Bret "The Hitman" Hart Felt The Funk For "Sharpshooter" Video
Breaking holds or busting moves... it's all in a day's work for professional wrestler Bret "The Hitman" Hart.
The current World Championship Wrestling U.S. Title-holder was the focus of the critically acclaimed 1998 documentary "Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows" which chronicled, among other things, the wrestler's controversial final days in the World Wrestling Federation. Now the former five-time WWF World Heavyweight Champ has inspired a CD compilation of his own (see [article id="1429967"]"Bret 'The Hitman' Hart Shows His Musical Side On 'Shadows' CD"[/article]).
Hart had a hand in selecting the tracks featured on the "Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows" album, which naturally included "Sharpshooter (Best Of Da Best)" by the Rascalz. The Vancouver hip-hop outfit wrote the song for Hart, named it after the wrestler's signature finishing move, and samples his catchphrase "I am the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be"in the chorus.
The wrestler returned the favor by making an appearance in the video for the track, which finds him decked out in his pink and black gear and passing the mic with the group in a wrestling ring. As Hart recently told MTV News, he was quite moved by the Rascalz' lyrical salute.I sensed in the couple of times that we've met that the words in the song and how they interpret the song meant a lot to them," Hart explained. "I think the whole group were really big fans of mine. They really loved the documentary, and they really wanted to do something that related to them and related to me. So I look at that song actually as kind of a nice tribute.As it turns out, Hart had made quite an impression on Rascalz member Red 1 long before the wrestler ever set foot in WCW or the WWF; it happened while he worked for Stampede Wrestling, the organization run by his legendary father, Stu Hart.[article id="1445450"] "I wrestled in Antigua, like, Idon't know, 20 years ago... and [Red 1] was there,"[/article] Hart recalled. [article id="1445450"] "He said he was about four years old. And I wrestled some outdoor sort of stadium, and he had his mom with [him]. His mom took him to watch the wrestling. Stampede Wrestling. And so it's just funny for him to tell me about that, and how he was just this huge Bret Hart-Stampede Wrestling fan. So we got along right off the bat." [RealVideo][/article]
Speaking of "the bat," Hart arrived on the set to shoot the video with the rap outfit the day after a late broadcast of "WCW Monday Nitro" which was capped off with his getting pasted in the face with a bat by wrestler Lex "The Total Package" Luger. Sleep-deprived and new to the music video game, Hart went through the motions until nearly 2 a.m., when he sensed an unusual force taking over. "Delerium set in, and you know, I sort ofactually started
becoming a full-fledged sort of hip-hop [guy]," Hart recalled. "[I] just gave in to it and said, 'Okay, whatever it takes to get out of here so I can go to bed.' So actually, it probably brought out the funk in me."
"You [can] see me kind of getting with the music," he continued. "It's kinda funny. I just conceded. The white flag came up. I was like, 'All right. Whatever it takes. I'm gonna rap my way outta here.'" [RealVideo]You can hear the Canadian hero do just that on the "Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows" compilation, which also includes original music and narration from the documentary as well as previously released tracks by Rob Zombie, Days Of The New, and Sebadoh, among others. Thealbum is in stores now.
