Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme (2000)

If someone would hand you a piece of paper and would tell you that you’d have a minute to write down a poem, would you be able to write one that makes sense? What if you didn’t have the piece of paper and had to think of something on the spot. It would need to rhyme, have a rhythm and a flow, would you be able to do that? This is the world of the freestyle, in which rappers show how quickly they can think, say it and at the same time tell a story. It’s something which takes a lot of practice and when you are thinking of the next thing to say your mind is in a different place compared to what your mouth is doing (saying something you already thought up). This documentary focusses on the freestyle and does this the best way possible: By interviewing a lot of artists and show lots of freestyles. Continue reading

Scratch (2001)

I’ve been listening to hiphop for many years and when I heard about this documentary about scratching I was very curious to see it. I’ve seen hiphop change over the years, but it is the DJ who has been responsible for the creation and development of this music, even though MCs now define it. The documentary shows where it originated and how DJing developed itself through the years. Continue reading