Bobbito Garcia’s third film, Rock Rubber 45s, is coming to DVD this month. The autobiographical documentary was released back in June and dove into Garcia’s storied history in Hip Hop culture and some of his traumatic life experiences that shaped who he is today.
At one point during the film, the 51-year-old reveals he was the victim of sexual abuse as a child, something he decided to include for transparency’s sake.
“There’s a great O.C. lyric from the song ‘Time’s Up’ where he goes, ‘The more emotion I put into it, the harder I rock,'” Garcia tells HipHopDX. “That’s the sort of approach that I have with this film — that the more emotion that I put in, the better the film will be. You know you get one chance to do an autobiography, so I’ve decided to just bare all.”
Beyond his status as a legendary radio DJ onThe Stretch Armstrong & Bobbito Show, street ball legend, member of the Rock Steady Crew, documented sneaker enthusiast and co-host of NPR’s What’s Good? show with Stretch, he’s a human first.
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Another key moment in the film details his experience with the basketball coach at Connecticut’s Wesleyan University, where Bobbito was a student until his 1988 graduation. Year after year, Garcia didn’t make the team and once he finally did (only after a stint playing professional ball), the coach wouldn’t play him. To this day, he still doesn’t understand why.
“He’s not in good health these days, so I never really got a clear answer about what was in his mind,” he says. “I did realize many years later though — and I didn’t speak about this in the film — but a lot of the parents of the players would come to the game and mine weren’t able to.
“My mom worked a ton of different jobs. My dad was in his mix and wasn’t close to New York. I don’t know if parents attending the games had any affect on my playing path, but who knows? I really don’t know the answer to that.”
Rock Rubber 45s from Saboteur Media on Vimeo.
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In the film, Garcia’s time at Wesleyan comes across as an emotionally exhausting period in his life.
“I have made peace with it,” he admits. “I mean, I think it will always bother me if I’m in the zone. Through the whole film, I really tried to show my most vulnerable and transparent side.”
Despite his challenges at Wesleyan, Garcia believes he would’ve ended up on the same career trajectory, even if he’d played college ball all four years.
“Had I played ball at Wesleyan, I still would have came back to New York,” he says. “I still would have wound up working at that gym. I still would have done everything that I did. It’s a unique experience and I’m able to move on from it very quickly.”
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The Bronx Documentary Center held a special event for the film on August 30, which included a Q&A with Garcia.
Stay tuned for a full Bobbito Garcia interview with HipHopDX.
In the meantime, check out some photos below and watch the film here.
