MOVIE REVIEW

A homeless man starts his ‘Hip Hop Project’ to help disadvantaged teens heal emotional wounds via music.

By Mark Olsen, Special to The Times

"Inspirational" is the kind of word that gets bandied about so often that it becomes essentially meaningless, lost in the torrential glossolalia of Information Age living. In its best moments, "The Hip Hop Project" examines the give and take of inspiration, whereby the mutual exchange of ideas transforms into the commingling of energy, into life itself.

The film, directed by Matt Ruskin and produced by Scott K. Rosenberg, follows the evolution of a project dreamed up by an orphaned, homeless young man in Brooklyn named Chris "Kazi" Rolle. Kazi's idea is simply to engage a group of teenagers in the making of an album. In doing so, Kazi encourages his young charges to dig deep within themselves, often invoking the language of therapy to get them to think beyond rhymes about "ho's and clothes."

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The results, grounded in the experiences of a young woman grappling with the emotional aftermath of an abortion or a young man battling not to be evicted following the death of his mother, are more emotionally raw than artistically sophisticated. The courage and strength that Kazi's protégés show in turn pushes him to make certain reconciliations regarding his own turbulent past. As the project's unexpected benefactor Bruce Willis remarks, sometimes the world truly does work in mysterious ways.

Occasionally the look of the film emulates the burnished hues and overblown lighting of a blinged-out music video, but the film is at its best when it portrays the lives and struggles of its subjects more plainly, in the cramped quarters and makeshift studios that form their environment. Perhaps the film's biggest failing is simply that the music of "The Hip Hop Project" isn't more thrilling, that there isn't a sonic equivalent to the wounded, searching feelings of the young writers' lyrics.

Then again, maybe "The Hip Hop Project" is an example of the process superseding the results. Will the music of "The Hip Hop Project" album change your life? Likely, no. Did the process of making it change the lives of those involved in its creation? Undoubtedly. And that, perhaps, is inspiration enough.

"The Hip Hop Project." MPAA rating: PG-13 on appeal for strong language and some thematic material. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes. In selected theaters.