Fear of a Black Hat (1994)

Could any music genre be more ripe for a Spi¨al Tap-style send-up than gangsta rap? No, and that's exactly what writer-director-star Cundieff attempts to prove in this mockumentary about the fictitious hip-hop trio called NWH (Niggaz With Hats). But while Fear of a Black Hat is hilariously dead-on in nailing the details (from the rappers' stage names — Ice Cold, Tasty-Taste, and DJ Tone Def — to their preposterous justifications for calling women ho's, to their white homeboy-wannabe fans), the movie's barrage of jokes misses so often that it falls way short of the heavy-metal satire to which it constantly tips its Kangol. C-

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