"What will we do to become famous and dandy/Just like Amos and Andy?"
That was the question posed by The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy of African American arrists in 1992.
And it is a question still being asked 28 years later in Radha Blank's debut feature 'The 40 Year Version' - a withering look at how white expectations of African American artists often forces them to suppress their real voice and play to stereotypes.
Blank draws upon her own life as a writer, producer and actress to reflect on the internal and external creative battle many artists face in their desperation to have their work performed.
But the 44 year old also amusingly captures in this smart satire that moment when an artist's creative struggles converge with the sudden advancement of middle age.
Blank plays Radha, a once promising playwright who won a 30 under 30 award at the start of her career but who has struggled to live up to expectations.
Forced to earn her crust teaching theatre to bored high school students, Radha is pulled in different directions.
Her best friend and agent, Peter Kim's Archie is trying to engineer her theatre comeback with the help of Reed Burney's smarmy, veteran Broadway producer, J Whitman.
However she is also seduced by the idea of becoming a hip hop artist under the name of RadhaMUSupreme after she comes across Oswin Benjamin's Bronx based producer D.
Archie's efforts secure Radha a shot of getting a play about the gentrification of Harlem on the stage.
However Whitman criticises the play for not being authentic enough and he badgers her into making changes that will satisfy the stereotypes familiar to white theatregoers.
Meanwhile Radha's attempts to carve out an alternative career as a straight talking, middle aged hip hop artist catches the attention of her students who are creating a terrible play about sperm impregnating an egg.
They want to see her perform.
But can Radha hold her nerve while carving out a career in the local clubs as a hip hop artist?
Will she also protect her integrity as a writer as she comes under pressure to quell her authentic voice during rehearsals of her play?
Blank, who wrote and produced Netflix's TV version of Spike Lee's 'She's Gotta Have It,' crafts an amusing New York tale that skewers African American and white American targets.
Filmed in black and white by Eric Branco, it is a handsome film that recalls Lee's own version of 'She's Gotta Have It' and Woody Allen's black and white New York stories 'Manhattan,' 'Stardust Memories' and 'Broadway Danny Rose'.
A semi-autobiographical tale, Blank delivers an amusing performance which isn't afraid to make jokes at her own expense.
But Blank also deftly handles her fellow cast members, drawing strong performances from Benjamin, Kim, Birney and a group of young actors - Haskiri Velazquez, Imani Lewis, Antonio Ortiz and TJ Atoms - who shine as her high school charges.
At a running time of just over two hours, Blank's film occasionally feels padded.
However you forgive her because the film is so effective at landing its punches - not least in the way she brilliantly lampoons the "poverty porn" that white gatekeepers tend to expect African American artists to produce.
With her cheeky nod to Judd Apatow in the title, Blank, who picked up a Best Director award at the Sundance Film Festival, announces herself as an auteur worth keeping an eye on.
But don't be surprised if 'The 40 Year Version' becomes a launch pad for many of its cast.
('The 40 Year Old Version' premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2020 and was made available for streaming on Netflix on October 9, 2020)
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