Tha Westside

Sporting pictures of West Coast rap pioneers including Snoop Dogg, Eazy E, and Tupac, Tha Westside provides at least one very good lesson: do not judge a DVD by its cover. Told in somewhat chronological order, the film examines key events in the birth and evolution of West Coast rap, including the founding of hip-hop visionaries N.W.A. (noted for their inflammatory classic “Fuck the Police”), the roots of East Coast/West Coast feuding, Dr. Dre's assault of talk show host Dee Barnes, and the deaths of the Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur. Although the program features great, exclusive archival footage of Nate Dogg, Snoop, Ice Cube, and others, the majority of this unstructured program is given over to rambling and opinionated commentary from largely unknown participants (Tupac's stepbrother, a promoter, a girl that used to hang out with Tha Dogg Pound, etc.). The most interesting highlight comes in the form of an audio clip of Tupac talking about his first shooting attack (hinting at links to the Notorious B.I.G. and Faith Evans). Overall, however, Tha Westside has more bark than bite. Optional. Aud: P. (J. Williams)