Here’s the first trailer for VH1’s upcoming four-part hip-hop documentary The Tanning Of America: One Nation Under Hip Hop, from the creator of Cocaine Cowboys and ESPN’s The U and Broke, Billy Corben. According to the press release, the project will “show how hip-hop is deeply woven into the American cultural fabric” and take viewers on “an epic journey that begins in the Bronx and travels all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue” through interviews with everyone from Dr. Dre to Ron Howard. That’s a hell of a range. Also, there’s this…
Through engaging and intimate first person stories, “Tanning” takes viewers where they’ve never been before: inside a steamy Madison Square Garden, when Russell Simmons cut a deal with Adidas sneakers during a Run DMC concert … inside the Harvard dorm room where two white Jewish kids decide to start The Source magazine … inside the car of fashion icon Tommy Hilfiger, as he drives through the streets of Harlem finding inspiration in baggy jeans … to the streets of Paris as Diddy takes over Europe for a Vogue fashion shoot … to a New York music studio where Mariah Carey collaborates with O.D.B, forever fusing pop and hip hop; and with Dr Dre as he first hears a rapper who calls himself Eminem.
As I said when the project was announced, if a four-hour hip-hop documentary from the director of Cocaine Cowboys doesn’t at least pique your interest, I don’t know what to tell you. It premieres on February 24. Clear your schedules.
