Fly by Night

I'll keep this short and simple. Fly By Night is by no means a Great film. But that being said, I found myself wanting to dismiss it but not being able to. One reviewer commented on a scene between a white mother and some young, black men as being an infomercial for rap, but as someone who came up in the time depicted, I remember those conversations. And as someone in the music industry, the conversation between the label and the artists is the same basic conversation people have today. Yes, there is an abrupt twist that is a little awkward, and it's definitely a product if its time in terms of slang and dress (which is to be expected) but overall I found myself leaving with more respect for the film now than when I first saw it (back when it first came out).

This movie was surprisingly entertaining. It reminds me of the pro-black era of early 90's hip-hop. The plot is kind of jaggedly put together, but the dialogue is fresh and the performance scenes are innovative. I wonder who wrote the songs for the "King and I" rap group. Man, they were tight, some reminded me of Gang Starr w/ a mad jazz feel, and the gangsta raps resembled some ol skool N.W.A. I would definitely cop the soundtrack if it existed. The ending of the movie must've been improvised though because it didnt make any sense at all to me. It looked like they copped it from "Juice" or something. I give this movie a thumbs up though because of the tight performance scenes, humorous dialogue, and some minimalistic but pretty well done performances by rappers Special Ed, MC Lyte, and this brother named Ron Brice who stood out in his performance as the diabolical mc--"I".(Maybe they got together and wrote the rhymes for the ficticious rap groups in the movie because the songs were mad tight y'all.) If you're watching BET Starz and this movie is on check it out.

Quite surprised to see the ratings of this: 4.4/10 (current rating) is by no means an indication of the quality of the movie.

Sure it doesn't exactly wrap things up as neatly as perhaps I'd wish it had but the ride is good, especially the first 50 minutes which is excellent.

If you don't like rap-music I can see you struggling with this one though cause there's a lot of rap-performances in it but it always seem like they have a meaning to them not just put in there randomly to fill up the running-time, and the lyrics definitely portrays the characters in the movie accurately as well.

And the music is great, Ron Brice as I is excellent and I went looking to see if he's released any music outside of the movie but can't find any which is a shame and very surprising cause he's got serious story-telling skills that the rappers of today could only dream about having.

If you like movies like JUICE (1992) and 8 MILE (2002) then it's well worth checking out, although it's not really a easy movie to find unfortunately.

..it is AWFUL.

However, I'm gonna buy it because it's one of the most unintentionally hilarious films I've ever seen.

If the King and I were a real Hip Hop act back in the day, they would have been laughed off the stage.

It seemed like they were trying to get the same kind of double-act effect of Public Enemy, i.e. Chuck D with the seriousness (King) and Flavor Flav with the more comedic style (I), but they come across more like Laurel & Hardy.

I can't stress how poorly made this is, but it's great entertainment if you've had a few beers and want something to laugh at!

This is a real good film if you like rap, its real old school, The mixing and scratching in its really good. The character "I" Plays a blinding performance you would think he was that evil. Its a good story and has a good ending i cant understand why its got bad rating. If you like hip hop - rap you must get this video.