Bitchin: The Sound And Fury Of Rick James (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by Sacha Jenkins, and starring Rick James, Oscar Alston, Big Daddy Kane.
We’ve had umpteenth documentaries on musical subjects such as Led Zeppelin, Prince and even more recently, Thin Lizzy. When it comes to particularly volatile subjects, the mass media shies away from them completely. Showtime and director Sacha Jenkins decided that Rick James – yes, the Rick James of Superfreak fame – was underserved and needed his own documentary. They both decided to shine a light on the darkest corners of his life-story of which many there were.
This is that documentary and in a dark motel room grungy kind of way, it succeeds and surpasses much of our expectations.
FROM BUFFALO TO TORONTO
In conjunction with Showtime, Bitchin: The Sound and Fury of Rick James had its debut on Showtime in September 2021 in the US and yet to be announced here in Canada. It covers Rick James humble and hard scrabble beginnings from his hometown in Buffalo, New York through the Yorkville scene in Toronto(!), all the way to fame, infamy and the lash. The almost 2 hour long documentary is mostly a talking head affair which isn’t unique but Sacha Jenkins also throws in some animated cartoons to further enliven up the proceedings. The structure pays out in spades in helping the documentary shed more light on the enigma(n) known as Rick James.
RISE AND FALL
Rick James assumed a different name as he did a different persona to become the Superfreak- the ego tripping, ganja smoking persona that we all know. Starting off with Neil Young in the Mynah Birds in 1960’s Yorkville of all places, he travels to the US to finally make it big with a slew of albums, the best of which was Street Songs, both critically and commercially. It was here on until his sad death in 2004 that the superstar Rick James started eating up the man, James Johnson (his birth name).
Sadly, he was never the subject of a biography and his appearance in many an RnB highlights reel was due in big part to his overwhelming drug habit. He graduated from dope to heroin and crack, and his rampant hedonism which landed him in jail for a Folsom Prison stint of 3 years. What’s amazing about this bio is that everyone including Rick’s daughter Ty have no issues with depicting his darker side. This went along with his no nonsense non bullshit-taking attitude towards the industry bigwigs and oft times his peers. A particular story here is when he enlists Prince to open up for him on his successful Garden of Love tour to which Prince starts stealing the show oft nights. That ended up turning into a lifelong hatred towards Prince and his music which ended up with James feeling that Prince’s accolades should have been all his. This led James to start writing and producing acts that stormed out of his own stable such as The Mary Jane Girls, Teena Marie and in a re-emergence from the past, the Temptations.
Unfortunately his demons would end up having the better of him. This is depicted in a no holds barred fashion, which should be credited to the direction of how Sacha Jenkins decided to lead the documentary and is the better for it. This ain’t no Donnie and Marie episode, folks.
FAMILY AND EFFECT
What is interesting and also sad is that his 2 children from his first marriage have not come out unscathed. Ty talks about meeting women that were her age that her father was sleeping with and hanger-ons that would stay over at James’ mansion. This along with the fact he only met Ty when she was well in her teens, never acknowledging her as his before. Rick Jr, her brother, wasn’t able to appear in the documentary because he himself was serving a prison sentence for various offences which Ty passes off as minor. The fruit doesn’t fall far from this family tree.
The only con about this documentary to me was the fact that Rick wasn’t given his full due in focusing more on some of his brilliant musical releases. Some examples of these: the aforementioned Street Songs and his latter period post Folsom releases such as the underrated Urban Rhapsody and his never mentioned and overlooked amazing posthumous release Deeper Still. We instead get depictions of his resurfacing in the popular zeitgeist through a hilarious yet sad Chappelle Show skit and a late period sampling of Super Freak by MC Hammer. Interestingly enough, the song You Can’t Touch This by MC Hammer was the only big hit ever released by MC. James at first balked at the usage of his song by another artist until he saw the residuals rolling in. Go figure.
CONCLUSION
I myself am glad to see that an important although insanely troubled musical figure such as Rick James has been given a chance to have his hour in the sun via this excellent documentary. Hopefully the next documentary which has been rumoured to involve Ty James in a major way will allow Rick James to finally bask in the brilliance that he for a very brief moment brought to the musical landscape of the 1980’s with his brand of punk funk.
“Money in my pockets while the woman came, and they’d go
Seven cars in my backyard ’cause that’s the way I loved to roll
Curse the day I started to play on something that would break my fall
Just getting high, that’s all….. ”
Taste – Rick James – Deeper Still
Rating: 8/10
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