Angie Martinez, the legendary radio personality, has done it all from the airwaves to podcasts to books to television, and now she’s set to take her talents to the movies via the story of DJ Clark Kent.
On Monday (August 26), The Hollywood Reporter broke the story that Martinez will be directing God’s Favorite DJ: The Story of DJ Clark Kent, a documentary about the key Hip Hop figure.
Kent began his time in Hip Hop working with Dana Dane, and was a founding member of the influential DJ crew The Supermen. He gave important early-career support to JAY-Z, including introducing the future icon to both Dame Dash and the Notorious B.I.G. He has produced songs for Hov, Big, Mariah Carey, and many more, and is extremely well-known in the sneaker world as well.
“DJ Clark Kent is a rare gem whose influence is seen in nearly every era of Hip-Hop’s history books. With our 50-year-old culture susceptible to outside perspective and agenda, it’s important that we spotlight the heroes who push the art form with purity and authenticity. I am honored to help share Clark’s many truths with the world,” Martinez told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement.
“I’m honored to have Angie Martinez directing. Her entire career has been rooted in telling stories in a beautiful & meaningful way. Angie is a true icon of Hip Hop and we are very lucky to have her guiding this project,” Kent commented.
The doc will reportedly feature appearances from Jay, DJ Khaled and Questlove, among others.
Just last year, Kent shared a Biggie story during the first season of Warner Music Group’s Iconic Records podcast series.
During the second episode, Kent revealed that LL COOL J actually had the beats for “Sky’s the Limit” and Junior M.A.F.I.A.’s “Player’s Anthem” in his possession before Biggie got hold of them.
LL only found out that he’d fumbled the latter after Big Kap played the song at New York City’s famed Hip Hop hotspot, the Tunnel.
“[‘Player’s Anthem’] rings off in the Tunnel,” Clark Kent began. “[Kap] plays it like 10 times in a row. Now, me and Biggie are standing against one of the walls in the Tunnel. LL COOL J’s walking by and the club’s going crazy.
“I’m like, ‘Yo, wassup?’ And he goes, ‘Yo, what is this?’ I was like, ‘It’s the new joint with Big and his crew.’ He was like, ‘Who did this?’ I was like, ‘I did.’ He was like, ‘Yo, dawg, I need a joint like that.’”
DJ Clark Kent then told LL COOL J that “Player’s Anthem” was on a beat tape he previously gave him.
“I said, ‘Well, remember that tape I gave you with the silver label on it? That was the first one on the tape.’ And he was like, ‘This?!’ I was like, ‘Yeah, you had it first,’” he recalled.
“‘You had it before [JAY-Z], you had it before all the guys that you had any rivalries with. You had it first. I shouldn’t have gave it to you but I did. But you had it first and you didn’t pick it. So now you hear it in the club.’
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“And he was just like, ‘Damn.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, listen to the tape.’”
In addition to “Player’s Anthem,” Clark Kent’s beat tape also included the Bobby Caldwell-sampling instrumental that became Biggie’s “Sky’s the Limit.”
“The next track on there was ‘Sky’s the Limit,’” he said. “He missed that. LL had ‘Player’s Anthem’ and ‘Sky’s the Limit.’ And then it was magical because the Tunnel was upside down that night. And I was just like, ‘We did this yesterday. This shit shouldn’t even be playing.’”
