Rotten
The film's conventions have become hip-hop doc cliches.
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme
2000 · 1h 11m · NOT RATED
Documentary, Music
Directed by
Kevin Fitzgerald
Overview
From neighborhood ciphers to the most notorious MC battles, "Freestyle: the Art of Rhyme" captures the electrifying energy of improvisational hip-hop--the rarely recorded art form of rhyming spontaneously. Like preachers and jazz solos, freestyles exist only in the moment, a modern-day incarnation of the African-American storytelling tradition. Shot over a period of more than seven years, it is already an underground cult film in the hip-hop world. The film systematically debunks the false image put out by record companies that hip-hop culture is violent or money-obsessed. Instead, it lets real hip-hop artists, known and unknown, weave their story out of a passionate mix of language, politics, and spirituality.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
89%
Tomatometer
Fresh
The skills on display in Freestyle are too varied and idiosyncratic for one movie to contain, but this one at least offers a heady, rousing education in an art form that is too often misunderstood.
A.O. Scott, New York Times
Fresh
Even if you have no previous interest in or extensive knowledge of hip-hop, Freestyle will draw you in, accomplishing that rare feat of making the creative process interesting while also telling a story.
Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times
Fresh
A thoughtful overview of a major musical movement, from its churchy roots to its urban present, from its aggressive front to its spiritual underpinnings.
Hazel-Dawn Dumpert, L.A. Weekly
Fresh
An engaged and knowing look at the underground world of improvised rap, concentrating on artists less interested in commercial success and cutting records than in the 'spontaneous right now' of 'nonconceptual rhyme.'
Fred Camper, Chicago Reader
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