Ten Fictional Songs That Are Bop's

 

Music, we all love it and even if you have two left feet we all enjoy doing a little two step to music. Music is so powerful, that there are several fictional songs out there that are just as good if not dare I say better than several real songs. With that here are 10 fake songs that are a bop, get ready to add them to your playlist if you haven't already.

10. Pop! Goes My Heart

The 2007 romantic comedy Music & Lyrics stars Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant, with Grant playing a former pop heartthrob who was on top of the world in the 80's. The film opens with a music video of the fictional song Pop! Goes My Heart complete with a astounding 80's look. Parodying groups like Wham!, everything about the music video and song scream 80's, the checkerboard background. The synth pop beat and the cheesy chorus that is catchy. 

9. Sugar High

This little known fictional song is an original  performed for the cult 90's classic Empire Records. The song is portrayed by cast members Coyote Shivers a real life musician who played Berko in the film, and Renee Zellwenger before her big break in Jerry Maguire the following year. It's performed during a fundraising scene to save the record store that's the subject of the film. It's a rock song that jams and is very catchy.

8. The Hardest Part Of Breaking Up

In 2000 amid the pop frenzy and boy band craze, MTV developed a original movie and later a television series about a fictional boy band 2Ge+her. Utilizing the tropes of boy bands from the heartthrob to the bad boy to fill out the band's roster. In support of the series, the band released an album that was actually very popular. With the lead song being The Hardest Part Of Breaking Up, which is essentially about getting your stuff back from your ex. It's a very silly song, that fits in with the time period and is very catchy.

7. Peaches 

Last years Super Mario Bros. movie was a quality adaption of the classic video game franchise. A highlight of the film was Bowser's solo performance professing his love for the princess Peaches. Jack Black really gave his all into the song, and really made you feel he was in love. You hear this song and you are guaranteed to walk around and randomly sing "peaches, peaches, peaches".

6. Hard Out Here For A Pimp

2005's Hustle & Flow was Terrance Howard's breakout role after almost two decades in Hollywood. His raw portrayal as a Memphis pimp just trying to make it, resonated with audiences who are just trying to make it too. The signature song of the film Hard Out For A Pimp is just as raw and gritty, with everyone's pain felt in the song. The song was so popular and well received it won Best Original Song for the Academy Award's in 2006. The hard hitting beat also made it easy to crank that joint up in your car on a warm summer day.

5. Straight Outta Locash

Chris Rock's classic 1993 spoof on the hip hop gangsta culture CB4 is a hilarious and very real film. The premise being middle class suburban Black kids cosplaying as gangstas to launch successful rap careers. To kick off their rap career, CB4 releases Straight Outta Locash which itself is a spoof of legendary rap group N.W.A. song Straight Outta Compton. It is one of the best fictional hip hop songs ever created, one may even think it's a legit song if they aren't laughing from the lyrics.

4.That Thing You Do

1996's That Thing You Do! perfectly captured the era of 1960's culture and music. Following a band named The Wonders who are one-hit wonders. The group's song That Thing You Do! sweeps the nation in a matter of month's and the band goes on an exciting journey thanks to the song's success. Almost 30 years later, the fictious song is still a head bopper when you hear it. 

3.Scotty Doesn't Know 

While 2004's EuroTrip is a raunchy sometimes crass movie that is actually funny, the highlight of the film is no doubt the song poking fun at main character's Scott lack of awareness his ex-girlfriend was a slut. Scotty Doesn't Know, which made even funnier when Matt Damon cameo's in the film to perform the song. It even is a running joke in the song, with a club  cover  played  overseas. The song is so wrong, but so catchy Scotty just doesnt know.

2. Nights Like This

Robert Townsend's 1991 classic The Five Heartbeats had many folks questioning if the group really existed. The story is loosely based on old school r&b group The Dell's, but the Five Heartbeats is fictional. The film boasts several original hits showcasing the group's ascension to the top of the music world. The best song performed by the group is Night's Like This, r&b group After 7 performed the song for the soundtrack. The soulful doo wop song about a break up just hits you in the feels and have you thinking your apart of the group crying. 

1. Eye 2 Eye

Honestly, what other fictional song could be number one? The energetic song performed by fictional superstar Powerline Eye 2 Eye or I 2 I is a chart topper. It has went quadruple platinum in my house since 1995 when A Goofy Movie was released. Performed by Tevin Campbell when the song plays you really can't help but get up and dance. And almost 30 years later it is still beloved, I wore a Powerline t-shirt a couple weeks ago and got several compliments with one person even mentioning the song instantly became stuck in their head. That just goes to show how great that song is.

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Top 5 Hip Hop Movies

   This past weekend we celebrated 44 years since the birth of hip hop. A culture that wasn't given a chance when it was invented, is now a worldwide phenomenon that dominates the music landscape. While we all love hip hop I wanted to touch on a overlooked part of hip hop...Movies.

  We’ve all seen the biopics and the Musician focused B-movie level films (State Property, Baller Blockin, Cool as Ice, Tougher than leather, Get Rich or Die Tryin etc.) I want to give my opinion on the top 5 films that I feel embody hip hop.

  # 5 Brown Sugar starring Taye Diggs, Sanaa Lathan, and Mos Def. The movie is at it’s core a love letter to hip hop. It’s about two people meeting because of hip hop and falling in love throughout the years because of hip hop. If you’ve never seen it and can tolerate romantic comedies but love old school hip hop check it out.

  # 4 Krush Groove is one of the first mainstream films that bought hip hop to the world. Loosely based on the beginnings of Def Jam, it contains a who’s who at that time. Run Dmc, Sheila E, Kurtis Blow, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, The Fat Boys and more. It has the classic tropes of following your dreams and being hungry but connecting with the wrong people when things go wrong, pay for the consequences in the meantime. It also shows how new found fame and money can tear apart long lasting friendships and family.

  # 3 is CB4, one of my personal favorites it’s a satire of gangsta rap of it’s time. Written and starring Chris Rock it displays his comedic genius at it’s best. Playing a aspiring rapper along with his two best friends, they live boring middle class lifes. Crafting a “gangsta” image and persona they find success, at the same time finding out how hard it is to maintain that image. Also how being yourself is usually your best bet, the parody of N.W.A.s “Straight Outta Compton”, “Straight outta Locash” is a hilarious catchy song that would have you wishing it was real.

  # 2 on my list is 8 Mile starring Eminem. Also loosely based on his life before he hit it big, Em plays Rabbit. All Rabbit wants to do is go to work, and hone his craft hoping to catch his big break. Along with his friends and fellow rappers 313rd they battle rival crews trying to make a name in the Detroit rap scene. Em’s acting is top notch here probably because he lived it. It has classic mid-90s hip hop songs, sick freestyles due to Em’s masterful delivery and lyricism and battle rapping.. Which  free styling and battle rapping are often overlooked as pillars of hip hop. The movie also contains an ambiguous ending. Definitely one of the better musician focused films, maybe even surpassing Purple Rain.

   #1 on my list is Beat Street, it gets this honor not because of it’s story, but because of it’s cultural influence. Along with Wild Style these two films helped bring hip hop to the masses nationally and internationally. Beat Street is about a group of friends in the bronx (Home of hip hop) who all are involved in hip hop, each taking a particular interest in one of the five elements of hip hop. Djing, graffiti, breakdancing, mcing, beatboxing all are shown love and appreciation in this film. Also featuring cameos by Afrika Bambaataa, Doug E fresh, Kool Herc, Treacherous Three, Grandmaster Melle and the Furious Five and more. If you love hip hop you can’t go wrong with this one. Check out this originator if you’ve never seen it.

   These are the top 5 films I feel convey hip hop and what it stands for.  There are honorable mentions such as Breakin', House Party, Fear of a Black Hat, and Hustle and Flow. Each of the films listed above show just how influential hip hop can be. Some more than others but they all do a great job. If you’ve never seen any of them I strongly encourage tracking them down and watching them. In the meantime I feel we are overdue on a new film in our current age that’s a ode to hip hop and its culture.

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