Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap Full Documentary

 That's right: Ice-T (aka Tracy Marrow, the rapper-turned-actor-turned-reality TV star) has made a documentary. Who's next, Keanu Reeves?* In his directorial debut, Ice used his fame and industry connections to produce Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap, an exhaustive compilation of helicopter shots, street footage and interviews with more than 40 famous rappers from both the old and new schools. Considerably scaled back from its original four-hour runtime, Ice's theatrical two-hour cut remains admirably spare, an underappreciated accomplishment in the expanding wasteland of loud, mediocre, uninspired mainstream docs.

Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap Full Documentary

Something From Nothing begins with the roar of a helicopter followed by a bird's eye view of New York City, the first of many instances where sound precedes image. Constructing his film in a way that encourages attentive listening, Ice-T engages his audience without condescension and allows his subjects to say their piece one by one and without additional clutter. Ice said in a promotional interview that he kept the quick edits to a minimum because he wanted to allow the film to breathe, and the result is as much a work of performance art as it is a documentary. No spoilers ahead, here's what happens in Something from Nothing: Ice-T interviews each rapper about their craft, namely their writing process, the evolution of their voice, their diction and their approach to performance. Then, each rapper looks directly into the camera and raps a cappella, either freestyling on the spot, performing another rapper's influential verse, or reciting one of their own raps. These sequences form the backbone of the film, one rapper at a time until two hours have passed and the film is over. Some appearances are jerky in their brevity while others are long and contemplative.

Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap Trailer

Color-enhanced helicopter views and voyeuristic street shots give us something to look at while we listen to the performances. Rap music first emerged from the hive of street culture, so these neighborhood tableaux provide a more relevant backdrop than any archival footage or baby photos of the greats. Cityscapes and helicopter shots frame the interviews and help the film move from coast to coast in time. Once the interviews begin to migrate from New York to California an hour into the film, the audience is ready for the weight of the journey.

Ice keeps his focus narrow and his conclusions open. His stated goal is to prove that rapping requires skill, a deceptively modest goal that he accomplishes with ease. The only addition to his clear pattern of questions and answers/raps and helicopter shots is the inevitable but not entirely undesirable Ice-T voiceover, occasionally sounding over MTV-style clips of him walking the streets in slow motion and wearing his sunglasses at night . These corndog interludes conform to the obnoxious shaky-cam cinematography that tends to infect interviews. But despite these tragically contemporary flourishes, the editing maintains a careful and deliberate chain link of sequences. The repetitive structure and deliberate rhythm train the ear to pick up words and inferences that would not normally be heard on first viewing.

Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap Full Documentary

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The Cold Crush Brothers' Grandmaster Caz is the only rapper Ice-T introduces more than once, returning to observe him in his modest Bronx home studio. Widely regarded by the other rappers in the documentary as "the best," the 51-year-old writes and then raps a self-reflexive verse titled "The Art of Rap," allowing us to watch him at work in approximate real time. . It's not surprising that grandiloquent and arrogant attitudes abound in a documentary about rap music, but the few moments of intimacy and general expression of humility are unique to Something from Nothing, perhaps because many of the artists interviewed have long since peaked in an inherently boastful profession. When Bun B says that the best rappers tell stories about the downside of being a high-flying criminal, Ice-T argues that these raps tell the "B-side of the game" and follows their idea with an example. The next sequence is a crushing rap performed in its entirety and told from the perspective of a man who makes stupid mistakes despite his better judgment and struggles to make ends meet as he deals with his girlfriend's unwanted pregnancy. It's not until the last line of the verse that the rapper is revealed to be Joe Budden, a minor player whose recorded production pales in comparison to the a cappella performance just given. Then the film abruptly switches to the next rapper without further comment. 

It is gratifying to see how, in his first outing behind the camera, Ice-T follows the useful rule of thumb that less is usually more in documentary filmmaking. However, he also possesses a clear understanding that even the most compelling subject matter will fall apart under the failing watch of an inattentive director. It is already too late and too overwhelming a task to attempt a definitive documentary on hip hop, and I doubt Ice-T aims to be the next Ken Burns (praise be). Properly incomplete but still focused, Something from Nothing is a perfect introduction to the art of rap.

* Originally supposed to be the director, Keanu Reeves produced Side by Side, a documentary about "the history, process and workflow of digital and photochemical film creation" that premiered in the U.S. last summer.