One of the odder projects to emerge out of the music / TV world is a new musical on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim titled "Black Dynamite" that will feature the voices of hip hop and R&B's most eccentric names, Tyler, The Creator, Chance The Rapper and Erykah Badu, among others. The trailer for the full, hour-long musical has been released featuring the various artists as cartoon characters, including Tyler, The Creator as a poodle, JB Smoove as a cop and Erykah Badu as a parrot/muscular-woman hybrid.
The musical is an extension of the Adult Swim show, Black Dynamite, that addresses the issue of police brutality. The musical is titled The Wizard of Watts.
From the trailer, it provides a satirical, yet critical view of race relations with police in America, both of which, satire and race relations with the police, are exceptionally poignant today. Cartoon Network is not afraid to push the envelope with their Adult Swim segment and someone like Tyler, The Creator is known for doing just that.
Its wacky enough to be something that Tyler would do and he only reinforces that notion with lines like "I just need to know where the bitches at because I'm tired of dry-humping legs and these bell-bottoms are making my balls itch."
As noted by Vibe, the film, set in the 1970s, is a spin off of the 2009 movie with the same name. The film follows the protagonist, Black Dynamite, and his crew as they try and try to keep ninjas, including Bill Cosby, Richard Nixon and a young Michael Jackson, from terrorizing the city. Black Dynamite attempts to take a day off and mayhem ensues. He is hit in the head with a brick and starts to hallucinate that he is in the Magical Land of Oz-Watts, where he is called upon to defend the community from the police.
The musical will air tonight on Cartoon Network at 10:30 p.m. Watch the trailer below and tune in tonight at 10:30 p.m via Pitchfork.
