Did you memorize the first verse of Wu-Tang Clan’s “Method Man” from reading The Source magazine’s “Hip-Hop Quotables?” Do you know what KRS-One’s name stands for? Were you “independent as fuck?” Dare we say, underground? For the early ’90s rap kids and indie artists alike, comes the documentary Adult Rappers, a rare look into the real lives of working-class rappers.
Most of them tour 200 days out of the year, but they’re not money pillowcase-packing MC’s spitting to sold-out stadiums. They got skills, but they also have car payments, mortgages, debt, and mouths to feed. They are adults and rap is their livelihood. Artists in the film, like Murs and R.A. The Rugged Man, could’ve left the rap game when they hit the aging fork in the road, but they pushed their careers straight through. The film examines what aging rappers’ lives are like when they’re not on stage with a mic in their hand. What you won’t find watching this film are punch-line-swinging egos. The rappers interviewed are amazingly candid: “When your hobby becomes your job, it’s time to get a new hobby,” said author, DJ and former rapper J Zone. Read more at starklife
