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Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme (2000)
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Overview
User Rating:
Plot:
A documentary about freestyling--the improvised, on-the-spot rhymes that demonstrate the skills of hip-hop MCs. full summary | add synopsisAwards:
4 wins moreNewsDesk:
(3 articles)
Nicki Minaj Remembers Skipping Class To Freestyle (From MTV Newsroom. 15 June 2009, 12:56 PM, PDT)
Nicki Minaj Remebers Skipping Class To Freestyle
(From MTV Newsroom. 15 June 2009, 12:40 PM, PDT)
User Comments:
Promising but lacking depth moreCast
(Credited cast)| Muhammad Ali | ... | Himself (archive footage) | |
| Planet Asia | ... | Himself | |
| Bahamadia | ... | Herself | |
| The Notorious B.I.G. | ... | Himself (archive footage) | |
| Boots | ... | Himself (as Boots Riley) | |
| Akim Funk Buddah | ... | Himself | |
| Eluard Burt | ... | Himself | |
| Myo Campbell | ... | Himself | |
| John Coltrane | ... | Himself (archive footage) | |
| Darkleaf | ... | Himself | |
| Mos Def | ... | Himself | |
| Kirby Dominant | ... | Himself | |
| Eminem | ... | Himself (archive footage) | |
| Freestyle Fellowship | ... | Themselves | |
| Lord Finesse | ... | Himself | |
| Kevin Fitzgerald | ... | Himself (voice) | |
| Richard Fox | |||
| Robert Garcia | ... | Himself (as Bobbito) | |
| Craig G | ... | Himself | |
| Kool Herc | ... | Himself (archive footage) | |
| Juice | ... | Himself | |
| Jurassic 5 | ... | Themselves (archive footage) | |
| Ghostface Killah | ... | Himself | |
| Talib Kweli | ... | Himself | |
| The Last Poets | ... | Themselves | |
| Crazy Legs | ... | Himself | |
| Living Legends | ... | Themselves | |
| The Lyricist Lounge | ... | Themselves | |
| Lucas MacFadden | ... | Himself (as Cut Chemist) | |
| Debi Mazar | ... | Herself (archive footage) | |
| Darryl McDaniels | ... | Himself (archive footage) | |
| Medusa | ... | Herself | |
| Kool Moe Dee | ... | Himself (archive footage) | |
| Pharoahe Monch | ... | Himself | |
| Otherwize | ... | Himself | |
| Tupac Shakur | ... | Himself (archive footage) | |
| Joseph Simmons | ... | Himself (archive footage) | |
| Charles Stewart | ... | Himself (as Chali 2na) | |
| Divine Styler | ... | Himself | |
| Tragedy Styles | ... | Background Music | |
| Supernatural | ... | Himself | |
| Sway | ... | Himself | |
| Ahmir-Khalib Thompson | ... | Himself (as ?uestlove) | |
| Tariq Trotter | ... | Himself (as Black Thought) | |
| Wordsworth | ... | Himself |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Freestyle (USA) (short title)VH1 News Presents: Freestyle - The Story of Underground Hip Hop (USA) (TV title)
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Add content advisory for parentsRuntime:
60 min | 74 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishCertification:
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This documentary had so much to offer. Unfortunately, it didn't push forward and deliver what it could have. Hip hop heads will leave this film knowing a few more names or stories about underground hip hop but the history lesson ends there.
Documentaries, for the most part, are made to expose a niche. To show others its esoteric quality. While Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme begins to scratch at the surface, it barely leaves a mark. The history of hip hop and its origins in the Bronx are passed over as though everyone in the audience were a hip hop connaisseur. The other aspects of hip hop (graffiti, break dancing and DJing) are mentioned in passing as though it had no correlation to Freestyling.
The Art of Rhyme is simply a fan's video of favourite MCs and friends freestyling and battling in the streets. The psychology of freestyle rhyme, of battles and its roots (some historians date it back to the days of slavery) are muted by the redundant scenes of freestyle artists rhyming for the camera, hoping for exposure.
While showing actual freestyling is essential for the film, too much of it just dilutes the artistic and historically-significant aspect of Hip Hop. Most importantly, its lack of depth confirms what narrow-minded critics have said for years about Hip Hop music and its generation.