Q&A: Big Fun In The Big Town Director Bram Van Splunteren On The ’80s New York Hip-Hop Scene
“The Beastie Boys were just silly,” says Dutch-based documentary maker Bram Van Splunteren. “You couldn’t do a serious interview with those guys. They were just goofing around. We had them rap down the phone but I don’t remember any kind of content from that interview.”
Back in the mid-’80s, Splunteren interviewed MCA, Ad Rock and Mike D for Wild Worlds, a radio show he ran. Despite the show’s tendencies toward playing guitar-ased rock music, Splunteren liked to weave in rap songs when he could, not least those stamped with the Def Jam label logo. That interest in the music bloomed when he was given the opportunity to travel to New York City for two weeks in 1986 to produce a documentary about the hip-hop scene for the radio station’s TV broadcast partner.
Big Fun In The Big Town will be screened tonight as part of the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival. Which seemed like a fine excuse to Skype it up with Splunteren about interviewing LL Cool J at the rapper’s grandmother’s house, checking out the Latin Quarter club, and attempting to chase down the Beasties in person.
Read the whole interview on villagevoice.com.
