Document: Freestyle

Documenting an historically significant even has to be a task that not too many are up to. And in Freestyle: Art of the Rhyme, DJ Organic (aka Kevin Fitzgerald) who hails from Arizona, takes on not just the events the gave rise to the Lyricist Lounge, but that too of the West Coast equivalent – which oddly enough, took place in an organic grocery.

The main device of the ark – which seems at times inconsistent – contains commentary from several members of the Last Poets as well as focusing on the relationship between emcees Supernatural and Craig G. The film doesn’t have an historical point A and B, but it does have ample footage of outdoor battles being broken up by the coppers in New York, replete with Mos Def seemingly rhyming forever as well as various members of Living Legends destroying emcees on the street in LA in a relaxed and nonthreatening manner.

Even if freestyling isn’t your source of rap entertainment, the immense talent displayed amidst every clip is reason enough to watch. At a bit over an hour, Freestyle seems lacking in places – it could have been more in depth – and a few different locales, most notably Oakland, weren’t really dissected. But Boots from The Coup gets a fair share of time. He sits on his stoop, explaining why he writes rhymes as opposed to coming off the top of his head.

And because of this intellectual slant, the film eschews any mention of violence and manages to escape falling into the Biggie vs. Pac nonsense that could have dragged down the precedings.

With all of that praise though, when compared to Scratch, the limitations of Freestyle become a bit more apparent. Where Scratch literally followed deejays around town, Freestyle is mostly short interviews. There are of course battles interspersed with commentary, but the daily life of these individuals isn’t touched upon. Basically, that criticism is only me wanting to watch a longer movie.

Every minute of this flick is engaging, insightful and entertaining. And for a deejay to have worked so hard on an element of hip hop that he doesn’t necessarily work in, is a credit to the dedication DJ Organic has to the game in a grand sense. Hopefully, he has a few more film ideas, because this seems like simply in introduction to greater things.