Rappin'

Vastly underrated, this gem was recently rediscovered after decades of hiding.

Mario van Peebles is Oscar worthy in this masterpiece. Turbo and Ozone could take lessons from him on this one.

Set in Pittsburgh, the cinematography certainly won awards. No need for CGI here, just raw talent in action.

If Van Peebles were a dessert, he'd definitely be a chocolate waterfall here.

Once you see it on You Tube, it'll forever remain in your heart. I've watched it 6x already and I suspect it'll be a mainstay in the rotation. It's not going to bump Smokey & the Bandit from its' all-time top status, but it did replace Breakin II: Electric Bugaloo from the throne. Enjoy with or without subtitles.

Rappin has to be one of the most cliched hip hop films in history. The script is cheesy, the rappin is horrible and the soundtrack doesn't thump. Mario Van Pebbles may a good actor, but the man can't rap. I give this movie a -** out of ****

This movie is such a monumental collection of cheese and brilliance that I got to give it my highest level of fervent recommendation. It took a little while to grow on me, but once I saw it from beginning to end, I was sold for life. Everytime I watch this film, it gets funnier. There are so many funny scenes, it is endless amusement. This movie is epic. It ain't for everyone, but if you find the 1980s to be inherently funny, you will crack up at this monument of cheese. Mario Van Peebles is incredible, delivering his lines with bravado and soul ("Bathroom, Fool!"). Eriq LaSalle is great as the rightous tough guy Ice. Charles Flohe has a career making role as the villian. Tasia Valenza is enchanting as the love interest, Dixie. Melvin Plowden provides portly comic relief as Fats. Ice T wrote the rhymes that Mario spits. Simply incredible. 10/10

There's a reason that Rappin isn't mentioned in the same way that Krush Groove or Wild Style is, and that is because its terrible.

This movie is exactly what you would expect a white Jewish director who doesn't understand Hip Hop culture would make. Its an obvious cash grab attempt from when those in the media mainstream believed that Hip Hop was just another young people trend that could be used to make money in the short term, because it wouldn't last the year. One of the main problems is that this is pitched as a kids movie, which just isn't what Golan Globus do. The only good part of the movie is the fight scene at the end, which actually started to look gritty like one of the Death Wish films, albeit with toned down violence.

Another issue is the music and "rappin", which is at the same level as the white rapper in Scary Movie 3. It also doesn't help that we have people rapping instead of normal conversations, which has never been part of the culture. Its strange seeing Ice T make an appearance, because he is so camp its almost unbelievable. Although he is rapping about guns as per usual. It just doesn't look menacing because he is wearing a skin tight read leather suit. He apparently does some of the raps in the movie, which I couldn't identify, but regardless the quality of the music and lyrics in this is terrible.

We have your standard 80's style gang beef and clumsy social commentary, we all know how the story will go.

The only surprise for me was Eric LaSalle from E. R. and Coming To America, along with Van Peebles in the starring role. There are other 80's rap faces and some terrible dance scenes, the worst being guys pretending to be itchy and scratching while a DJ scratches. Connecting Hip Hop scratching to psoriasis was not something I needed.

All in all its probably the worst rap movie there is and is only really of interest to see just how badly they got it wrong. Its a very hard watch if you are a Hip Hop fan due to the cringe element.

John Hood (Mario Van Peebles) is released from prison. He goes home to his grandma and younger brother. He reconnects with his best friend Ice (Eriq La Salle). The evil landlord Wilson is trying to evict the multi-ethnic downtrodden neighborhood. Hood and his friends work to fight against the villainous land-developer. He falls for rival Duane's girlfriend, Dixie (Tasia Valenza).

If this is a disconnected sequel to Breakin', then this is a complete failure. I would love to have Breakin' 3 with the original crew. As a new story on its own, this is still a failure. If they want a movie about rapping, make Ice-T the protagonist. He's the only connecting tissue and he deserves a chance. His acting couldn't be any worst. Mario has always been a hustler and a try hard. He tries hard to be a rapper but he's far from one. I couldn't believe the first rap is about food. Eriq La Salle is stiff and cold. He can be that way in ER because that's the character. In this, he's just stiff and he's not a real rapper either. Duane is a ridiculously villain. He's white bread trying to be hard and it comes off like a cartoon. I do like the town council rap for its hokey sincerity but the closing credits rap is just cringeworthy. I want to like this but too much of this is cringeworthy.