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Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme

6.9 71 mins Documentary   Music   2000
Organic Films   Bowery Films  
Director(s): Kevin Fitzgerald

Release Date: 14 Fri, Apr 2000

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.

Casts of Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme

Muhammad Ali

as Himself

Planet Asia

as Himself

Bahamadia

as Herself

Akim Funk Buddah

as Himself

Eluard Burt

as Himself

Myo Campbell

as Himself

John Coltrane

as Himself

Darkleaf

as Himself

Yasiin Bey

as Himself

Kirby Dominant

as Himself

Debi Mazar

as Herself (archive footage)

Boots Riley

as Himself

Bobbito Garcia

as Himself

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