Actor Michael Rapaport stepped out of his comfort zone to direct the documentary "Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest.". It was a labor of love for the 41-year old actor, who's been seen in movies like "Bamboozled" and "Small Time Crooks."
A native New Yorker, Rapaport grew up on 80's and 90's hip hop.
"I got kicked out of a lot of schools when I was a kid because I was so disruptive," he told the New York Daily News "All I cared about was basketball, girls, sleeping and hip hop. I would travel out to the Howard Projects in Brownsville to play ball with my best friend and I was exposed to things I never would have experienced on the East Side of Manhattan."
Rapaport's favorite group coming up was A Tribe Called Quest. The Jamaica Queens trio of Phife, Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad.
When Rapaport decided to make the documentary about the group he knew it wasn't going to be easy. This would be his directorial debut, but that turned out to be the least of his problems.
Q-Tip refused to give his permission for the film to be released due to creative differences.
"It was brutal making this documentary," says Rapaport. "I wouldn't change it for anything but it took everything out of me. I always knew, though, that I was going to finish making the movie, and once we got accepted to Sundance, there was no stopping me from screening the film there, even if I had to do it out of the trunk of my car."
The film is now showing in New York and Hollywood and will be released to more theaters across the country throughout this month and August.
No comments:
Post a Comment