Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Rappin' Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson March 23, 2018

Rappin' (1985) was an attempt by Israeli director Joel Silberg and the Cannon Group to do for hip hop what the same filmmaking team did for breakdancing a year earlier in Breakin and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. For these smaller, family friendly indies, Cannon had a penchant for delivering them into theaters with lightning fast efficiency. Indeed Rappin' was filmed in Pittsburgh in February and March and a little over a month later, opened in cinemas nationwide. However, it was nowhere near the box office hit Breakin was and even fell far short of the sequel's domestic gross of $15 million. Although the screenplay for Rappin' by Adam Friedman and Robert Jay Litz sticks close to the book of an urban street revue musical, the picture retains a nostalgic charm through the simple rhapsodies vocalized by a diverse and talented ensemble. But Rappin' probably would never have had much of a presence without the charisma of Mario Van Peebles, then a 25-year-old actor in his first solo starring role. Van Peebles plays John "Rapping" Hood, an ex-convict just released from the slammer following an eighteen-month sentence due to an apparent assault charge. Hood boasts that he is a reformed young man and vows to replace his fisticuffs with his considerable singing abilities. Hood arrives back at his ram-shackled abode where his kid brother and Grandma (Eyde Byrde) are there to greet and rap with him. Hood is also warmly received by his friendly troupe at the local bar but not so by his archival Duane (Charles Grant) and his mean minions. Duane has tried to take away Hood's old flame Dixie (Tasia Valenza) who would like to go back to John by getting him an audition with the record company she works for. Meanwhile, the avaricious real estate developer Thorndike (Harry Goz) wants to evict everyone in Hood's neighborhood and uses a rather cowardly associate to hire Duane to damage the local properties and businesses. The films becomes a battle of wills between Hood's posse and Duane's gang.

Rappin' lacks a real hard edge and this can be explained by Cannon's marketing strategy to soften much of the material by rating it PG. One review conjectured that it aimed to tap into the lowest common denominator by being easily translatable and exportable in various foreign markets. The plot and street scenes borrow at least in part from The Wanderers (1979) and to a lesser degree, The Warriors (1979), but this shouldn't be any indication that the filmmaking is comparable to those classics. Rappin' is also indebted to the Rocky series, which is quotes on a grimy bathroom hall. This is no coincidence since there is the Pennsylvania connection (Rocky was filmed in Philadelphia and Rappin' in Pittsburgh), both protagonists are working-class characters in search of redemption, and each are boxers. Originally, Rappin' was supposed to feature a flashback of John Hood working out at a gym in boxing attire and Dixie pleasantly surprising him at the beginning of the film while the ex-con rides home from prison on a bus. However, this scene was moved to much later in the film as Hood prepares to take on Duane. (Dixie does remind me a bit of Adrian.)

Rappin' is also notable for a cameo by Ice-T. Some critics noted his brief appearance at the time and lamented that he didn't have a larger role. One can only imagine the hip-hop magic he and Van Peebles could have generated together had they had a bunch of scenes together. The movie is often silly and laughable but it held my interest even though I knew where it was going. While the songs in Rappin' are not great or exceptional, they sweep the story along with their sweet simplicity.

Rappin' Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Rappin' has had an undistinguished video history. The 2003 US DVD had a cropped 1.33:1 presentation and the 2015 UK DVD courtesy of Fabulous Films displayed the film in a letterboxed transfer. Shout! Factory advertises their transfer as struck from a "brand-new HD master from 4K scan." One will immediately notice the vast improvement over faded prints that this Blu-ray demonstrates as colors are rich in daylight scenes. Black levels are solid. This is already an upgrade over the two DVDs and could have been much cleaner if not for the debris the cascades over the main titles. One wishes that this will go away but persistent white specs, print blips, and tramlines (see Screenshot #13) invade the frame. I applaud Shout! for making a new scan of Rappin' and wasn't expecting an expensive restoration but the age-related artifacts could have been expunged. There are some spots in which the transfer appears squeaky clean but this transfer frequently looks like a recycled theatrical print. The BD-25 has been given an MPEG-4 AVC encode with an average video bitrate of 30995 kbps. My video score is 3.25.

Twelve scene selections are provided for the main feature.

Rappin' Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The original stereo sound track for Rappin' sounds clean and authentic. Dialogue is generally clear and decipherable. There are around fifteen songs performed in the film and they exhibit nice treble and good bass. There's generally some decent separation between the center speaker and fronts but I would have liked to see Shout! give the option for a 5.1 remix.

There are optional English SDH accessible through the main menu and via remote.

Rappin' Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers - two theatrical trailers for Rappin' (the second one gives more away if you haven't seen the feature).

Rappin' Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Rappin' is a film culture artifact and byproduct of its time. Its passable entertainment and a noteworthy cinematic attempt by the Cannon Group to try to bring hip hop to a broader audience. The musical numbers aren't classics but they've grown on me and I find them rather infectious. The mere fact that Shout! Factory made a 4K scan is something of an accomplishment, although I wish the label would have gone the extra mile to wipe away the recurrent print anomalies. Any extras would have been greatly appreciated but for fans of early rap and Van Peebles, this budget edition earns a MODEST RECOMMENDATION.