Hype

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Photo courtesy of Holland R. Gallagher

Willie Raysor as Smiles in Hype

In Durham, as elsewhere, history moves in a circle that changes as it goes around. In 1988, the Carolina Theatre screened the world premiere of Bull Durham, a movie that put Durham on the national map. Thirty years later, the Carolina is hosting another premiere set and filmed in Durham that also serves as a marker of how much has changed. Written and directed by Holland Randolph Gallagher and presented by fashion house Runaway, Hype is a ten-episode web series that plunges us into Durham’s contemporary rap and startup culture—a far cry from the sleepy minor league baseball town portrayed in Bull Durham. The series centers on Smiles, a young man who gets embroiled in the city’s grassroots music and entrepreneurship worlds.The cast features local music fixtures such as Zensofly, the soundtrack boasts the likes of Sylvan Esso and Ace Henderson, and the locations include Cocoa Cinnamon,The Durham Hotel, and Motorco. It’s a Durham you know on the big screen; see it here before it drops online sometime before the end of the year. —Brian Howe