TIFF: 8 Things We Learned About Jay Z, Odd Future, and Others Watching Ron Howard's "Made in America" Documentary

Image via Complex Original

Before the film's opening credits, Howard sets up the festival's backstage camaraderie and energy by showing various performers palling it up and singing Jay Z's praises. Since they're in Philadelphia, Odd Future's Tyler, Taco, and other members take it upon themselves to seek out their favorite Philly songstress. "I wanna meet Jill Scott!" says Tyler. Then, looking around the village of trailers, he and his cohorts began shouting, "Jill! Jill! Jill!"

Bravely, Howard enters OF's tour bus to get a better understanding of their way of life. As soon as he boards, Howard notices three things: an open box of Fruit Loops, hand sanitizer, and a fishbowl housing two fish. "Those are the Ying Yang Twins," one of the Odd Future guys yells to Howard from off-camera. Howard's response: "Fruit Loops, hand sanitizer, and a fishbowl—that's the American dream right there."

There's some in-studio footage of Hov rehearsing his Made in America set with his live band. The song Howard decides to focus on, practice wise, is the Jay/Beanie Sigel-assisted Memphis Bleek track "Murda Murda," the one that goes, "South Philly motherfuckers kill at will," because, you know, he's going to be in Philly. Thinking his band's playing a bit off-key to his lyrics, Jay spits his verse back to his trusty engineer Young Guru, but not normally—Jay goes all Micro Machines guy on Guru and raps his entire verse in about ten seconds. It's like a Twista song, but not unintelligible.

To get a bigger perspective of the concert's impact on Philadelphia, Howard visits an elderly white woman named Lillian Fowler. Her apartment's window overlooks the stage, and she's not happy about the noise. Howard tells her that the fest's organizer is Jay Z, to which she responds, "He just got married, didn't he? See, I know what's going on. I may not like it, but I know what's going on." Assuming an event thrown by a rapper like Jay Z must be all rap music, she tells Howard that she doesn't like "that bang-bang music." But once Jill Scott starts belting out operatically, in Italian, just to show up every other soul artist in attendance, Ms. Fowler's impressed. "See, that is not bad." Fortunately, they don't show her reaction to Skrillex's set. It's possible her head would have done that Scanners thing.

Speaking of Skrillex, there's a Opie-and-Tyler-level weird moment where the director's interviewing the EDM superstar Skrillex, who is showing how he programs beats. His fingers bounce around the MPC as if possessed. Amazed by what he's seeing, Howard comments, "It's like tap dancing with your hands!" Skrillex then offers to give Howard a lesson. Needless to say, Howard's no Skrillex.

During Made in America's Skrillex section, Jay Z offers his thoughts on the performer's brand of electronic dance music that's currently sweeping the nation. Whereas rappers like Ludacris and Lil Wayne have shown their allegiance to it by working with producer/spinner's like David Guetta, Jay's been quiet on the subject…until now. "It's the music of the next generation," he says. "They're claiming it. It's their own." As Hov puts it, kids today don't want to listen to the music their parents grew up on, and since most of those parents in 2013 grew up on albums like, say, Reasonable Doubt, hip-hop doesn't give them much ownership. But EDM does. "This is something they can claim."

Near the end of Made in America, Jay takes Howard and his camera crew to 560 State Street, the Brooklyn apartment building where he once lived with a cousin (and which he shouts on "Empire State of Mind"). They head up to the roof, something Jay says he's never done before. From there, he has a clear view of Barclays Center, the sporting/entertainment arena Jay helped fund. "You trying to make me cry?" he says to Howard, a huge cheese-grin adorning his face. He asks someone to take a picture, even though the fact that they're all hanging out on the building's roof feels "illegal." Never mind the law, though. Jay stands with his back to Barclay's, lifts his arms in the air, above his head in an I'm-the-king-of-the-world stance, and poses for a snapshot.

The film's closing credits are accompanied by a random assortment of unused interview footage. The best moment comes from, what do you know, Jay Z. He's visiting the people who now live in his old State Street apartment, a young couple with an infant son. Jay talks all goo-goo, gaga to the kid, who's not very responsive. Apparently, even infants are intimidated by Hov. On his way out the door, though, Jay gives it one last shot: He plays peek-a-boo, sticking his head out from behind the door and saying the game's title in a register you've never heard from him. Jay's fans may never get to see how he is around Blue Ivy Carter, but Made in America's most adorable scene gives them a clue to "aww" over.