Hip Hop World, a music special hosted by music industry titan Lenny Santiago, is now available on Prime Video. The special follows Grammy Award-winning artist DJ Khaled and Billboard-charting recording artist Lola Brooke as they search for inspiration in the cities they explore.
Roc Nation’s Lenny S, who’s a veteran music executive with 20+ years in the industry, travels to Jamaica to meet up with DJ Khaled to get a sneak peek at what keeps him going, what inspires him wherever he goes, and an exclusive look at a new track he’s been working on with the legendary Buju Banton.
After touring Kingston and stopping by Tastee for some patties, it’s time to shoot a scene for his new music video for “These Streets Know My Name”. Afterwards, a quick trip to Leggo Studios. While continuing their epic trip across the city, they land a surprise visit with Olympic legend Usain Bolt. A random surprise? Yes. But their introduction segues to the announcement of his crossover into music as a producer and an artist, and none other than DJ Khaled himself as Bolt’s mentor. After dishing some quick advice to Bolt, the guys had a quick linkup with artist Capleton to add his vocals to “The Streets Know My Name”.
After spending a week in Jamaica with DJ Khaled, Lenny S travels across the pond to Paris, France to meet with Brooklyn-born rapper Lola Brooke. Lola travels to Paris in search of inspiration to write a new smash single after riding the success of “Don’t Play With It”. After enjoying casual conversation over some choice French delicacies, the duo take a walk near the Eiffel Tower and pause for some pictures with fans. The next day, the pair get away from the bright lights of Paris to a neighborhood called Vitry-sur-Seine. There, they would find a French hip-hop legend and beloved artist of Lola, Mokobé.
It only takes one hit record to launch a career.”
DJ Khaled
While Mokobé shows them his old neighborhood where he grew up, Lenny’s friend Biggie helps with translation, but with the film’s editing, not everything is communicated. With French being my third language, I heard Mokobé call over an “incredible” producer and referred to him as “One Piece”, because of his resemblance to Straw Hat Luffy from the anime of the same name. With a big grin and a straw hat, the aspiring producer walks around with his Bluetooth speaker playing beats for local artists with the intent to sell. The beat he played for her was one common to the French rap scene and would be considered “French Drill”, which is very similar to the sturdy beats used in the New York scene.
After touring more of the area, the two find themselves at Lanvin Fashion House. After learning more about the history of the famed designer, Lola was afforded a stylist who set aside some pieces for her to try. After falling in love with how she looked, and finally finding clothes for her petite frame, the group moved on to Europe’s No. 1 radio station, Skyrock Radio. As the trip came to a close, Lenny was kind enough to leave Lola with some producers to chat with and hear their music, and an exclusive dinner at César restaurant.
The best was saved for last. Viewers can now hear Lola Brooke’s new track, “Touchdown in Paris” exclusively on Amazon Music.
Hip Hop World gets a 7.5 out of 10. After Hip Hop celebrated 50 years last year in 2023, it’s nice to see continual acknowledgment of what the genre means to the world. This is a good start for Lenny S hosting a Hip Hop-focused music series but there needs to be more. While the runtime barely scraped 40 minutes, it was nice to watch a Hip Hop series that wasn’t riddled with vulgarity. Hopefully, there will be more episodes in the future so more artists can be introduced, but having an established artist (DJ Khaled) paired with a fresh face (Lola Brooke) was a good first step.
Watch Hip Hop World now on Amazon’s Prime Video
-Jon Jones
Photos: Courtesy of Prime Video