filled with poor lighting, horrible audio quality, and home-video cinematography, this is a cinephile's nightmare. that's not a snub. i personally thought this was everything a rap movie should be. Hollywood should never be allowed to make stylized rap flicks, it goes against what hip-hop is all about. 8 MILE, GET RICH OR DIE Trying, ATL are all too expensively produced to represent real, raw rap. real rap/hip-hop came from (and should come from) the underground.
set in the ghettos of NYC, this is a pretty standard tale of rappers trying to get paid (not famous, just paid, which is how most unsigned rappers get by). to get those almighty dollars, they must win at battle rapping (to the uninitiated, this amounts to insulting your opponent worse than he insults you). the club scenes are the best parts of this flick, though the park scenes with the homies just kickin it and freestylin aren't bad either.
nothing great story wise (this ain't classic cinema, folks). i would've liked to see something about a dj, though, if it weren't for scratching/breakbeats, hip-hop would've never existed.
two separate grades:
A+ ( as a raw, underground rap venture)
F (as a "film")
set in the ghettos of NYC, this is a pretty standard tale of rappers trying to get paid (not famous, just paid, which is how most unsigned rappers get by). to get those almighty dollars, they must win at battle rapping (to the uninitiated, this amounts to insulting your opponent worse than he insults you). the club scenes are the best parts of this flick, though the park scenes with the homies just kickin it and freestylin aren't bad either.
nothing great story wise (this ain't classic cinema, folks). i would've liked to see something about a dj, though, if it weren't for scratching/breakbeats, hip-hop would've never existed.
two separate grades:
A+ ( as a raw, underground rap venture)
F (as a "film")
