A puppet of Universal Soul's DJ IV from Keeping It Real with Universal Soul scratches away at the turntable.
There's been some really interesting things going on with the Hip-Hop community and puppets in the past few years. Probably the most famous example is Eminem, who occasionally voices characters on Crank Yankers and used lots of puppets in his Ass Like That video last year. Another would be the It's Hot In Herre video by brothers Tigga and Thomas "Lord of the Marionette" Sontag.
The latest Hip-Hop/puppet crossover is Keeping It Real with Universal Soul, a new documentary about Canadian East Coast collective Universal Soul. In the film puppets of each member of the group talk about everything from their musical inspiration to their energetic live shows. I haven't seen any of this yet, but the concept sounds really interesting. The documentary was made by Canuck puppeteer/filmmaker Joey Adrian MacNeil (see previous post).
I've uploaded a series of pics of the puppets from the film as a Flickr gallery and if you're in or near Halifax, you can catch a live screening as part of the Let Music Find Your View program at the Viewfinders International Film Festival next Friday, April 21st.
Hopefully some or all of this film will be available online soon!
