bbnaz2
Updated: Oct 19, 2020
There is one main theme that is explored throughout this film. The dehumanization of becoming a rapper. You also see the struggle he faces with letting go of his past. He is constantly confronted by people in his environment about giving up his life on the streets, or at least questioning him as to why he continues to sell drugs. You could compare him drug dealing to a woman stuck in an abusive relationship. The good part is great, the bad part is a whole lot worse, but the most difficult part is getting out, and if you don’t it will hold you back.
Half of the film is set in a bleak room, with Nines sitting across from a psychiatrist. It seems as though these scenes are the moments; he hates the most. At these points throughout the film you see his expressions are sad, he looks down, doesn’t make eye contact. It is as if he doesn’t want to face the reality of the questions being asked, about feeling, emotion, and honesty. All things that you are taught to forget when growing up hustling on the streets.
The streets raised him, and the block adopted him. To leave that behind could be seen as him leaving who he truly is behind. Or at least who he thinks he is. You are also made aware of how various attributes of his life have desensitized him. When asked by the therapist if he feels like people treat him differently since becoming famous, he deflects the answer and goes on to talk about how he has become a colder person. Everything that has happened or is happening to him makes him more and more cold; his dad passing, his brother passing, the fact that he deals drugs and people constantly ask him for money, the fact that becoming a rapper has made him richer and people ask even more now.
This is a hard-hitting glimpse at the reality faced by those raised who grow up on the streets. Everyone is Crabs In A Bucket; fighting to get out, fighting for territory, holding each other back.
Watch the full movie now on Youtube.