how do folks feel about it?

it might be my favorite hip-hop biopic to date.

was good to great

but

personally i'm over the struggle/horror stories.

i also thought it ended terribly/abruptly

and though they tried to end it positively... i know the cold chillin album wasnt successful

I tend to prefer documentaries about people's lives to biopics. "Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown" is FAAARRR superior to "Get On Up" for instance. I was super excited about Roxanne's story just because I've always been a fan... so my enjoyment of it is more because of that than anything pertaining to the quality of the film. I didn't realize she was in such crazy personal situations tho. Nia Long did a great acting job, and Ali only has to be Cottonmouth to be a great villain lol. I liked the scene with Biz alot. It was pretty awesome to me how she was depicted as the girl everyone knew would destroy you in battle even at the beginning of the male-dominated sport of battle rapping... cat at the club wasn't even supposed to let her in. I wasn't fond of the ending, but it didn't ruin the film. My 'gripe' with this is the same as my gripe with most biopics in that they try to fit a LOT of info into a small amount of time, so the movie ends up feeling crammed together. I think her story would've made a fantastic miniseries.

>My 'gripe' with this is the same as my gripe with
>most biopics in that they try to fit a LOT of info
>into a small amount of time, so the movie ends up
>feeling crammed together. I think her story
>would've made a fantastic miniseries.

The New Edition mini-series was good for that very reason, they had three two-hour episodes, which gave them plenty of time to chronicle their career from kids to the reunion which is a lot of years to tell their story and get in small details without rushing the story.

I think they could've done the same if they did a Cold Chillin' Records or Juice Crew Allstars mini-series and included Roxanne Shante's story into the fold instead of doing this movie, they could've covered all little side stories and still get the whole picture without rushing it and what not.

>I think they could've done the same if they did a Cold
>Chillin' Records or Juice Crew Allstars mini-series and
>included Roxanne Shante's story into the fold instead of doing
>this movie, they could've covered all little side stories and
>still get the whole picture without rushing it and what not.
>
>
>

The stuff about the hip-hop scene and "business" at the time was interesting, but it obviously took a back scene to her back-story and the misery. Problem was, if you didn't already know who Roxanne Shante was before watching this, i don't know if you'd really get it after the film was over.

I did appreciate it they didn't try to fit in **all** of her career into a 100-minute film. When it comes to biopics, I prefer smaller-scope as opposed to larger. But it was really fucking grim. You didn't really get the sense that Shante ever enjoyed doing any of this. And I guess maybe she didn't.

I'd heard about the "Nas" appearances before hand, and I thought they worked decent enough. And while I always enjoy seeing Adrock, his cameo was really fucking random and his character wasn't given any context at all.

> And while I always enjoy
>seeing Adrock, his cameo was really fucking random and his
>character wasn't given any context at all.

The actress who played Shante killed it and Mahershala (sp?) Ali acted his ass off

also the Biz Markie part was great.

fan service on the ending
but the first one is like "yo!" and then you remember

"I was too scared to grab the mics in the park and
kick my little raps 'cause I thought niggas wouldn't understand"

and

"Before the BDP conflict with MC Shan
Around the time when Shante dissed the Real Roxanne"

...Good in spots, but very disjointed. Like someone else mentioned, should have been broken down as a series. Just too much trying to be crammed into a single movie time frame...

I also thought they made good choices regarding what not to include. Definitely showed how grimy the music biz is, with just one scene.

Peace,

Spirit (Alan)
http://wutangbook.com

https://www.colorlines.com/articles/qa-producers-roxanne-roxanne-battle-making-black-films-hollywood

Love their answers to all the questions and their insight into the process of selling a film with leads of color.

Also, they have an incredible filmography. Hope they get more critical acclaim and support for their future films. Really looking forward to Sorry to Bother You (directed by MC/producer Boots Riley of The Coup and coming this summer). Didn’t even know they were involved. Hidden Figures was also really entertaining.