Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest (2011)

During the nineties A Tribe Called Quest was one of hip hop’s biggest groups who had various hits like “Can I Kick It”, “I left my wallet in El Segundo” and “Scenario (feat. Busta Rhymes”. The group fell apart in 1998 but did get back together from time to time to do a show. They didn’t make any more albums. Michael Rapaport, who’s a big fan of hip hop, decided to make a documentary about the group, interviewing all the band’s members and capturing one of their performances during the Rock the Bells tour (which they did to support Phife Dawg as he needed money to treat his diabetes). This documentary goes back into their history, tells why they were so succesful, but also the reasons behind their breakup. Continue reading

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