Beastie Boy’s B-Ball Bouillabaise.

09.9.2008 | 9:39 pm | Hater Tuesdays, Zee Blog Juice

Since The Beastie Boys are the first and last rappers to ever pen a lyric about Bill Lambier, it shouldn’t be a surprise that one of them would extend his love of the game of basketball to other media. Adam Yauch aka MCA recently released a documentary film called “Gunnin’ for that #1 Spot.” The film is about some of the top high school ballers from a few years back (now some of the top NBA rookies) playing in the mythical invitational tournament at Rucker Park in Harlem. The film has gotten some nice accolades, and Yauch’s new independent film company, Oscilloscope, got a little spotlight thrown on it from the NY Times the other day. BTW - the Oscilloscope homepage features a crazy-eyed Yeti. Yetis and basketball - count me in. In the article, Yauch talked about his desire to run his film company like an independent record label:

“What I really liked about indie record labels — the indie record labels that I liked, anyway — is that things were done in-house”

With the independent film market sagging like Michael Beasley’s shorts, Yauch better invest wisely and maybe consider following his DIY ethos literally (so far “Gunnin’ has only made 50K). As it’s Hater Tuesday, I would be remiss to not remind y’all that outside of The Beastie Boys franchise, these guys don’t have a great track record for other endeavors - Grand Royal folded, X-Large is still hawking clothes from 1992, and Tibet was still not free last time I checked. As a huge fan of The Beastie Boys’ independent record label, “Grand Royal,” I hope that this new effort has more staying power. To music fans, Grand Royal is kind of like a playground legend of record labels. So, for independent film fans, let’s hope Oscilloscope will be more Earl Monroe than Pee Wee Kirkland.

M. Meschery