InstaRapFlix 22: Mac Dre: Ghetto Celebrities vol. 2

Dang, it's been a while since I've done one of these... But it's 'bout time I stopped slacking, and bring you InstaRapFlix #22.

Today's movie is: Mac Dre: Ghetto Celebrities vol. 2 (Netflix Rating: 2.5 stars). You may remember I had some generally positive things to say about Ghetto Celebrities vol. 1, on Brotha Lynch Hung,when I reviewed it this time last year, so let's see how vol. 2 holds up.

Well, today's Ghetto Celebrities is about Mac Dre (RIP), and fortunately, pretty much everything that was good about vol. 1 is back in vol. 2. Specifically, I mean, there's no cheesy computer graphics, MTV-style editing, or any of the general BS padding we're used to seeing in the InstaRapFlix ...consequently, the running time is a rather short 44 minutes... but you'd be hard pressed to find 44 minutes worth of quality material in most full-length rap DVDs, so don't dismiss it based on the running time. Instead, what we get is just Mac Dre candidly talking to the camera for the entire film.

There is a downside however. This entire interview was conducted outside, and so the sound quality sucks. Sometimes you can barely (if at all) make out what he's saying, and even when you can, it's a very unpleasant listening experience. It's not so much that there's background noise (although there certainly is), it's that his mic sounds like it was set way too high so everything he's saying is coming in way too loud and breaking up. The interviewer has redubbed his questions (those must have sounded extra terrible on the original tapes! haha), but that voice sounds so unnaturally not present, that it's almost comical. But that little part we can overlook. Unfortunately, the Dre's crap sound quality we just can't.

Several Netflix commentors refer to this as a "home movie," and that's exactly what it feels like. So the technical quality has definitely dropped since vol. 1 (which wasn't that great to start with). BUT it's a 44 minute straight, uncut, unfiltered interview with Mac Dre, and we'll never have a chance to see another one. So why wouldn't you watch this one as a free Instaview? Bottom line: recommended despite serious technical flaws.