Chris “Kharma Kazi” Rolle, was abandoned by his mother in his native Bahamas, then moved to Brooklyn where he became a homeless teen.  He survived to become a youth mentor and partnered with Art Start (an educational support group founded by the film’s co-producer, Scott K. Rosenberg) to launch the Hip-Hop Project.

This wonderful film follows the project over four years as Rolle enlists some young wannabe rappers, but weans them away from swaggering gangsta cliches and instead encourages them to rap about the real issues that touch their lives, like family and school. Surprisingly, the process doesn’t start in a recording studio but in a kind of acting class that turns into group therapy. And that’s just the first stage in a long, dramatic process.

The doc features cameos from Diana “Princess” Lemon, Christopher “Cannon” Mapp, Rolle’s fiancee, Kheperah Kearse, co-producer Bruce Willis and even Rolle’s long-lost mother. The Hip Hop project in honest and emotional, like the best of hip hop itself.