Rappin' (1985) User Reviews

too much cringe

[SnoopyStyle · 3/10 · 16 December 2018]

John Hood (Mario Van Peebles) is released from prison. He goes home to his grandma and younger brother. He reconnects with his best friend Ice (Eriq La Salle). The evil landlord Wilson is trying to evict the multi-ethnic downtrodden neighborhood. Hood and his friends work to fight against the villainous land-developer. He falls for rival Duane's girlfriend, Dixie (Tasia Valenza).

If this is a disconnected sequel to Breakin', then this is a complete failure. I would love to have Breakin' 3 with the original crew. As a new story on its own, this is still a failure. If they want a movie about rapping, make Ice-T the protagonist. He's the only connecting tissue and he deserves a chance. His acting couldn't be any worst. Mario has always been a hustler and a try hard. He tries hard to be a rapper but he's far from one. I couldn't believe the first rap is about food. Eriq La Salle is stiff and cold. He can be that way in ER because that's the character. In this, he's just stiff and he's not a real rapper either. Duane is a ridiculously villain. He's white bread trying to be hard and it comes off like a cartoon. I do like the town council rap for its hokey sincerity but the closing credits rap is just cringeworthy. I want to like this but too much of this is cringeworthy.

Hollywood's failed attempt at accepting another "culture"

[John Book · 5/10 · 20 June 2000]

With the success of "Beat Street" and "Breakin'", Hollywood felt it was the right time to exploit the world of rap music. Keep in mind that this was 1985, and the music was still being promoted by the music. No videos, no shiny record covers, just the music and the people. With that in mind, someone felt it was pretty good to make a film about a few people struggling for a better life, and doing it by having each character rap during key moments in the movie. I don't know what they were thinking, maybe a "West Side Story" for the breakdancers? While this movie could (and should) be exposed as weak, there's a small part inside of you that you eat up like cake. Sure it's cheesy, but at the same time their hearts were in the right place, just not doing it correctly. Mario Van Peebles tries to rap, but the high/lowlight has got to be the ending of the movie, when the entire cast is given a few lines to rap, including the "cowboy" character. And you thought Eminem was the first white wonder.

Wasted Talent

[boblipton · 4/10 · 15 December 2018]

Golan-Globus decided to follow up its breakout hit of 1984's BREAKIN' with this movie about how Eriq Lasalle is trying to save his neighborhood from developers while being discovered as a great, natural rap star, with a hackneyed plot and club music that sounds like the chick-a-boom stuff that was used as the soundtrack for every cheesy urban movie in the 1970s.

There's a lot of talent lurking onscreen. Not only is it Lasalle's first movie, but Ice-T (credited under his birth name of Tracy Marrow) and his crew are available.

As I usually am with these productions, I'm more fascinated by the fact that all these poor people have brand new shoes and boxing gloves, perfectly maintained browstones that, we are told, are falling apart and, of course, Lasalle's immaculate hair styling with two perfect spit curls than I am by story acting or technical excellence, mostly because there is so little.

Reakin'

[JZvezda · 1/10 · 13 March 2003]

"I went to the movies, to see 'Beat Street' / it wasn't bad, it was kinda' neat / 'Krush Groove' was a flick, that I didn't mind / but when it came to 'Rappin', I drew the line." Word to your mother.

Want me to stop?

That's just a small sample of the stupa-fly style of rhymin' on display in this waste of film and location permits. This movie is seriously wack (thats 80s-speak for just f*cking awful). As an emcee, Mario Van Peebles is one hell of an actor. And as an actor, Mario Van Peebles is one hell of a bodybuilder.

Any film calling itself "Rappin'" had better deliver at that genre's highest standard of the time. So why were 6 year olds rolling in the aisles, even back in the day when standards were so knee-high-to-"Webster"-low? Because this rap is weak. So weak that not even B.E.T. or Comedy Central will touch it with a 10-foot gold-rope chain.

Blondie's "Rapture" is def poetry next to this bit of Dr. Suess in the hood. So don't be a boobie, avoid this movie!

Song & dance number...dog & pony show

[buzznzipp1995 · 1/10 · 6 February 2007]

I have copy of this on VHS, I think they (The television networks) should play this every year for the next twenty years. So that we don't forget what was and that we remember not to do the same mistakes again. Like putting some people in the director's chair, where they don't belong. This movie Rappin' is like a vaudevillian musical, for those who can't sing, or act. This movie is as much fun as trying to teach the 'blind' to drive a city bus.

John Hood, (Peebles) has just got out of prison and he's headed back to the old neighborhood. In serving time for an all-to-nice crime of necessity, of course. John heads back onto the old street and is greeted by kids dogs old ladies and his peer homeys as they dance and sing all along the way.

I would recommend this if I was sentimental, or if in truth someone was smoking medicinal pot prescribed by a doctor for glaucoma. Either way this is a poorly directed, scripted, acted and even produced (I never thought I'd say that) satire of ghetto life with the 'Hood'. Although, I think the redeeming part of the story, thru the wannabe gang fight sequences and the dance numbers, his friends care about their neighbors and want to save the ghetto from being torn down and cleaned up and built new. This is a great depiction of Ice-T though. His worst performance yet? Maybe. From Heart break Ridge with Clint Eastwood to this tale of the rappin' life-sentence. Oh well, he wasn't that good as stitch jones playing electric guitar either.

Forget Sonny spoon, Mario could have won an Oscar for that in comparison to this Rap. Oh well if you find yourself wanting to laugh yourself silly and three-quarters embarrassed, be sure to drink first.

And please, watch responsibly. (No stars, better luck next time!)

It's like Breakin' but WAY worse

[jellopuke · 2/10 · 8 June 2019]

Trying to cash in on a trend here, Cannon films makes a terrible knock off of their own Breakin' using rap instead of break dancing. The raps are slow, plodding, and terrible and the plot is a by the numbers evil land developer story. It's shot in a perfunctory way and is just so embarrassing on every level. I'd rather watch Breakin' and Breakin' 2 back to back ten times then watch this again.

Mediocre hip hop flick

[DunnDeeDaGreat · 21 November 2001]

Rappin has to be one of the most cliched hip hop films in history. The script is cheesy, the rappin is horrible and the soundtrack doesn't thump. Mario Van Pebbles may a good actor, but the man can't rap. I give this movie a -** out of ****

Exuberant

[evening1 · 5/10 · 13 March 2019]

Mario Van Peebles creates a stunning persona in this film about a young man who serves time in prison and comes out a better person for it.

John "Rappin'" Hood heads back to his old haunts on the mean streets of Pittsburgh and tries to return to the business of living, by looking out for his mischievous little brother ("Why don't you mind your own business? You ARE my business!"), finding some kind of career path, and maybe even getting back together with his former squeeze.

I loved seeing snippets of Pittsburgh, my hometown, and this movie features some wonderful, albeit brief, rap performances by by the handsome and agile Van Peebles. The music form in its earlier days was more measured and articulated, and Van Peebles's bits, both on the sound stage for his admiring ex- and in exchanges with folks like his grandmother -- In prison, "wasn't nothin' to do but think and work out" -- are wonderful to behold.

Everyone joins in at times, including Grandma, played lovingly by Eyde Byrde, as when she admonishes the younger bro, "Now you may rap and you may rhyme, but now it is your homework time!"

Unfortunately, the movie bogs down horribly as we must wade through silly subplots involving a vicious hooligan -- "Hey is for horses" -- played by Charles Grant, greedy developers trying to exploit local residents, and a lascivious truck driver and prostitute (how inappropriate in a movie clearly targeted to teens).

I'm interested in the history of rap, so I enjoyed this little trip down a musical memory lane. Van Peebles was a wonderful discovery; I'm just surprised I haven't seen or heard more from him in more recent times.

I see those cakes and I start to go wild! (His main squeeze is Julia Child!)

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 24 December 2018]

Mario Van Peebles is very engaging in this rather harmless attempt by the Cannon Group to capture mid-80s rap culture on screen. He plays John "Rappin'" Hood, a street tough who's changed his ways after time in jail, and returns to his 'hood to romance the lovely Dixie (Tasia Valenza), set his younger brother Allan (Leo O'Brien) on the right track, and fight back against Duane (Charles Grant), a vicious former crony, and Thorndike (Harry Goz), a sleazy land developer.

Done in a musical style, with numbers delivered at fairly frequent intervals, "Rappin'" is not to be taken seriously. People could definitely argue that it's in dire need of bite, edginess, and grit, but for a PG rated look at inner-city people who find a way to express themselves, it's hard to truly dislike. One could also argue that a lot of the rhyming is inane and goofy, but this viewer liked that the picture had a sense of humour (like the scene with the hooker, or that utterly dopey number "Snack Attack"). Ice-T (who has a number of his own, as an auditioning rapper) dubbed in Van Peebles' rhyming.

The picture does take problems of inner-city living lightly, but then director Joel Silberg and company likely wanted to avoid ever making this too unpleasant, in order to reach as broad an audience as possible. In fact, the whole thing DOES come off as a little cheesy (with opportunities for many of the main cast members to belt out a line or two during the closing credits number).

Grant and Goz are appropriately odious villains; you do hope that Grant brawls with Van Peebles at some point so he can get his ass righteously handed to him. Valenza is a charming love interest, Eyde Byrde is appealing as the grandmother, Rony Clanton is good as a slimy landlord, there are early roles for future stars Kadeem Hardison and Eriq LaSalle as two of Van Peebles' crew, and the enchanting character actress Rutanya Alda also has a role as an area resident. It's always nice to see her in anything.

As this viewer already said, the picture is entertaining enough to watch provided you don't ever take it that seriously.

Six out of 10.

The Star Wars of Cheesy Mid 80s Rap Movies

[reverendtom · 10/10 · 30 March 2004]

This movie is such a monumental collection of cheese and brilliance that I got to give it my highest level of fervent recommendation. It took a little while to grow on me, but once I saw it from beginning to end, I was sold for life. Everytime I watch this film, it gets funnier. There are so many funny scenes, it is endless amusement. This movie is epic. It ain't for everyone, but if you find the 1980s to be inherently funny, you will crack up at this monument of cheese. Mario Van Peebles is incredible, delivering his lines with bravado and soul ("Bathroom, Fool!"). Eriq LaSalle is great as the rightous tough guy Ice. Charles Flohe has a career making role as the villian. Tasia Valenza is enchanting as the love interest, Dixie. Melvin Plowden provides portly comic relief as Fats. Ice T wrote the rhymes that Mario spits. Simply incredible. 10/10

Rappin'

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 14 March 2022]

I love this movie.

If Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo exists in its own dimension, this one is the Earth-3 to its Earth-2, a place where rap can save the world. And to make it even better, it's filmed right where I call home, Pittsburgh, PA.

Directed by Joel Silberg - the man who brought us Breakin' and Lambada - and written by Adam Friedman and Robert J. Litz, this is the story of Rappin' John Hood (Mario Van Peebles), who has just been released from prison only to come home to a neighborhood dealing with gangs and developers kicking out everyone to prepare for high paying real estate.

He reunites with his old crew, like Moon (Kadeem Hardison from A Different World) and Ice (Eric La Salle), Fats (Melvin Plowden) and his little brother Allan (Leo O'Brien, the real-life younger brother of The Sugarland Gang's Master Gee) while dealing with a rival gang led by Duane (Charles Flohe, The Delta Force, P. O. W. The Escape), who loses his girlfriend Dixie, who used to be John's girlfriend, back to John (Tasia Valenza, who is the voice of Sniper Wolf in the Metal Gear Solid games).

There's also Cedric (Rory Clanton), a former resident of the neighborhood who is selling it out to the white man when he isn't making deals with Duane's gang. And there's a plot about the music industry wanting to hire John, probably just for the song "Snack Attack."

It also has the Force MDs and Ice-T himself shows up and either he or Master Gee supposedly ghost rapped Van Peeble's rhymes- which the credits claim he wrote himself - but man, Ice-T provides a nice multiverse crossover with the Breakin' films. When he raps "Killers," a song all about bad cops, rich murders and politicians treating normal people as "just puppets in the games they play" alongside David Storrs, you'll be excited that a happy-go-lucky film doesn't forget to include harsh reality inside the bubblegum.

There's also a scene where Fats and the local lady of the evening, Rosalita, pull a scam not unlike a scene in every Lemon Popsicle movie where a heavyset man gets surprised by a woman's boyfriend coming home. And the movie even has room for Mommie Dearest and Amityville II: The Possession star Rutanya Alda to be in this!

Someone on a Pittsburgh film site picked this as one of the worst movies ever made here. What a joke. Come on - we should all be so lucky as to live in the same neighborhood as John Hood.

Gold Jerry, gold

[info-614-237329 · 9/10 · 28 November 2022]

Vastly underrated, this gem was recently rediscovered after decades of hiding.

Mario van Peebles is Oscar worthy in this masterpiece. Turbo and Ozone could take lessons from him on this one.

Set in Pittsburgh, the cinematography certainly won awards. No need for CGI here, just raw talent in action.

If Van Peebles were a dessert, he'd definitely be a chocolate waterfall here.

Once you see it on You Tube, it'll forever remain in your heart. I've watched it 6x already and I suspect it'll be a mainstay in the rotation. It's not going to bump Smokey & the Bandit from its' all-time top status, but it did replace Breakin II: Electric Bugaloo from the throne. Enjoy with or without subtitles.

Only an 8/10 if you find the1980s funny...

[AlsExGal · 8/10 · 15 December 2018]

... and I mean both strange and hilarious. If you lived through that decade this film is even funnier as a bit of cheesy nostalgia. The plot devices could have been used in a Great Depression era programmer - the guy just out of the joint who wants to make good with a kid brother on the path to prison and the mom with a heart of gold, the pretty lady record producer with an abusive boyfriend who is a corny coupling of Elvis and Billy Idol in the looks department, the evil developer/landlord who is trying to drive out the poor people in the neighborhood so he can tear down the slums and make a fortune, and the developer's lackey who looks like the guy who was the runner up in getting the part of the mayor in Robocop.

There are the just plain weird rap acts, the trips through clubs where half of the women are dressed like Madonna wannabes with the electrocuted hair, the corny minimalist dialogue, and all of the guys wearing the single glove like that will make them Michael Jackson. Throwing a raincoat over the shoulder of B sixties cult film star Arch Hall Jr. wouldn't have made him Sinatra, and the single glove bit doesn't work wonders of transformation either.

Recommended for the unintended humor of it all, but do not watch it in the middle of the night if you are trying to get some sleep. The hilarity and unintended goofiness of the proceedings will wake you right up.

Under-rated lost classic

[Radish4ever · 9/10 · 3 August 2008]

Very enjoyable and a feel good movie, a lot of fun, this should have been the next Saturday night fever or Rocky horror. This film is dull early on but really gets going from the quarter way stage, and it tries to show the underrated Mario Van Peebles as a kind of Robin Hood figure (he is called John "rappin" hood), out of jail and trying to re-discover himself and save his neighbourhood from a greedy property developer and save his brother from a life of crime and jail like his former self. Everyone is infuenced by the power of rap and all become better people for the experience (yes very cheesy) this is for sale on region 1 (where I purchased) but not in the UK where I live, the wonders of internet, credit cards and multi region players, even a happy ending for me :-) get this film, buy it and tell all your friends about it, it deserved to be a cult classic.

A Compelling Tale Of Urban Struggle

[blurnieghey · 10/10 · 17 May 2020]

While it would be easy to dismiss this as a mere knock-off of the two Breakin' movies, there are certain qualities to this film that have endeared themselves to viewers throughout the decades. Lessons of hope, struggle, and perseverance over insurmountable obstacles are what this movie is really all about and, while Mario Van Peebles does a pretty good job of capturing the spirit of urban youth, it is the character of Duane who truly brings the message home and the raw acting skill on display in this film resonates with me to this very day. So, when watching this movie, tip your hat to Mr. Charles Flohe (AKA Charles Grant) for giving the performance of a lifetime-it's truly something to behold and the only reason to watch this flick, aside from the rappin' granny and the completely awesome rap at the closing credits.

Cinema

[dewitdewitdewitdewit · 10/10 · 20 March 2022]

Wonderful charecters and setting Had me engaged. I laughed I cried I got engrossed with the loving relationship between John and his new girlfriend. It had so much emotion in it. A must see for fans of fun 80s movies definitely deserves much needed attention.