Review of Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap (2012) by Kenneth B — 05 Mar 2013
The Art of Rap is not the study of the art-form that the title may suggest. Instead it is more of a celebration in which Ice-T speaks with his friends in the 'game', usually in a fairly informal manner and to differing levels of interest.
Dr Dre, Eminem, KRS-One and B Real are among the most interesting 'interviews'. Not all of the segments are as intriguing. Royce da 5'9', who is a relatively minor player in the history of rap doesn't really seem to have anything interesting to say and his part falls flat until Eminem shows up again and freestyles with Ice-T.
Each interviewee does a freestyle, which will please fans of the genre because by and large Ice-T picks his subjects well and he is clearly good friends with most of them. This is basically a two hour celebration of MCing and it is filled with nostalgia.
Personally it has made me want to listen back to some of those rappers that I somehow missed out on. It does feel like this is a film made by someone who is well within the rap scene and who is still a fan of rap music and therefore it is a film made for fans of rap music.
People who are less well versed may not take as much away from it.
This review of Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap (2012) was written by Kenneth B on 05 Mar 2013.
Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap has generally received positive reviews.
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