Naeema J. Muhammad reviews Word.Life

Throughout the festival, I have had the honor of watching many documentaries, but nothing struck me the way Matt Ruskin and Scott Rosenburg's Word.Life (AKA The Hip-Hop Project) did. Not only does it make me want to listen and appriciate the hip-hop culture for what it truly is, but I can relate to those dreams of trying to "make it" like the teens that were involved in this project.

Chris "Kharma Kazi" Rolles recruited teens from off the streets to develop more then then lyrical skills they possessed; he taught them how to channel their feelings using writing. He was also giving back to the community and devoted himself to the young people that he took under his wing to teach them things about life, using his own broken childhood as an example. The young people that he worked with through the Art Start Organization learned what it took to create an album that would reflect on who they were, and not who they were trying to imitate. Their inspirational stories, including Kazi's, were shown on screen with beautiful cinemotography, strong lyrics, and good editing that not only makes it appealing to listen to, but joyful to look at as well. This is a documentary that many should see, because anyone could relate to different aspects of it.