In "Back to the Future 2," Marty McFly and Doc Brown chartered a course for October 21, 2015 to prevent a McFly family crisis. Today is October 21, 2015.
The "Back the Future" movies play an important role in hip hop. They have been referenced in countless rap songs, the best reference probably being Ludacris' incredible 2011 mixtape 1.21 Gigawatts (Back To The First Time). But importantly, they predicted many modern rap trends that no one or nothing else in the '80s saw coming.
Here are 5 ways Doc Brown and Marty McFly's adventures foresaw the modern landscape of hip hop.
Holograms
In "Back to the Future 2”
Marty arrives in 2015 and wanders around the future's curious milieu. He stops outside the local cineplex, which is playing "Jaws 19." Suddenly, a giant holographic great white shark materializes out of the side of the cineplex and and lunges towards Marty as if to swallow him, but disappears just as it snaps its mighty jaw shut in Marty's face.
In hip hop today
Tupac's hologram made its debut to much fanfare at Coachella 2012, as it (he?) performed alongside Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. The hologram had the blessing of Tupac's mother. Family members were less pleased to see Ol Dirty Bastard and Eazy-E holograms shut it down at Rock the Bells 2013.
Holograms have been used more recently to simulcast performances from living artists in a remote locations. In June, Mary J. Blige was rendered as a 40-foot hologram on Governor's Island, across New York Harbor from the Statue of Liberty, where she performed at an exclusive TIDAL concert.
More notably, Chief Keef's attempt to put on a charity hologram concert to raise money for the 1-year-old by the same individuals who gunned down Glo Gang Capo escalated into an epic battle between Keef, the city of Chicago, and Alki David, Greek billionaire and CEO of Keef's new label FilmOn Networks. Keef was unable to perform the concert in person in Chicago due to outstanding warrants, and his attempts to broadcast remotely from LA via hologram have been repeatedly shut down by the cops. In one instance, Keef tweeted that the concert would be happening at Lincoln Hall in Chicago. In reality, rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah playing at the venue while Keef's hologram performed at Crazefest in Hammond, Indiana. Despite this impressive misinformation, Keef's hologram still got shut down after one song.
Nike Air Mags
In "Back to the Future 2”
Marty McFly laces up self-lacing shoes. The greatest moment in MARTY MCFLY MODE history.
In hip hop today
Shoes are perhaps the most vital component hip hop fashion. Shoes are everything. You could be wearing a tuxedo and Asics and look like a bum, or you could wear a tank top and basketball shorts and Griffeys and look like a boss.
Marty McFly's futuristic sneakers were finally made a reality in 2011, when Nike released 1,510 pairs of the Air Mags (which bore a striking resemblance to the Yeezys), sold exclusively by eBay and at live charity events. This edition of the Air Mags wasn't self-lacing. Nike since filed a self-lacing patent, and today (TODAY!), presumably in conjunction with #BackToTheFutureDay, Nike appears ready to roll out self-lacing Air Mags in all their robotic glory.
.@realmikefox see you tomorrow.
Nike spokesman: "The first pair of self-lacing Nike Mag shoes is in New York City." No further details.
Hoverboard
Hoverboards
In "Back to the Future 2”
Marty McFly's skateboarding talents enabled him to escape from Biff and the gang in "Back to the Future." A nearly identical scene ensues in "BTTF2," as Marty steals a skateboard from a little girl to escape from Biff's grandson and his gang. Except it is no skateboard. It is a hoverboard.
"I need to borrow your…hoverboard?" #BTTF2015 #FutureDay https://t.co/eyHC7Orw6x
In hip hop today
Hoverboards have become a vogue item among rappers in the last year. True, they aren't technically hoverboards, because they don't hover. They are auto-balancing skateboards. But for the sake of argument, let's call them hoverboards.
Skateboarding and hip hop go hand in hand, and Marty McFly's badass use of the skateboard (and then hoverboard) to stick it to the man did not just embody skateboarding's subversive nature, it foreshadowed the subversive nature of hoverboarding. Legislators across the globe are enacting laws banning hoverboards. Wiz Khalifa recently got arrested for refusing to dismount his hoverboard/"resisting arrest" in LAX.
The hoverboard revolution will be televised.
All because I didn't want to ditch the technogy everyone will be using in the next 6 months. Do what you want kids. pic.twitter.com/7F0KIQgFrA
They love sayin stop resisting. pic.twitter.com/v2tdOOikMy
Drones
In "Back to the Future 2”
News outlets used "hovercams" to film and report stories live from the scene. Doc Brown used his mighty intellect to rewire the hovercam and transmit a video recording back in time to his colleagues at the Institute of Future Technology.
In hip hop today
The relatively recent advent of the drone has allowed rappers to include dope aerial shots in their music videos without having to rent a helicopter. Ranging in cost from $50 to $3,000, they can be a crucial item in the up-and-coming rapper's toolkit.
The DeLorean
In "Back to the Future 2”
Doc Brown's DeLorean DMC-12 houses his flux capacitor that helps generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity required to travel through time. Here's what the official Back to the Future website says: "Thanks to the stainless steel construction of the DeLorean, flux dispersal is generated at an optimum level from the Flux Capacitor, providing the entire vehicle and its passengers a smooth passage through the space-time continuum during temporal displacement."
In hip hop today
CHEVY WITH THE BUTTERFLY DOORS.
Technically, the DeLorean is equipped with gullwing doors, not butterfly doors. Still, it is referenced constantly in hip hop, an impressive feat for a car that was only in production from 1981-83. DeLorean has many connotations, but beyond that, it just sounds amazing, and looks amazing. DeLorean. How many cars have a rapper named after them?
Doc Brown's DeLorean outclasses even the plushest Bentley or the speediest Aventador. It is the ultimate whip, because it travels through time.
