The Great Hip Hop Hoax

Documentary film-maker Jeanie Finlay recounts the extraordinary tale of a small-town Scottish rapping duo who fooled the showbiz world into believing they were Californian skateboard kids. Arbroath-born Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain started out with the best of intentions, auditioning as themselves, but they were dismissed by an indifferent music industry as a "rapping Proclaimers". That is until they reinvented themselves as American hip-hop act Silibil n' Brains. The pair claim they initially acted "out of spite", but soon found themselves courted by major labels, in meetings with high-ranking management and in demand for TV appearances. The film doesn't quite hit the mark as a hard-nosed exposé of a shallow, trend-led business, but it does work as a winsome study of the fickle nature of fame. Still, it's the pranksters themselves who drive it along with an undeniable charm, which partly explains how they were able to get away with it.