It is a bit sad that one of the few remaining venues of seeing, experiencing, and listening to hip-hop is the movie theater. Here, you can enter into the tranquil music while being thrilled by the ego-driven chicanery of an once great ensemble. BEATS, RHYMES, & LIFE is a bombastic look at the stilted lifespan of hip-hop giants A Tribe Called Quest but Michael Rapaport's exciting directorial skills fall by the wayside when you get to the deep cuts of the film.
With eccentric animated interludes, deliberate focus pulls, and 3D Ken Burns effects, the story of the group's creation to its early successes is a pure joy. Members Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and brief resident Jarobi White all receive breathing room to express their joie de vivre and their own personal hobbies. The then-reigning popularity of gangsta rap is purposely left off to squander any outside talk of beef, which obviously will come later within the ranks. Once Rapaport gets to this point, the documentary turns into all-out talking heads and shockingly mirrors THIS IS SPINAL TAP way too closely; A failed tour, heated arguments between the two singers, and an epilogue in Japan all come to past. I was eagerly waiting to see middle child Muhammad spontaneously combust in the background of Q-Tip and Phife's constant bickering.
The film's second half is honestly interesting, despite once again displaying that rap feuds are extremely trivial and dependent on easily-hurt egos. Phife Dawg is seemingly fitted the little brother role, abused and scarred by his diabetic lifestyle and personal addiction to sugar. He refused to accept Q-Tip's insults and dominating control as the group's poster child and head savant. Q-Tip, dressed to the trims in his interviews as a distinguished gentleman, is suited as the doc's "villain". He often comes across as a robot, seeking perfection to the nth degree and unaware of/doesn't believe in Phife's arguments against him. Though I can understand Q-Tip's frustrations with Phife, an escalated fight during the 2008 Rock the Bells Tour clearly shows his fundamental inner flaws and overall ugliness.
Rapaport clearly has talent behind the camera, able to bond easily with his film subjects and showcase them as real, intelligent people. He is graced with many genuine human moments, such as Q-Tip's geeking over the origins of the single "Can I Kick It?" An air of freshness and luscious originality sadly is brief here before turning into a fan-made Behind the Music episode. Still, whether to see what A Tribe Called Quest was all about or as an aware observer, you can't go wrong with one of the better documentaries this year.
FINAL REVIEW: 3 / 5
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