flamboyant reign of CB4 is viewed through the awed eyes of a wimpy, fawning, impressionable white filmmaker (Chris Elliott) who is making a “Rapumentary” and can’t get enough of hostile black attitude.
CB4 climb the charts while bedding uninhibited groupies and fleeing trigger-happy mobsters, but Albert yearns to return to his prim girlfriend (Rachel True) and his self-made dad.
The film has its moments, including an early sequence in which real-life rap stars Ice T, Ice Cube and Flavor Flav – along with Halle Berry and Shaquille O’Neal – deliver deadpan assessments of CB4 (“They’re wack,” says Flav dismissively). But the movie runs short of material and loses its comic edge about halfway through, although it’s jumpy enough to keep you interested.
The rap video parodies are almost indistinguishable from the real thing . . .
Albert Brown/MC Gusto
Chris Rock
Euripides Smalls/Dead Mike
Allen Payne
Otis/Stab Master Arson
Deezer D
A. White
Chris Elliott
Virgil Robinson
Phil Hartman
Gusto
Charlie Murphy
Sissy
Khandi Alexander
Eve
Theresa Randle
Trustus
Willard E. Pugh
40 Dog
Ty Granderson Jones
Daliha
Rachel True
Lt. Davenport
Victor Wilson
Baa Baa Ack
Richard Gant
Ben
J.D. Daniels
Wacky Dee
Stoney Jackson
Owner
Isaac Hayes
Grandma
LaWanda Page
Mrs Otis
Louisa Abernathy
Tamika
Sharisse Jackson
Tashana
Daphne Jones
Tawana
Saba Shawel
Talona
Vanessa Chester
Tee Tee
Chasiti Hampton
Malik
Jeremiah Birkett
Accountant
Christopher Keene
976-Sexy
Shirley Hemphill
976-Piss
Mari J. Sahley
976-Diss
Al Clegg
Sun
Mary Ann Hermansen
Shine
Robbin Tasha-Ford
Albertina
Niketa Calame
Ice T
Himself
Halle Berry
Herself
Ice Cube
Himself
Flavor Flav
Himself
Shaquille O’Neal
Himself
Eazy E
Himself
Butthole Surfers
Themselves
Director
Tamra Davis