Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap

by Drew Martin
Another great documentary I saw this weekend is the 2012 Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap. Directed and hosted by Ice-T the documentary takes you across America to hear from the masters of rap about their personal introduction to hip-hop and their unique anecdotes. When Ice-T puts everyone from Eminem to Salt of Salt-N-Pepa on the spot to rap something that influenced them, they all seamlessly jump into verse committed to memory. My favorite part was hearing how they work. Immortal Technique makes himself physically hungry first or gets pumps up at the gym. Rakim starts with a piece of paper where he draws 16 dots for a 16-bar rhyme so he knows "what he is dealing with." Ras Kass used to "go to school" at a desk he stole from his junior high school and brought home in order to have a focused place to write. Everyone has different approaches but they all acknowledged the hard work it took to become great, the embarrassing failures they endured in the beginning, and the importance of creativity.