Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap

You’re never gonna survive a movie like this without the understanding that rap is poetry. The great artists of the genre take their poetry very seriously – they write with the same attention to cadence and meter as Shakespeare did. Don’t kid yourself otherwise. Now that said, Ice-T’s mutual admiration society masking itself as a documentary doesn’t have a whole lot going for it.

Hosted, narrated, directed, produced, emceed and anesthetized by Ice-T himself, Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap is an honest, if indulgent documentation of rappers. The movie name-drops as if to not do so will be met with stiff penalty. Is it name-dropping really, however, if in the very next scene we film the guy who was just talked about? The meet and greet includes Dr. Dre, Kanye West, Eminem, Run, DMC, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and many, many more. Vanilla Ice was not invited to participate; but you can see him next door in that awful Adam Sandler POS. Don’t know who any of those guys are? You’re in the wrong film. Something from Nothing makes no attempt to bridge gaps for the uninitiated. You either know the genre and its players or you don’t.

Ice-T asks pretty much the same three questions of every artist: How did you get started? What influenced you? How do you compose? On the hard-hitting interview scale, it lies somewhere between Pat Sajak and a mirror. One question I did like, however, was, “why do you think hiphop doesn’t have the mainstream appeal of other art forms traditionally associated with African Americans like blues or jazz?” A lot of answers are given, except the true one – a telling sign of how difficult it is to operate outside the fame bubble – rap developed as a form of verbal warfare, and should be respected as such. The expression of rap, however creative or attention-demanding it may be, has very limited scope. You don’t make out to rap. It doesn’t play at amusement parks or in business offices or cotillions.

This is not to say the key figures of rap aren’t artists. Quite the opposite. The strongest part of Ice-T’s direction is pulling us through the creative process, watching artists like Grandmaster Caz and Melle Mel fighting language to create poetry. Rappers agonize over words like dieters agonize over dessert.

Something from Nothing needed stronger direction and more aggressive interviewing. Rap is warfare and yet this venue was replete with smiles and metaphorical circle jerking. The tall tales were also missing. Ice-T himself offers the best moment when discussing what he does when he messes up on stage. “Find the guy in the front row who knows all your lyrics; use him as a human teleprompter.”

And yet, Something from Nothing was surprisingly inspirational. I emerged from the film wanting to write exclusively in verse for the next year or two. That’s not gonna happen. But maybe I can add a quatrain at the end of each review, being careful to wave my own flag at the expanse of others.

Give it up for the stylings of Archdeacon Esseffbee:

Contended rappers/soft in the noodle
About as gangsta/as my grandma’s poodle
My ‘tique is dope/got insights with fury
Y’all so wack/ …. Roger Ebert sucks

Clearly, I’m still an amateur.

Rated R, 106 Minutes
D: Ice-T, Andy Baybutt
W: Life, y’all
Genre: Gangsta schmooz
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Rappers
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: “Is that ‘Snoopy’ like in ‘Peanuts’?”