Having grown up immersed in the culture of hip-hop, when I first heard of Ice-T‘s documentary Something From Nothing : The Art of Rap, I was both excited and very worried as the doc would either be simply amazing or sublimely bad.

The premise is simple. Iconic rapper and really one of the godfathers of the west-coast rap scene (yeah, remember when he used to rap?) interviews all of the luminaries of hip-hop and then some.

Sounds great right?

Well the first trailer dropped a little while back and it seems that we might have something special here. As a hip-hop head, I am very, very eager to see this doc as the conversation being had and who is having it is very intriguing as the genre that powers pop-culture and defined a generation is at a definite cultural crossroads. The rap of today pales in comparison to its roots and quite frankly it’s quite disappointing.

From the trailer we get the sense that that is the thesis of the conversation being had between Ice-T and all that he interviews including Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Doug E. Fresh, Nas, Eminem, Kanye West, Snoop and the list quite literally goes on and on,

Check out the trailer above and let me know your thoughts. The only question I really have at this point is – when is it opening in Toronto?

About the Film
Ice-T takes us on an intimate journey into the heart and soul of hip-hop with the legends of rap music. This performance documentary goes beyond the stardom and the bling to explore what goes on inside the minds, and erupts from the lips, of the grandmasters of rap. Recognized as the godfather of Gangsta rap, Ice-T is granted unparalleled access to the personal lives of the masters of this artform that he credits for saving his life. Interspersed with the performers’ insightful, touching, and often funny revelations are classic raps, freestyle rhymes, and never before heard a cappellas straight from the mouths of the creators. What emerges is a better understanding of, and a tribute to, an original American art form that brought poetry to a new generation.