SummaryIce-T takes us on an intimate journey into the heart and soul of hip-hop with the legends of rap music. This performance documentary goes beyond the stardom and the bling, to explore what goes on inside the minds, and erupts from the lips, of the grandmasters of rap. Recognized as the godfather of Gangsta rap, Ice-T is granted unparalleled access... Read More
Directed By:Ice-T, Andy Baybutt
Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap
Metascore
Generally Favorable
66
User score
Generally Favorable
6.6
My Score
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
66
73% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
27% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Jul 19, 2012
80
With a very simple premise, rapper Ice-T – this film's presenter and co-director with Andy Baybutt – has created a very enjoyable and often fascinating movie.
Jun 15, 2012
75
Ice-T delivers a love letter to hip-hop with Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap.
User score
Generally Favorable
6.6
80% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
20% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Jul 12, 2014
7
Simple, good documentary, with some of the old heads saying some things about the whole art form
Dec 24, 2013
7
Although I found the whole documentary quite interesting, it kinda felt fragmentary to me. Sort of a puzzle (to use Eminem's words) lacking of some useful-to-join-the-ensemble piece, but this could easily be reconnected to the wild, smoky, gutty nature of hip-hop itself. Not really a documentary stricto sensu, rather an enjoyable peeping of rap legends sharing some good time together and explaining their subjective point of view over the evolution of the movement and their rhymes-crafting techniques. In the end, I didn't find the curse offensive, instead, I would have felt insulted by the use of a false polished and politically correct language, only made up for the camera.
Jun 14, 2012
75
The Art of Rap was made by a hip-hop fiend for hip-hop fiends. I fit the description, and it's difficult for me to approach the film as an outsider. But if novices can make it through the barrage of interviews with artists they don't know, they'll learn plenty about a craft still grossly misrepresented by the mass media.
Jun 13, 2012
70
An insightful film about the creative talents that have made hip-hop an original, enduring American musical tradition.
Jun 14, 2012
63
The interviews are often revealing and funny. And much of the music is tremendous.
Jul 12, 2012
60
Freestyle, funny but finally just too repetitive, Ice's affectionate home-movie needed someone to structure it into a deeper documentary.
Jun 13, 2012
60
The general takeaway, occasionally swaddled in pot clouds and boisterous laughter, is that verse-slinging requires serious thought and planning.
Dec 29, 2012
0
I was struck by the opening interview when one of the rappers said that rap evolved because "they took our instruments away", meaning that schools somehow conspired to take instruments away from students, so they could no longer perform jazz and blues. At that starting point of victimization, it was downhill all the way, including the vast over-use of every curse in the book including the so-called "n" word, which is apparently not offensive at all to anyone in this film. If you really want to see the origin of the decline of western civilization, study this "Something from Nothing" farce.
Jun 17, 2012
0
I really wanted to like this movie. I probably would have a different opinion had it not been for the 1000+ times the "n" word was used. C'mon rappers, find a way to express your art.
Awards
Golden Trailer Awards
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
BET Awards
• 2 Nominations
