CB4

CB4 follows three friends from Los Angeles who are struggling to make it as rappers. Albert, Euripides and Otis decide that a hard gangster image is the fastest route to attention, so they name their group after the cell block where a local drug dealer is locked up and start performing as if they were genuine criminals. The pose works: records sell, the group climbs the charts and its members become celebrities. Success also draws the anger of a moralising politician who campaigns against them, along with the complications of living a lie that grows bigger with every hit.

Tamra Davis directed the film, her first feature and the earliest entry in a career that later included Billy Madison, Half Baked and Crossroads. Chris Rock, who co-wrote the screenplay, stars as Albert, the friend who adopts the identity of MC Gusto, with Allen Payne and Deezer D as his bandmates, Phil Hartman as the offended official, Charlie Murphy as the real Gusto and Chris Elliott as a documentary filmmaker. The supporting cast runs to dozens of credited players.

Made for around 6 million dollars by Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment, the film took roughly 18 million worldwide during its 1993 release. On TMDB it holds a rating of 6.1 out of 10 from 154 votes, a modest but steady figure for a comedy of its period.