DJ Premier, The Crystal Method, Pretty Lights, Mark Ronson and Skrillex. With the support of The Grammy’s, these were the men that GreenLight Media and Marketing and director Amir Bar-Lev (The Tillman Story) selected to help showcase the past, present and future of music through unlikely musical collaborations and genre fusions in what is now dubbed the Re:Generation Music Project.
The documentary takes five of the top DJs and producers in the hip hop and electronic music world and pairs them with a genre they have never or rarely worked with. The aim of the project is to create a unique and original track while also showing how the artists’ creative processes work and how they use technology to fuse unlikely genres and make a track the world has never heard before. The genre and artist pairings are as follows: DJ Premier–Classical-Featuring Nas and Berklee Symphony Orchestra; The Crystal Method-R&B-Featuring Martha Reeves of The Vandellas and The Funk Brothers; Mark Ronson–Jazz-Featuring Erykah Badu, Trombone Shorty, Mos Def, Zigaboo Modeliste, and members of The Dap Kings; Pretty Lights–Country-Featuring LeAnn Rimes and Dr. Ralph Stanley; Skrillex–Rock-Feature members of The Doors.
Re:Generation is an very entertaining music documentary that gives us non-DJs a chance to enter the studio with these talented artists and understand their thought process when it comes to tackling a new and obscure project with people they barely know. What makes the film enjoyable, and actually pretty funny, is the reluctance some of the artists display towards the DJs’ direction and way of thinking. One funny instance was when Skrillex showed Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors the general beat for the song and Ray asks, what tempo is that? Ok I think we should start back at square one. It was hilarious and Skrillex flinched for an instance but then they decided to slow the tempo down a bit and dubstep gold was created. It gets even better when Pretty Lights tries working with country legend Dr. Ralph Stanley and asks him to change his original song up (you probably have heard Stanley’s voice on the O’ Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack).
One item that I was concerned with as I sat down to watch the film was the whole sponsorship background and that 
Hyundei or The Grammy’s would constantly be plugged throughout, making it more of an infomercial than a true documentary. I’m glad to report that this isn’t one massive promo for either, instead you’ll notice more spots for Beats by Dre versus anything else, which is something that I didn’t expect.
The film moves rather briskly, with an 82 minute duration, and though towards the end it does slow down a bit, it picks right back up upon hearing the DJs perform their new tracks live and sharing their thoughts on the entire experience.
The Re:Generation Music Project was an experiment that I believe to be pretty successful. It successfully showcased the evolution of music and the change of musical style that is occurring as we speak. It also shows us that The Grammy’s are no longer just looking at the past and present to understand music, but now that they are taking the future into consideration it should lead to more interesting projects and a change in their overall awards program. Most importantly, Re:Generation is a project for the Generation Xers, showing them why older music is still relevant and how the era of electronic music can easily coincide with the classics our parents and other Gen Xers still enjoy.
Rating: A nifty music doc for those curious as to what the musical future has in store for us (6.5/10)
Re:Generation opens for a one-night only theatrical release on Feb. 16, with encore screenings on Feb 23
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