1. "For newbies mostly..." In response to Reply # 0
Really well shot and edited, but most of this shit hip-hop fans already know. For us veterans, it's awesome seeing all our favorties freestyle or do a quick rhyme from their catalog or another artist's catalog.
Surprised to see no one from the South was interviewed. I guess Andre and Big Boi were busy.
2. "A cliff's notes version of rappers talking about hip hop" In response to Reply # 0
There's no through-line to speak of but it was cool to hear some of your favorite rappers wax poetic on what it takes to rap
It's all mutual admiration society storytelling and anecdotes, along with snippets of hip hop classics and LOTS of overhead shots of NYC and L.A.
The funniest moments to me were the off-the-cuff ones, such as Grandmaster Caz writing a rhyme, Ice-T trying to tell bystanders to keep it moving as he interviewed Q-Tip on a New York street, and Eminem reciting one of the early, EARLY Ice-T rap songs
I, too, was surprised we didn't get any perspective from the South. Would have been nice to hear from cats like OutKast or T.I. or Scarface
Overall, a nice diversion, worth a Netflix stream if nothing else
3. "Better shot and edited than I expected" In response to Reply # 0
Limitations in perspective showed when it came to west coast footage though
Started out great did become tiring after a while ~~~~ When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries. ~~~~ You cannot hate people for their own good.
4. "After a second viewing, it's still terrible." In response to Reply # 0
It's an extremely incoherent film that goes all over the place. There are way too many shots of Ice walking around staring at nothing, on top of way too many helicopter shots of NYC and LA. Some of the greats are MIA, while others seem rushed. The NYC interviews come across as if they only had 1 day to shoot. An example of this is the Q-Tip interview outside of Starbucks where Ice goes off on bystanders twice. Other shots have absolutely no relevance such as the endless shots of Caz writing and smoking.
In the end you're basically watching Ice-T visit rappers, rap with them and tell them his own stories while his documentary lacks any story.
it was horrible. I couldnt get through the entire movie. I mean not only was there no rhyme or reason to who he talked to and what about. But did everyone need to spit a "freestyle" before or after EVERY fucking interview? Awful.
November 8th, 2005 The greatest night in the history of GD!
6. "I think I turned it off after an hour when I came across it on Netflix" In response to Reply # 0
Cool idea, but there's a LOT of shots of Ice-T walking around the streets of New York, and it's just not very interesting to see him talk to the guys he's talking to because he comes off like how I interviewed rappers when I was working for a college newspaper
aka scared as balls to ask truly interesting questions.
9. "not good. very self-indulgent. strong concept + poor execution" In response to Reply # 0 Wed Jan-02-13 03:47 PM by bearfield
i was expecting some "inside baseball" on the art of rapping. things like structure and technique and syllable counting, etc. all i got was a bunch of "you should respect your elders and write down your rhymes." i think it's telling that he didn't interview anyone under the age of 35
how do you interview raekwon, author of one of the most influential rap albums ever released, a master of figuratively placing the listener in a theater seat and rapping a movie for them, and only ask him "what does it mean to be wack?" what a waste
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