MCN Interview: The Hip Hop Project

Seven years in the making, the new ThinkFilm documentary The Hip Hop Project sheds light on how this music genre has become the most important American music form since rock. The movie follows the irrepressible, entrepreneurial musician, actor, filmmaker and motivational speaker Chris "Kazi" Rolle as he guides a group of students through a hands-on course in the music industry.

Mr. Rolle, who, quoting rapper Jay-Z, admits to being "young enough to know the right car to buy, but old enough not to put rims on it," is not shy about his own turbulent youth: abandoned by his mother in the Bahamas, he grew up in state care and with foster parents until at 14 he reunited with his biological mom in her new home in the U.S. That volatile situation drove him to lived on the streets; then hip hop saved his life.

The Hip Hop Project, documented in this film, grew out of his mentoring by NYU Tisch School of the Arts grad Scott K. Rosenberg. Both approach creativity as a process that is goal-oriented and stress the acquisition of life skills. Today Kazi preaches the use of music to help others, with almost evangelical fervor.

The Hip Hop Project was originally rated R by the MPAA and we spoke to Kazi soon after the rating was adjusted to a PG-13.

ANDREA GRONVALL: Congratulations on getting the R rating knocked down to PG-13.

CHRIS "KAZI" ROLLE: This is something we did where everybody was telling us it would not happen. The whole project has been like this.

AG: Do you know what changed their minds?

CKR: I think [director] Matt Ruskin and I covered all the bases. And then there were precedents that were set with movies like Gunner Palace, where the content outweighed the language. The R was based on the "f" words in our movie; it's such a youth-driven movie, I guess they didn't want - and I'm sure who is ever on that board, they're not hip hop lovers, so based on whatever the media feeds them, that was probably part of the challenge. I spoke to the mission of what I'm doing with the kids, how I want to inspire other people in this climate - what with Virginia Tech and Don Imus - that we're in. This movie deals with love and relationships, mental health, emotional healing, mentoring, the power of forgiveness, fulfillment of dreams, being steadfast in the face of darkness and obstacles. We have so many positive messages that the words that are in there shouldn't cripple the movie.

AG: It's an act of courage to put so much of yourself on the line on screen. Did you ever have any misgivings about making a movie of your life story? What was the genesis of this work?

CKR: When I was in high school my teacher [and the film's producer] Scott Rosenberg introduced me to this class, Media Works Project, which teaches you to think that all things are possible. If you can see it, you can make it happen. One of the things he did was show us examples of people who had great ideas for films or commercials, so we went to the Ad Council, and went to see the movie Sankofa. Another one was called Hoop Dreams, which to this day is the #1 on my top ten movies list. It impacted me so much, especially [protagonist] Arthur Agee, that I felt I just had to make films. Scott helped me get into the School of Visual Arts in New York City, but I didn't have the money. Around that time was I was building the Hip Hop Project, which I started from day one thinking of Hoop Dreams -- I wanted to make the music version of that.

AG: There's an emphasis in your project on process, in that the hip hop lyrics have to tap into the personal lives of the participants. So it only stands to reason that this film is very personal, too. As it's also under 90 minutes, I'm curious about what was left on the cutting room floor, and why.

CKR: They followed everybody [in the project], but I think they just kind of focused on two people--it worked out for us that they were a man and a woman. A lot of the story happened in the editing room. The two years prior to Matt Ruskin coming on, I was trying to make the documentary myself, so some of the early footage in the movie was my contribution. [But then] I purposely disconnected from the production side because I didn't want to act for the camera, I just wanted to open the door and let them come in. Later on, when the movie was 80% done, I gave my input, but I know that even after we did the film festival circuit for a year, there were maybe about five minutes taken out of the film. So it's been a work in progress.

AG: Can you tell me a little bit about the festival experience?

CKR: We went to about 14 or 15 film festivals [Heartland; Sao Paolo, Brazil; Switzerland), and won 13 awards, and a lot of them have been audience awards, people's favorite movie. The opening night at Tribeca last year was good; it was well attended, it was cool, you know? To be at the Tribeca Film Festival, I felt so honored. But the highlight of all the festivals happened about a week after that. It was called the Tribeca Drive-in. It was on a late afternoon on the Hudson, in a park in Battery Park City. They had a gigantic screen, and about 5,000 people came together to watch this film. And leading up to that, we did a performance of a lot of the songs that you saw in the movie. I had a variety style show, like a kaleidoscope of personalities; I'd weave it all together with my commentary and motivational words. And then we brought on the movie at sunset. Now it started getting cold, but everybody stayed. Then afterwards I came on and did a song that nobody in my whole crew heard before, called "Life Goes On." We saw 5,000 people with their hands in the sky; that was such a beautiful, beautiful night for me.

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The Hip Hop Project is in theaters now.

- Andrea Gronvall
May 23, 2007