“For such a free-form approach to filmmaking,
Freestyle is surprisingly well structured…
that rare feat of making the creative process interesting while also telling a story.” – Los Angeles Times

“Fascinating! A rare glimpse into communities of gifted street rhymers who challenge and support one another in inspiring, creative ways.” – Variety

Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme explosively documents the world of improvisational hip-hop, providing an authentic look into the life, music, and history of this underground culture.  Packed with rare and archival footage of some of the most amazing hip-hop MC’s ever to bless the mic.  The film was broadcast on VH1 and released theatrically across the U.S. and on DVD by Palm Pictures.

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I was Producing Editor on this project, recruited by Producer Henry Alex Rubin (Murderball). Henry sought me out because I had made SlamNation, but also because he learned that I was working on a freestyle movie of my own. Rather than competing, he convinced me to collaborate with Director Kevin Fitzgerald, whose project was much further along than mine.

I incorporated my footage to the mix (including an interview with the amazing Juice from Chicago), started working on bringing structure and narrative to the edit (a rough cut of which was already making the rounds at film festivals) and identified interviews and footage that we needed to go get in order develop the project into a viable feature film.

That included not only shooting new material, but also recruiting every underground hip hop artist we could find to contribute their archival footage to the mix. My little home office in Stuyvesant Town, Manhattan became freestyle-central for a year or so, with many interesting visits and collaborations.

And it was fascinating watching Kevin direct. He is not only a hip hop evangelist, but also an avid fan. Kevin would organize screenings of the rough cut and invite all the freestyle artists in that area to attend. Inevitably, they would form cyphers and battle after the screenings. Of course Kevin had cameras ready to document the action. It was my job to incorporate the best of this new material into the next cut. Then the process would repeat.

So the filmmaking itself became its own version of a freestyle. Sometimes it was challenging being the one to insist also on narrative discipline, but overall, a great creative experience for an editor.