The Beat (2003 film)

The Beat
The Beat official DVD cover.
Directed by	Brandon Sonnier[1]
Written by	Brandon Sonnier
Produced by	Ryan Seashore Jason Peterson Scott Speer Kenneth Arnold (executive)
Starring	Rahman Jamaal Jazsmin Lewis Gregory Alan Williams Brian McKnight Steve Connell Jermaine Williams
Cinematography	Graham Futerfas
Edited by	John Randle
Music by	Rahman Jamaal Chris Westlake
Production companies	Symbolic Entertainment Tripped Out Productions
Distributed by	Allumination FilmWork LLC
Release date	2005 (2005)
Running time	86 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Beat is a 2003 American drama film written and directed by Brandon Sonnier and was screened at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.^[1] At 20 years of age, Sonnier was the youngest director to have a feature film debut at the Sundance Film Festival. The previous record was held by Robert Rodriguez for El Mariachi. With limited release on Showtime, Black STARZ, and Encore in 2005, the film became an underground hip hop cult-classic, supported by a cast of internationally recognized rap artists such as Chino XL, Tak (Styles of Beyond) and Coolio, as well as Def Poetry Jam's Steve Connell. The film's star, Rahman Jamaal also wrote and produced the film's hip hop soundtrack.

Plot

Philip Randall Bernard a.k.a. "Flip" (Rahman Jamaal) is faced with the decision to join the police force, or attempt to live his dream of becoming a Hip Hop/spoken word artist. The film shows both of Flip's possible futures.

Cast

• Rahman Jamaal
• Jazsmin Lewis
• Gregory Alan Williams
• Brian McKnight
• Steve Connell
• Jermaine Williams
• Chino XL

References

1. Harvey, Dennis (28 January 2003). "The Beat". Variety.

External links

• The Beat at IMDb