Starring Jamila C. Gray, Sanaa Lathan, Michael Cooper Jr., and Da'Vine Joy Randolph
Directed by Sanaa Lathan
Music and Lyrics by various
First of all, I've changed my mind about ending Musical Dreams. I am going to continue doing it, but I'll only be posting one review on Thursday night starting next week. I still have some musicals I'd like to cover in a full review, but I don't have the time anymore to do three a week. You might get an old movie, a new movie, a TV movie, an animated film, a streaming special. You never know what you'll get from week to week, so keep an eye out!
Now that the announcements are out of the way, on with the review. Whitney Houston was hardly the only black woman to deal with sudden fame. In this adaptation of the 2019 novel of the same name, a teen who is popular on the underground rap battle circuits also finds herself dealing with smarmy producers who ask her to be something she isn't and the aftermath of fame...but unlike Whitney, she's able to do something about it and change things for the better. We've already met real-life teen rap battle queen Roxanne Roxanne in 2024. How does this story of a fictional teen rap warrior compare? Let's begin with Brianna "Bri" Jackson (Gray) remembering the day her heroin-addicted mother Jayda (Lathan) gave her and her brother Trey (Titus Malkin Jr.) up and find out...
The Story: Bri's father Lawless Jackson had been a rapper in her neighborhood Garden Heights before his untimely death. She's determined to take up his legacy in the underground rap battle ring and make it where he couldn't. Her Aunt Pooh (Randolph) is her manager who keeps pushing her into the ring, even when she backs down. Her two best guy friends Sonny (Miles Guiteirrez-Riley) and Malik (Cooper Jr.) support her, including when she's suspended for selling candy in school. Bri's mother tries to point out that the security guards were way too aggressive with her daughter, but the principal insists this isn't the first time she's been in trouble.
Bri finally enters the rap ring as a way to earn money for her out-of-work mother. When she defeats a fellow female rapper outside of the arena, Supreme (Method Man), a smarmy producer who had once worked with her father, takes notice. He tries to change her image and insists she record a song, "On the Come Up," in Atlanta. Her mother and her guy friends think the song is way too violent for her. Supreme has convinced her it's good for her career...but then she sees the furor the lyrics, or how people have interpreted the lyrics, caused at school and in the ring. The King's Crown gang thinks she's at war with them. The school thinks she's anti-cops. After Aunt Pooh has a run-in with the King's Crown gang that leaves her in the hospital and they steal Bri's most precious treasure from her, she knows she has to get back into the ring and show everyone that she can handle some of the strongest insults and lyrics thrown at her and still be herself.
The Song and Dance: You'd never know this was Gray's first role. She handles the drama and the fast-paced rap "battles" with equal ferocity. Latham is a warm mother who is trying hard to do better for her daughter and manages a few decent directorial touches as well, especially in the ring and when Bri's being attacked at school. The grays and blues and neutral colors beautifully show off Bri's tough, battle-scarred world where words have more power than any gun. And unlike Roxanne Roxanne, we do get to see some rap battles in full and get an idea of what they're like and why they're such a big deal for the characters.
The Numbers: The "musical" numbers here aren't numbers in the typical sense. Our first "rap battle" isn't until nearly 20 minutes into the movie. Bri first takes on Supreme's up-and-coming son Milez (Justin Martin), and wins it handily. "Miss Tique vs. Bri" is the battle outside the arena with a blonde who calls herself Miss Tique (Lady London) and...well, Bri's right that she couldn't be more fake-looking if she tried. Bri wins that one handily, too. The title song is the rough and ready rap number that caused all the trouble. I'm going to agree with Bri and say the lyrics don't sound like anything against cops or gangs to me, but I guess everyone has their own interpretations of songs. Bri also gets "Bri-LLIANT." We end with the two rap battles between Bri and the head of the King's Crown gang, and Supreme's best rapper, Infamous Milz (Lil' Yachty).
What I Don't Like: As with the Roxanne, Roxanne bio, this is fairly rough going. It's from a teen novel, so it's not quite as rough as Roxanne's story, but there's still violence (including against a teen girl in her own school), swearing, and gun play. This is for older teen rap fans who can handle the violence. It's also pretty predictable. You can guess where it's going to go and that Bri will end up defeating all comers in the ring, especially the ones who killed her father. There's also the simple fact that the rap battles, which are strictly words without musical accompaniment, don't make this your average musical. Those looking for a typical musical romp will definitely want to go elsewhere.
The Big Finale: Touching story of a girl who finds herself and her community through her music and her father's legacy is worth checking out for older teen and adult rap fans and those who read the book of the same title.
Home Media: Surprisingly not on Paramount Plus anymore, but it can be found on DVD and on other streaming services, including Pluto TV for free with commercials.
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