Very well executed

Best movie ever!

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Albert Brown and his buddies Rip and Otis are aspiring rappers who have tried every gimmick to break into the music business. Eventually, Albert and the boys decide to go into gangster rap, with Albert assuming the identity of M.C. Gusto, who is really a local crime lord who is serving time in prison. Eventually, Gusto finds out about the boys scheme and seeks revenge as well as a share of the profits......When this film was released back in the day, I was just turning sixteen, and music and movies were a huge part of my life. Hip Hop and Gangster Rap were just really becoming big in the UK, thanks to NWA, Cypress Hill, and Ice Cube, saw I saw this movie a lot differently than I did over twenty years ago.Seeing it now, there are flashes of genius, and Rock has never been better, but some of the sight gags really, really detract you away from the story and the narrative.The music is still wonderful, and although the makers are poking fun at some of the artists who claim to be from South Central or wherever is cool at the time, but really middle class citizens with comfortable upbringings, it never forgets the fundamental reason that Gangster Rap is so successful.Its funny, Murphy proves that only one sibling should work, but it's not as genius as I remember.

It's always difficult to do a hard-hitting parody of anything. One needs to have knowledge of a topic as well as a general affection for it. If you hate a topic, your distaste for the topic will come out in cruel jokes and that is not good for the target audience for parodies which is often fans of the material which was parodied. They will not want to see parodies which are mean-spirited. If you like a topic, you won't make a mean-spirited parody. Your affection for your topic will be clear in the movie you make.This film is very funny in portraying the hypocrisy of family values politicians such as senate candidate Robinson(Phil Hartman) condemning gangsta rap for political gain while his kid Ben (J.D. Daniels) idolizes the group and has plastered his wall's room with posters of the group. It's also excellent in establishing that the group has not come up from poverty but actually has suburban roots. None of the characters (portrayed by Chris Rock, Deezer D, and Allen Payne) have fought their way into this business opportunity from poverty. All have seen a business opportunity or a musical opportunity but they have not made themselves out of nothing, another trope the music industry has not shrunk from.The earnestness of documentary filmmaker A. White (Chris Elliott) is also funny - the earnest desire to depict of a white man to treat rap and rappers with respect is also mocked hilariously by Elliott's nebbishness. The depiction of rap groupie Sissy is hilariously parodied by Khandi Alexander in over-the-top excess. Alexander shreds the promiscuity of the super-groupie with her over-the-top depiction. Gusto as depicted by Charlie Murphy is also hilarious. Murphy tears into the role of a truly bad man who serves as a club owner but who also deals drugs on the side. The willingess of MC Gusto and his crew to appropriate Gusto's name to promote an image of toughness is also a good method to allow the mens' true toughness to be revealed.I think if anything, this film's middle section could have been developed more into a harsher, more acerbic treatment of the hypocrisy of politicians, the disingenuousness of the would-be gangsta-rappers, and of the over-the-top obscenity which often seems so gratuitous that it loses its ability to shock. Screenwriters Nelson George and Chris Rock, if anything, understated the acidity of their idea. The ability of gangsta rap to withstand barbed, extended parody is greater than the parody they have made here. The segment in which the group goes on tour could have been longer and Robinson's hypocrisy could have withstood a lot more parody also. All in all, this is a good film which could have been a great film.

There was a moment at the beginning of this film where we got to see 30 seconds of Halle Berry. That is the only thing that made my investment of time worthwhile. After that it was all down hill.I guess this was supposed to be a mocumentary similar to This is Spinal tap. That would be cool except you have to listen to motherfu**er every other second and also subject yourself to a constant barrage of mysogenic, homophobic trash.In addition to Halle, it also featured Khandi Alexander (CSI) and Teresa Randle (Girl 6), but to see them you had to suffer through Chris Elliott and Phil Hartman - hardly worth the effort.Did I mention you have to listen to motherfu**er every other second?

Cell Block 4 (or CB4 as they are known) are the hottest new gangsta rap crew and have had a documentary commissioned on their violent past. However the camera crew are with MC Gusto (aka Albert Brown) when he is shot at by someone whom Albert confesses is the real Gusto. Stuck in traffic, Albert tells the camera the truth behind CB4's middle-class background and how he and his friends formed the marketing image of gangsta's ho's and guns. However with so much faking behind them, how will the group react when Gusto gets out of jail and threatens to make their play become reality.Even though rap music has moved into the mainstream to a great extent than it had in 1993, and many of the clichés lampooned in this film have changed slightly (from grimy to bling to the style of Fonzworth Bentley etc) this film still manages to be funny and on the nose enough times to be worth seeing. The plot doesn't really matter because the aim is to spoof the rap scene and it does this pretty well; of course the threads around Gusto and Virgil are pretty loose as a result and this took away from the film but it does other things better. The humour is pretty broad – so don't expect anything as clever as Spinal Tap here, but it produced enough laughs in me from the basic rather crude stuff while also hitting hip hop quite a few times nice and hard!Hip hop was an easy target then and it is an easier target now since it is influencing western culture more than ever – to its own detriment it must be said. The gags are funny but could have been a lot sharper since it only apes the industry but never really seems comfortable to rip it down or make it look as totally silly as it sometimes can in reality. Fans of the genre will like the film because it does this – it spoofs but never in a malicious or harmful way, if anything it is more affectionate. The cast are pretty good even if the lack of any real names (at the time) meant that it had a rather low rent feel to it. Rock is pretty funny but never allowed to be as funny as he could have been due to the very general and basic material – likewise Payne and D are both OK but only as good as the material allows. Elliott is weedy and rather annoying, while the always welcome presence of Hartman is wasted as the film sort of just doesn't know what to do with his side of the film. Murphy is OK although I found the resemblance to his brother to be a bit distracting. The support cast throws up a few well-known faces from stardom as well as people like Randle etc but really the material is too basic for any of them to shine.Fans of the music scene will enjoy it because it pokes good natured fun at the clichés within the genre but the casual viewer will find these to be easy targets without the sharpness they deserve and without a good narrative to really make it that engaging. An enjoyable film but hardly an insightful one although it has enough basic laughs to it to make it worth watching.