Freestyle

Posted by Paul Devlin:

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A concise history of hip hop’s emotional and culture roots.

The Making of Freestyle (continued)

Director Kevin Fitzgerald’s love of hip hop and freestyle was pure and passionate. His production company was called Organic Films, and that’s exactly what the movie Freestyle was. It was a fluid work, ever changing. Kevin would take the current version of the movie, and screen it at a hip hop event. Of course, all the freestylers would show up and start cyphering on the street after the screening. Kevin was there with his camera, capturing it all. And those performances would be incorporated into the next version of the movie! He would screen that version and the process would start all over again.

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Posted by Paul Devlin:

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A look back at the heyday of NYC cyphering in the early ‘90s, with SuperNatural in Washington Square Park, commentary from Mos Def, and a spectacular Freestyle narrative from Wordsworth.

The Making of Freestyle (continued)

In order to develop the story threads for Freestyle, we began gathering new material. First I added the interview and performance of Juice that I had already shot. Then we researched those historic battles and started collecting footage from around the country. We became Freestyle Central for awhile! When the director, Kevin Fitzgerald came to NYC from LA, I shot new footage with him. We sought out Craig G for a crucial interview and also brought in Anthony Marshall and Danny Castro of Lyricist Lounge. They stopped by my apartment to check out the results one day.

Check out Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme
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Posted by Paul Devlin:

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The Battle between Supernatural and Craig G was the most eagerly anticipated of its time. Assembling the footage to present this sequence wasn’t easy. It took a lot of convincing and cajoling. But the result is a slice of hip hop history captured for the ages.

The Making of Freestyle (continued)

The re-discovered interview of Bobbito not only gave great insight into the movement, but also provided a framework for a story for Freestyle. Bobbito talked about a legendary battle between two of the top Freestylers, Supernatural and Craig G. We already had a fantastic segment on Supernatural. Then we learned that Supernatural also battled Juice. I had material on Juice when I was making my version of the movie. These battles might provide a dramatic thread that would save the movie.

Check out Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme
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Posted by Paul Devlin:

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Get inside the “cypher,” the energetic core of freestyling, climaxed with an exhilarating performance from Mos Def!

The Making of Freestyle (continued)

Kevin was in California much of the time, so Henry and I collaborated on the re-edit in NYC, first working in his apartment near CBGBs, then finishing up in my apartment in Stuyvesant Town. The challenge was to find some kind of a story within the random performances and interviews. We started by organizing the material into chapters. Then we dug deeper into the footage. We found an interview of hip hop impresario Bobbito, which had never been digitized or synched. It was a goldmine!

Check out Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme.
Buy the DVD.

Posted by Paul Devlin:

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This excerpt shows how the art of Freestyling infuses all aspects of hip hop - “that fleeting moment of escape.”

The Making of Freestyle (continued)

It took me awhile to decide whether or not I would join the Freestyle team. Technically the project was a mess – all sorts of different formats, several editors, many iterations. It was going to take a long time just to get it ready for a re-edit – guaranteed brain damage. By then I was working on my next project, Power Trip, and wasn’t sure I wanted to dilute my time. There was a lot of negotiating, and stalling, but finally I decided the movie deserved to find its audience. I signed on as “Producing Editor” (or Preditor, as I preferred to be called).

Check out Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme.
Buy the DVD.

Posted by Paul Devlin:

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Otherwize is a fierce competitor and shows just how brutal Freestyle Battles can be. “Noone cares who came in third place. If you’re gonna do it, DO IT.” 

The Making of Freestyle (continued)

Soon after I met Kevin Fitzgerald, his producer Henry-Alex Rubin (who later went on to co-direct Murder Ball) contacted me. Kevin was having trouble selling his movie. The cut was good enough for festivals, but not for broadcast. It needed to be re-worked. They wanted to know if I would join them and re-edit the movie.

Check out Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme.
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Posted by Paul Devlin:

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“It’s better than fighting and it’s better than shooting and stabbing each other.” Freestylers hone their skills in healthy, head-to-head competition.

The Making of Freestyle (continued)

I heard that Kevin Fitzgerald’s movie, Freestyle – The Art of Rhyme, had been accepted into the 1999 Urbanworld Film Festival in New York City. I went to see it. It was still messy, but it had been cut way down, and included some incredible performances. The movie won an award at the festival. I finally met Kevin at the screening. He had heard about my project, and we hung out, talking freestyling and movies. It seemed there would not be room enough for two freestyle movies, and Kevin clearly was way ahead. I decided to abandon my project.

Check out Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme.
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Posted by Paul Devlin:

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His name says it all when it comes of Freestyling. A true master of his art form.

The Making of Freestyle (continued)

After starting my own movie about Freestyle, I discovered there was another filmmaker, Kevin Fitzgerald (aka DJ Organic) who had already been shooting a movie on the same topic for about 5 years. I thought about abandoning my project, until someone showed me a bootlegged rough cut of Kevin’s movie. It was a mess and ran well over two hours. I stopped worrying about it.

Check out Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme.
Buy the DVD.

Posted by Paul Devlin:

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The classic debate – what is Freestyling? No better demonstration than P.E.A.C.E.’s performance in this excerpt.

The Making of Freestyle (continued)

After being inspired by Sage Francis, I decided my next movie would be about freestyle hip hop. I got started by shoot performances and interviews with talented Freestylers, including Sage in Brooklyn, Juice in Chicago and Jerry Quickley in Los Angeles.

Check out Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme.
Buy the DVD.

Posted by Paul Devlin:

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Let us introduce our newest webseries Freestyle, featuring clips from Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme!

In this early sequence we see how freestyling traces its origins to spirituality, a theme which runs throughout the rest of the movie.

The Making of Freestyle

I was first introduced to Freestyling at a National Poetry Slam event where I was promoting my movie SlamNation.  The accomplished hip hop artist, Sage Francis, who was also a slam poet at the time, busted into a rap at a daytime showcase. He was so polished and seamless that he was half way into his performance before I realized that it was completely improvisational, interacting with the environment and the people in the audience. I was blown away!

Check out Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme.
Buy the DVD.