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murder dog dvd review

ANDRE NICKATINA
THE GIFT
Fillmoe Coleman

THE GIFT
PRODUCER: ANDRE NICKATINA
Fillmoe Coleman

At first glance this DVD comes off as a half baked pseudo pimp documentary. It takes about five minutes into the film before you realize that The Gift is really something special- honest, frank conversation about how street language is a tool of survival more than just mere slick talk to sell a CD or commercial product.

Though the interviewer could have been more informed and engaging, the film's subjects give a very detailed account of their ability to use the gift of spit in this very personal and intimate setting. Exploring language through the language arts of mackology, pimpology and rapology California music and street hustlers Andre Nickatina, Mac Mall, Suga Free, Goldy (Mhsani), Brother Lynch Hung and a few others explain how their specific gift for speech has been their greatest weapon of virtue in surviving the system of American life. Rapping, pimping, macking, negotiating. Whether it's the music industry and music-n-da- streets their philosophies on the art of word play to achieve things in life is something to behold.

The The Gift digs into the psychology of language and how it affects people. How can a rapper's words convince a generation of kids to follow his way of life? How can a pimp convince a woman to work that ass and finance his life with her earnings? How can Bill Gates convince the world that his computer technology is actually better for you than any other brand? The Gift is more than a more documentary about rapping, it's about "the art of persuasion" as the film's producer and Bay Area rap legend Andre Nickatina so succintly put it. -Moke Kelekome

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