B-Rabbit a young rapper is struggling to come to terms with every part of his life, as he must constantly battle with his Mother's drinking problem, protect his friends and overcome his stage fright.
I need to fill you in on a little bit of a back story before really getting into this review. I was such a huge fan of Eminem when he really burst onto the scene with "Real Slim Shady" and I think with all the buzz of him touring later this year and the tickets going on sale this past week I was drawn towards this film which has just been added to Netflix UK. I had all of his albums, but somehow only certain songs remain now in my iTunes library. The title track and Oscar-winning song which features in this film "Lose Yourself" is a big song for me and firmly on every running playlist I have ever created! The thing is though I couldn't even remember the last time that I watched this film, so it felt pretty new all over again even though I could remember small parts.
Jimmy Smith commonly known to his friends and family as Rabbit taking on B-Rabbit as his rap name has so many struggles in his life. Just splitting up from his girlfriend Janine, pretty much after he freaks out that she might be pregnant, to then freezing in a rap battle on stage to then moving back in with his mother in the trailer park. That all happens pretty quickly at the start of the film and certainly paints a very sad picture of Jimmy. That immediately gets us viewers on his side and in his corner, we feel sorry for him and want him to succeed. As he has a job in a factory to attempt to save up some money for his own place and to record a demo.
His friends or crew offer him support but also bad moments as well, something that you cannot really get away from. They would do anything for each other and that I guess is a very important message. It does take some getting back to the rap battle and seeing him on stage again, but it is well worth the wait as he begins to show everyone what he can really do. Not easy for a white kid wanting to rap, he had to work a lot harder to earn respect. Eminem is essentially playing himself in the film as a lot of the plot mirrors his life but don't take anything away from his strong performance. It was also a very early role for Anthony Mackie which is certainly great to watch again now!
I throughly enjoyed my revisit to this film considering how long it had been since the last time I actually watched it. I am pretty sure I had it on VHS? I was liking to think DVD but I actually don't think it was, haha. I really would recommend watching this again if like myself you hadn't seen it for a very long time. It has some fantastic messages coming from it with good performances and the end rap battle really is just great!
