The Beat’s Gregory Paul Silber has been accused of getting a little bit of an… obsessive persona. In Silber Linings, he takes a humorous take a look at the weirdest, funniest, and most obscure bits of comics and popular culture that he can’t get out of his head.
Properly right here’s an eyebrow-raising headline for mega-fans of The Matrix franchise like myself: Danny Boyle, the British filmmaker whose various resume contains the influential indie Trainspotting, the horror touchstone 28 Days Later, and the Academy Award-winning drama Slumdog Millionaire, will direct a dance efficiency adaptation of Lily and Lana Wachowski‘s unique 1999 motion/sci-fi blockbuster, The Matrix.
We’re so gassed to announce our BB bosses @KenrickH2o & @mikeyjdotnet are collaborating with director Danny Boyle, designer Es Devlin and author @SabrinaMahfouz to co-create
Free Your Thoughts
The @factoryintl official opening present in autumn 2023 ? pic.twitter.com/WMJ6yVFLz8
— Boy Blue (@BoyBlueEnt) September 29, 2022
Per Selection, the present might be titled “Free Your Thoughts,” and the “large-scale immersive efficiency” is ready to debut in London in October 2023. The logline reads: “Combining the hip-hop choreography of tons of of dancers with the newest immersive design, ‘Free Your Thoughts’ will take audiences on an exhilarating journey by way of The Matrix and into a brand new realm of prospects.”
That is bizarre for a number of causes. To begin with, I don’t find out about you, however the man who directed that film the place everybody on Earth forgets about The Beatles besides one man isn’t precisely the primary identify that involves thoughts once I assume “hip-hop choreography.” Even past that, the concept of The Matrix — a futuristic-yet-thoroughly-1999 retelling of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave that includes evil robots and highly-stylized kung-fu motion — retold by way of the ability of interpretive dance is objectively hilarious.
However hey, choreography is hardly my experience. Music is a wealthy a part of The Matrix franchise’s historical past, and if completed proper, a dance efficiency which earnestly seeks to honor that legacy may truly be one thing particular.
So Danny Boyle, in the event you’re studying this – which I’m positive you might be – listed here are a number of options for a danceable, hip-hop-adjacent playlist to your dancers to make The Wachowskis proud.
A couple of notes on my picks earlier than we get began. Whereas “Free Your Thoughts” guarantees hip-hop choreography, and a variety of rap songs made the minimize for this playlist, I didn’t restrict it to strictly hip-hop. Not solely does that make it simpler to search out a greater variety of songs which are on-theme with The Matrix, however a part of the magic of hip-hop has at all times been that it borrows from and recontextualizes music from completely different genres, together with funk, disco, and rock – all of that are represented right here. In addition to, whereas I don’t know a lot about choreography and am an actively horrible dancer, I do know that hip-hop dance kinds will be utilized to non-hip-hop music.
And maybe most significantly, I attempted to make sure all these songs match the distinctive vibe established by the scores and soundtracks of earlier Matrix movies. The Wachowskis appear to have a large musical palette, however a dance efficiency primarily based on The Matrix nonetheless must have their distinctive je nais se quois: futuristic, tense, and eminently cool.
Alright, that’s sufficient preamble. Put in your dancing footwear, take your purple capsules, and let’s get began.
Filter and The Crystal Methodology — Can’t You Journey Like I Do (1997)
This collaboration between industrial rock band Filter and digital act The Crystal Methodology originates from the 1997 Spawn movie. It’s a horrible film, however the soundtrack is shockingly listenable (and danceable) because of its then-novel gimmick of pairing arduous rock artists like Metallica and Korn with digital dance artists like The Prodigy and Moby. A lot of these songs match proper into The Matrix‘s aesthetic, with this specific one getting used within the trailer (however not the movie itself).
En Vogue — “Free Your Thoughts” (1992)
If “Free Your Thoughts,” the dance adaptation of The Matrix, doesn’t embody “Free Your Thoughts,” the funky anti-prejudice anthem coloured by arduous rock guitars, what’s Danny Boyle even doing? Whereas the track’s lyrics are extra involved with calling out “shallow” racists and sexists than The Matrix‘s themes of existentialism and late-capitalist angst, “free your thoughts / and the remainder will observe” is pretty much as good a summation of the movie’s message as any.
Funkadelic — “Free Your Thoughts… and Your Ass will Comply with” (1970)
“The remaining,” because it had been, contains your ass. “Open up your funky thoughts and you may fly,” sings funk bandleader George Clinton within the title monitor from his funk rock challenge’s second album. Regardless of a key scene in a dance membership, we don’t see a lot onscreen ass-shaking from Neo (Keanu Reeves), however what’s most vital is that his thoughts is funky, and by the tip of the movie, we lastly do see him fly.
Juvenile that includes Soulja Slim — “Gradual Movement” (2004)
“Ugh, I prefer it like that / She working that again, I don’t know the best way to act / Gradual movement for me, sluggish movement for me” – Neo watching Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) combat a bunch of Brokers, most likely.
Okay, wonderful, I’ll admit that I simply needed a track that may recall The Matrix’s signature “bullet time” combat sequences, and this was the one one I may consider that prominently options “sluggish movement” within the lyrics.
Rob Zombie — “Dragula” (1998)
Talking of songs that don’t actually have something to do with The Matrix lyrically, no, there aren’t any scenes by which Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) DIGs by way of the ditches or BURNS by way of the witches and SLAMS at the back of my DRAG-U-LAAAA! However the nu-metal basic performs in the course of the membership scene when Neo meets Trinity in particular person for the primary time, so if it’s ok for Lily and Lana Wachowski, it’s ok for me. In addition to, have you ever heard “Dragula” currently? It fucking rocks. And sure, you may dance to it.
SOPHIE — “Immaterial” (2017)
Unbeknownst to most audiences on the time of launch, the so-called “Wachowski Brothers” had been in reality sisters, though it might be a few years earlier than they might publicly announce their respective transitions. And since trans followers and critics have since embraced The Matrix‘s trans subtext, I needed to make sure I included not less than one transgender musician right here. Lyrically, this banger by experimental pop singer/producer Sophie (who tragically died final 12 months at simply 34 years outdated) speaks superbly to one of many franchise’s key themes: the ability of selecting who you wish to be. “I might be something I would like…” Sophie sings. “Anyhow, anyplace, anyplace, anybody… Any kind, any form, anyway, something, something I would like.”
Black Sheep — “The Selection is Yours” (1991)
“You may get with this,” (the purple capsule, which frees you from The Matrix) “or you may get with that” (the blue capsule, which lets you contemplate dwelling in blissful ignorance throughout the Matrix).
9 Inch Nails — “The Hand that Feeds” (2005)
This tough-rocking but danceable hit by industrial rock icons 9 Inch Nails completely captures The Matrix‘s exploration of the dilemma between selecting to combat for freedom moderately than dwelling a lifetime of blissful ignorance serving one’s masters. “Simply how deep do you consider?” Trent Reznor asks. “Will you chew the hand that feeds? Will you chew till it bleeds? Are you able to rise up off your knees? Are you courageous sufficient to see? Do you wanna change it?”
Daft Punk — Superheroes (2001)
“One thing’s within the air” is actually the one lyric to this monitor off the French home luminaries’ seminal second album, Discovery, nevertheless it has that all-important Matrix vibe, and the title is a nod to the superhero comedian influences that the Wachowskis affectionately borrow from.
Lauryn Hill that includes Carlos Santana — “To Zion” (1998)
In The Matrix universe, Zion is the final remaining metropolis in “the actual world,” unconquered by the malevolent forces that run The Matrix. On this neo-soul track by rapper/singer Lauryn Hill, that includes the equally soulful latin guitar of Carlos Santana, Hill incorporates Zion’s biblical origins metaphorically as she displays upon her being pregnant. Disparate ideas, positive, however they each use Zion to characterize the need to combat for a greater world, whether or not that’s for the sake of your little one or all of humanity.
Robyn — “Indestructible” (2010)
What would a Matrix dance present be and not using a reference to Neo dodging bullets? And this synth-pop track by influential Swedish dance musician Robyn completely captures the ability Neo and Trinity derive from their romance with one another. “Your love is extremely magnetic and it’s taking on / That is hardcore / And I’m indestructible.”
Run the Jewels that includes Zack de la Rocha — “A Report back to the Shareholders / Kill Your Masters” (2016)
This haunting 2-part epic that closes out the third album by the acclaimed hip-hop duo of Killer Mike and El-P (with a visitor verse by Rage In opposition to the Machine rapper Zack de la Rocha) speaks to their fears concerning the rise of fascism and the necessity for insurrection. Sadly, within the a long time since The Matrix’s launch, it’s grow to be all too clear that the specter of a fascist takeover an idea is hardly simply science fiction. “Perhaps that’s why me and Mike get alongside,” El-P raps. “Hey, not from the identical a part of city, however we each hear the identical sound coming / And it seems like warfare / And it breaks our hearts.”
Rage In opposition to the Machine — Wake Up (1992)
And at last, we’re ending the efficiency with the identical track Lily and Lana ended The Matrix with, a livid cry for consciousness and revolution from the fiercely political rap-metal pioneers. “Networks at work, maintaining individuals calm / You understand they went after King / When he spoke out on Vietnam / He turned the ability to the have-nots / After which got here the shot.” For all their dazzling sci-fi motion spectacle, the Wachowskis made positive to remind us how a lot was at stake in the actual “actual world.”
What songs did Greg neglect? Disagree with any of his selections? Yell at him within the feedback!
