Movie Review: 'Love Beats Rhymes'

Love Beats Rhymes is the kind of movie that just doesn’t get made enough. This is a sweet, sensitive, and smart movie about a young, ambitious black woman who decides that she can have all that she wants, school, career, a good man, and that all it takes is a little hard work and desire. I wish more movies had the courage to tell young women that you don’t have to compromise all the time and that you can demand all that you want and work toward getting it.

Love Beats Rhymes stars Azealia Banks as Coco, a rapper with a crew that performs at rap battles in New York City. You might immediately put her in a box as if you already know who she is but you would be wrong. Coco isn’t just a talented rapper. She’s also a college student several credits away from graduating with a degree in accounting, all while she pursues a record deal. Most movies force drama by making characters choose one or the other. It’s refreshing to see a movie character, especially a young black woman, a far too rare lead character, allowed to be so ambitious.

As I said, Coco only needs a few more credits for her degree and when a friend tells her that Poetry 101 is an easy grade, she jumps at the chance, assuming that, as a hip hop artist, poetry will be a breeze. Coco finds herself challenged immediately by her professor, Nefari Dixon (Jill Scott), who has a low opinion of hip hop, especially in relation to poetry, which she puts on a high pedestal. Coco also clashes with Professor Dixon’s teaching assistant, Derek (Lucien Laviscount), who shares the Professor’s disdain for hip hop.

Naturally, Coco and Derek’s antagonism is cover for their mutual attraction and soon enough, nasty words give way to loving coos and their relationship comes under the scrutiny of the jealous professor, jealous of someone taking her handsome TA and of the talent of Coco who, when she finally discovers real poetry, takes to it with talent and passion. The love triangle aspect of Love Beats Rhymes is a rather forced cliché intended to inject drama late in the third act, in a very Robert McKee fashion, but the rest of Love Beats Rhymes is so winning I can forgive a few overly familiar moments.

Love Beats Rhymes is a genuine surprise coming from director RZA. The Wu Tang Clan rap legend is well known for his love of violent genre fare, so seeing him take on a story with such sensitivity is a welcome surprise. RZA seems to know this world very well — not just the rap battles and the music industry stuff, but the poetry slams and the quiet, romantic moments. That’s not to assume that a rapper can’t be sensitive, but given that his other directing credit is The Man with the Iron Fist, I wasn’t expecting a movie of such romance, intimacy, and sensitivity.

RZA’s direction isn’t the only surprise in Love Beats and Rhymes. Rapper Azealia Banks is a revelation. I am not familiar with Azealia Banks’ music career but if it is anything like her Coco I should become familiar. Banks’s work in Love Beats Rhymes is wonderful, full of sensitivity and strength in equal measure. Banks’ Coco is a fully-formed woman full of confidence but also the minor insecurities of youth. As she and Derek begin to fall in love, it is exciting to watch Banks reveal Coco’s heart in a way that would be familiar to anyone at the start of a new relationship.

When it comes to poetry slams and rap battles, Banks is equally at home in both aspects. Her flow is both street and soul and filled with the aching heart of both. It is remarkable to watch a first time actress find her feet so quickly, especially in a lead role. Sure, this isn’t exactly challenging material for her. She’s a hip hop professional who's probably seen a few rap battles in her day, but her comfort in front of the camera with dialogue, intimacy, and romance is exciting to watch and I can’t wait to see more from Azealia Banks.

Love Beats Rhymes is an overly familiar conceit in terms of coming of age and young romance stories, but it is rare to see a movie like this starring a young black woman. We have to start somewhere and seeing a young black woman take on a starring role that has been given to many young white actresses in the past is refreshing. That that young black actress has the exciting talent of Azealia Banks makes Love Beats Rhymes all the more exciting.

Love Beats Rhymes is in limited release beginning December 1 with hope of spreading to wider release before the end of the year.