Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme (2000)
60 min
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.
- Release date
- April 14, 2000
- Country of origin
- United States
- Music
- Darkleaf, Freestyle Fellowship, DJ Organic
Cast
- Chali 2na as Self
- Planet Asia as Self
- Bahamadia as Self
- Yasiin Bey as Self
- Akim Funk Buddah as Self
- Eluard Burt as Self
- Jonathan Sway Calloway as Self
- Myo Campbell as Self
- Cut Chemist as Self
Crew
- Muhammad Ali · Archive footage
- Kevin Fitzgerald · Director
- Paul Devlin · Producer
- Henry Alex Rubin · Producer
- Darkleaf · Composer
- Freestyle Fellowship · Composer
- DJ Organic · Composer
- Omid Walizadeh · Composer
- Todd Hickey · Cinematographer
- Daniel Kozman · Cinematographer
- Paul Devlin · Editor
- Rachel Raimist · Editor
- Isaac Solotaroff · Editor