I generally try not to watch trailers and clips for fear of spoiling a film, but I’m also a big fan of Kendrick Lamar, so when the rapper’s Grammy-winning single “i” kicked on 17 seconds into the latest trailer for Rick Famuyiwa‘s breakout coming-of-age comedy Dope, I couldn’t help but keep watching.
I don’t want to sound too on the nose, but after checking out the trailer in full, Dope looks pretty dope. The film centers on Malcolm (Shameik Moore), a high school kid from a tough Los Angeles neighborhood juggling college applications, academic interviews, and the SAT. A chance invitation to an underground party leads him into an adventure that could allow him to go from being a geek, to being dope, to ultimately being himself. Tony Revolori, Blake Anderson, Keith Stanfield, Zoe Kravitz, Kiersey Clemons, and rapper A$AP Rocky round out the impressive cast of young actors.
Like I said, once the Lamar beat kicked in over a finely edited visual of Malcolm popping a cassette tape into his Walkman and pulling his headphones over his ears, I was hooked, and it only gets better from there. Come June 19 I will happily be buying a ticket to see this one, but what about you? Check out the trailer below and see if this one’s up your alley.
