TRIBECA 2020 FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW! If you talk to any millennial who has listened to their fair share of rap music, most of them will agree that two of the best rap producers of the 90s-00s are Timbaland and Pharrell Williams. Something that the two of these amazing talents have in common is that they are both from Virginia. Pharrell Williams, specifically, is from Virginia Beach. Pharrell, as most people call him, decided that it was time to give back to the community that fostered him and made him who he is today. He did this through creating a music festival during College Beach Week in Virginia Beach called Something In The Water Festival. Hydration is director Mimi Valdes’s documentation of the event.
“In two separate instances…violent rioting and shootings occurred…Pharrell and members of the Virginia Beach community seek to change that climate surrounding College Beach Week…”
Hydration follows the festival from inception to completion, making many stops along the way. Valdes and Williams, who was a producer on the film as well, make sure that we get to know the best and brightest from the Virginia Beach community. This includes a teen slam poetry group, a single mom who drives the festival bus, and councilman Aaron Rouse, among many others. In two separate instances at Greek Fest 1989 and College Beach Weekend 2013, violent rioting and shootings occurred, casting a ghastly pall over the should-be-celebratory event. Pharrell and members of the Virginia Beach community seek to change that climate surrounding College Beach Week into something positive again.
Since Virginia Beach is technically in the South, there is a lot of racial tension, particularly surrounding College Beach Week, since a majority of the attendees are black people. A lot of white people who live near the beach didn’t want any more college beach weeks. The college students of Virginia Tech, Virginia University at Norfolk, and more don’t think it’s fair that they have to pay for the past mistakes of people who went off the rails. Pharrell stepped in with a solution which became There’s Something In The Water festival.
"…a solution which became There's Something In The Water festival. "
