Hip-Hop Movie Says ‘Eff’ an R-rating

By Quibian Salazar-Moreno

      The documentary film, “The Hip-Hop Project”, has been getting excellent reviews ever since it screened last year to limited audiences. Produced by Queen Latifah and Bruce Willis, the hindrance on the film’s release was due to an R-rating it was given by the MPAA for language. Even though the film drops 17 ‘f-bombs’, director Matt Ruskin and the film’s subject, rapper Chris "Kazi" Rolle, appealed the rating and asked for a PG-13 rating. They won that appeal based on the fact that the flick ‘is for the children.’

      "We decided to appeal the R rating to allow teenagers access to see this film because they are the ones who need it most," Rolle told The Hollywood Reporter. "After years of working with teens, I know you have to reach them when they are young. Just as I didn’t have a parent to take me to the movies when I was a teenager, many of the young people who would benefit most from this film would have been denied access if the R rating stood."

      According to the Hollywood Reporter, Ruskin told the board, "This motion picture is a call to end the destructive forces of violence, misogyny and criminality that dominate the music our children are listening to.”

      The film follows the once-homeless Chris "Kazi" Rolle as he helps a group of poor New York teens deal with their frustrations by making a hip-hop album. "Project" details their four-year journey, that included studio time taken care of by Willis and Russell Simmons.