In terms of hip-hop aesthetic on film, this might be one of
the most direct examples I’ve covered on here. The feature-length directorial debut of
Andrew Onwubolu, also known as Rapman (which somehow bests Director X for most
generic music video director name I’ve ever heard), this South London crime
drama shows Rapman himself serving as Greek chorus, jumping in at certain key
moments to provide rapped narration. As part of the bigger presentation, with
the story of two teenaged friends pushed to opposite ends of a gang war by
cruel coincidence, it’s a decent enough idea in theory. But in practice, it
ends up dragging down what is otherwise a quite efficient slice of dramatic
grit.
