The Great Hip Hop Hoax
Directed By
Jeanie Finlay
Scottish rappers Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain reinvent themselves as West Coast Homeboys after they were signed by Sony.
- ABOUT
- BIO
Foul-mouthed Californian hip hop duo Silibil N’ Brains were going to be massive. But no one knew the pair were really amiable Scotsmen, with fake American accents and made-up identities. This documentary tells the audacious tale of how two lads from Dundee duped the record industry and nearly destroyed themselves. A stranger-than-fiction account of fractured friendship, the pressure of living with lies, and the legacy of faking everything in the desperate pursuit of fame, THE GREAT HIP HOP HOAX presents a vision of the American dream by way of two guys who had never even been to America.
Jeanie Finlay is one of Britain’s most distinctive documentary makers, creating award-winning work for cinema and television, telling intimate stories to international audiences. She has made films for HBO, IFC and four commissions for acclaimed BBC Storyville, including BIFA nominated The Great Hip Hop Hoax and BIFA winning Orion:The Man Who Would Be King.
Whether inviting audiences to share the (extra)ordinary journey of a British transgender man, pregnant with his child (BIFA nominated Seahorse), behind the scenes of Teesside’s last record shop in her home-town (SOUND IT OUT), or onto the set of the world’s biggest television show (Emmy nominated Game Of Thrones: The Last Watch), all of Jeanie's films share an empathetic approach to bringing overlooked and untold stories to the screen.
In 2023 a recipient of a prestigious Chicken & Egg award, recognising directors at advanced stages of their careers, poised to reach new heights.
Her films were showcased in a retrospective at Museum of Moving Image, NYC, People Everyday: The Films of Jeanie Finlay, by True Story, UK, are held in the archive at the British Film Institute and are featured on the BFI Player, part of The Camera is Ours: Britain's Women Documentary Makers. Her. films are showcased on Criterion in a collection called People Person: Documentaries by Jeanie Finlay.
Jeanie was awarded an honorary Doctorate by her alma mater Nottingham Trent University in recognition of her contribution to filmmaking.
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