Beef (2003)

Director:

Peter Spirer

Writers:

Peter Alton (written by)
Peter Spirer (written by)

Release Date:

August 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

The Real World of MC Battles

Plot:

A documentary on the evolution of MC battles from verbal one-upmanship to street warfare. |

Cast

Ving Rhames	...	Narrator (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
50 Cent	...	Himself
Kevin Anderson	...	Himself - V.I.P. Records
Busy Bee	...	Himself (also archive footage) (as Busy Bee Starski)
The Notorious B.I.G.	...	Himself (archive footage)
Bone Thugs n Harmony	...	Themselves (archive footage) (as Bone Thugs-n-Harmony)
Jim Brown	...	Himself - NFL Hall of Famer
Grandmaster Caz	...	Himself
Black Child	...	Himself - Recording Artist
Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Puffy)
Common	...	Himself
Anthony 'Treach' Criss	...	Himself - Rapper / Actor (as Treach)
Ice Cube	...	Himself (archive footage)
Damon Dash	...	Himself - Rocafella Records
Davey D	...	Himself - Hip Hop Historian
Mobb Deep	...	Themselves
DMX	...	Himself
The D.O.C.	...	Himself (archive footage) (as D.O.C.)
Nate Dogg	...	Himself
Snoop Dogg	...	Himself (archive footage)
Dr. Dre	...	Himself (archive footage)
Eazy-E	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Eazy E)
Louis Farrakhan	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Minister Farrakhan)
Hussein Fatal	...	Himself
Louis Freese	...	Himself (as B Real)
Irv Gotti	...	Himself (archive sound)
Warren G.	...	Himself (as Warren G)
Havoc	...	Himself - Mobb Deep
Ice-T	...	Himself - Rapper / Actor (also archive footage) (as Ice T)
Jay-Z	...	Himself
Big Daddy Kane	...	Himself - Hip Hop Artist
Marion 'Suge' Knight	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Suge Knight)
KRS-One	...	Himself (also archive footage)
Kurupt	...	Himself
Scott La Rock	...	Himself - Boogie Down Productions (archive footage)
Tru Life	...	Himself - Recording Artist
LL Cool J	...	Himself (archive footage)
Mack 10	...	Himself
Marley Marl	...	Himself - Producer / DJ
Angie Martinez	...	Herself - DJ
Matthew McDaniel	...	Himself - Guerrilla Style Films (archive footage)
Kool Moe Dee	...	Himself - Hip Hop Artist (also archive footage)
Rudy Ray Moore	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Dolemite)
Larry Muggerud	...	Himself - Cypress Hill (as Muggs)
Minister Tony Muhammad	...	Himself - Nation of Islam
Nas	...	Himself
Tech Nine	...	Himself (as Tech N9ne)
Kevin Powell	...	Himself - Reporter
Prodigy	...	Himself
RBX	...	Himself - Rapper
Kool DJ Red Alert	...	Himself (archive footage) (as DJ Red Alert)
Big Regg	...	Himself - Talent Manager
M.C. Ren	...	Himself (archive footage) (as MC Ren)
Ja Rule	...	Himself (archive footage)
Afeni Shakur	...	Herself - Mother of Tupac Shakur (as Afini Shakur)
Tupac Shakur	...	Himself (archive footage)
M.C. Shan	...	Himself - Rapper / Producer (also archive footage) (as MC Shan)
Beanie Sigel	...	Himself - Recording Artist
Russell Simmons	...	Himself - Def Jam Records
Kay Slay	...	Himself (as DJ Kay Slay)
Supernatural	...	Himself - Freestyle MC
Dave Weiner	...	Himself - Record Executive
DJ Yella	...	Himself (archive footage)

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive language, some drug content and sexual references.

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:R | Australia:MA

Company:

Aslan Productions

Movie Connections:

References Dolemite (1975)

Vivid and insightful hip-hop documentary

Beef is a particularly great documentary to watch because it goes on a 20 year timeline(1981-2001), It goes back to the Busy-Bee Starsky/Kool Moe Dee days, through the East vs. West beef of '95-'96, all the way to the Mobb Deep/Jay-Z beef in 2001(though the ground work was laid-out for this in 1998 as stated by Prodigy of Mobb Deep). Driven by the narrative of Ving Rhames(Dawn Of The Dead, Baby Boy, Rosewood), the film is very insightful as far as the progress of hip-hop and the rising of stakes in rap wars.

A movie that lets one know that hip-hop is an artform no different from that of Leonardo DaVinci, etc. - The reference to dancehall music was hit dead on the nose because in Jamaica, usually at MX3 in Negril or places in Kingston, DJ entities usually clash to see who's the best in Jamaica these entities are called "sounds"

Beef is a great, in-depth look at the rap game to this point in time and this is first of many to come hopefully...