Rating:
  Review Date: June 20, 2007
  Website: Documentary Website
  Producer: Pressure Point Films

“The Hip Hop Project” Movie Review
When it comes to talking about hip-hop, people always seem to ask me the same question: “What’s the difference between rap and hip-hop?” Now the funny thing about that question is that it’s almost impossible to answer. If you live hip-hop, then you just know the difference. But attempting to explain the difference to someone who has to ask that question is very difficult.

My favorite explanation of the difference between rap and hip-hop can be found in the movie Brown Sugar during which the female lead Sydney used the following statement to attempt to explain that difference: “The difference between rap and hip-hop is like the difference between saying you love somebody, and actually being in love. Rap is just a word.” To me that just makes perfect sense. To someone who doesn’t live hip-hop, I’d assume that it doesn’t.

This lack of understanding became even more apparent to me while reading reviews for The Hip Hop Project, especially concerning the number one problem reviewers seemed to have with the movie. Everyone, it seems, complained because the movie was about hip-hop yet it didn’t have enough rap music. “How are you going to make a movie about music with no music?” they asked. And they did have a point. Few songs created by the underprivileged youths were shown in their entirety, and none of the songs received enough airtime to be memorable … and that seemed to upset a lot of people.

Unfortunately, what most big time reviewers sadly failed to realize is that despite the lack of rap songs and performances, The Hip-Hop Project gave a perfect visual answer to the question each one of them probably asks every time they’re in a room full of hip-hoppers … “What’s the difference between rap and hip-hop?” The movie laid it out in simpler terms than Sydney did earlier, and followed the belief of the great KRS-One: “Rap is something you do. Hip-Hop is something you live.”

The Way We Live
Chris Rolle was abandoned by his mother and grew up in foster care and orphanages until ending up homeless on the streets of Brooklyn, New York. HIP-HOP SAVED HIM. It gave him purpose, desire and determination, and inspired him to work with troubled kids at the Art-Start community center in New York City.

Diana Lemon got pregnant at a young age, and suffered the mental pains of having an abortion coupled with her father’s incarceration for drug trafficking charges. HIP-HOP SAVED HER. It inspired her to vocalize her sadness and regret, look forward to the future, enroll in college, and begin working with other troubled kids.

Christopher Mapp’s mother died of Multiple Sclerosis when he was just fourteen years old, and he was forced into a legal battle with an unethical landlord who wished to evict him after his mother’s death, causing him to struggle emotionally and academically. Yet again, HIP-HOP SAVED HIM. It gave him an outlet to express his emotions, inspiration to get his grades up in school, and motivation to support himself and his family.

AND YET REVIEWERS WERE UPSET THAT THEY DIDN’T GET TO SEE ENOUGH RAP MUSIC!!!!

For those of you who are looking to see a movie about rap music, you probably won’t like The Hip Hop Project that much. Because as the reviewers pointed out, it doesn’t contain that much rap music. There are very few performances; very few songs played in their entirety; very few studio scenes; and no footage of rappers selling records, obtaining label deals or signing high-dollar recording contracts.

But for those of us who know hip-hop, or those of you who want to know it, this very well could be the best documentary ever made about our culture and the positive effects it can have on the people it involves. It clearly demonstrates how hip-hop can save a person while showing the difference between the rap music you hear on the radio, and the hip-hop millions of people all over the world live day to day. I highly recommend checking it out. Peace.