Meet Brad "B-Rad" Gluckman, Malibu’s most unwanted rapper. When he ain’t tippin’ back a Frapachizzo with his crew at their hizz-ome away from home, the Malibrew Coffee Shop, B-Rad’s busting rhymes for his self-styled hip-hop album Malibootay and representin’ the hardcore "sippin’ on gin and Jamba Juice" lifestyle in "the ‘Bu."
While he waits for his rap career to blow up, B-Rad’s living the life, hangin’ with the hardest crews in the oceanfront community: The Beach Bõyz! and The A.C.C.’s (Abused Children of Celebrities). It’s nothin’ but a B-thang, baby.
"B-Rad thinks he’s down with what’s going on in the streets even though he’s never been east of the San Diego Freeway," says Malibu’s Most Wanted co-writer and star Jamie Kennedy, who first created the naïvely winning B-Rad character in the early 90s and incorporated him into his stand-up comedy act. "I used to see this white kid hanging out in a coffee shop in West Hollywood who was always talking about how ‘hard’ he was even though he grew up in Beverly Hills, and I thought it was such a funny juxtaposition," Kennedy recalls. "I grew up in the suburbs and I’ve listened to rap music since I was ten years old, so the character is definitely part of me, too. I gave B-Rad the background of living in Malibu because it seemed like the most ludicrous notion of all."
Like the rappers who inspire him, B-Rad rhymes about the hardships of life as he knows it, from the mad traffic up in the ‘Bu ("Traffic, traffic / Lookin’ for my Chapstick / Feelin’ kinda car sick / There’s a Ford Maverick¼"), to the lifestyle struggles of the rich and famous ("Mansions, movie stars and cars / It looks beautiful, it do. / But things go on here, I’d never wish on you…"), and the importance of a flava-flave customized cup of coffee ("The name is B-Rad / Not Robbie Van Winkle / I like my latte nonfat / And don’t forget the sprinkle!").
Judging from B-Rad’s wack rhymes, producer Mike Karz says, "It’s pretty obvious that he has almost no talent as a rapper, but he’s such an incredibly charming character with such dedication to his craft and belief in himself that he captures attention wherever he goes."
After further developing the character with co-screenwriters Fax Bahr and Adam Small, Kennedy began to feature B-Rad regularly in segments of his hit WB TV show, JKX: The Jamie Kennedy Experiment. "Brad Gluckman is the character on the show that people always talk about and seem to love the most," observes Kennedy, who pushes sketch comedy to new extremes with the posse of irreverent characters he unleashes weekly on JKX. "Making this movie was the next logical step for me in B-Rad’s evolution."
Director John Whitesell jumped aboard to direct the project after screening the JKX pilot and reading an early draft of the feature script. "I was familiar with Jamie from his work in the Scream movies and I thought he was a really talented comedic actor," Whitesell says. "And I love the character of B-Rad. He approaches his life with the same intensity and commitment as the rappers from the inner-city. Brad’s not saying that he grew up on the streets of Compton. He’s saying, ‘I’m rich, but my life is hard too.’ He connects with the culture of hip-hop and in his heart, he is B-Rad."
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