Product Description

Struggling musicians vie for success in the hard world of the New York hip-hop scene in this gritty urban drama. Rich (Jeffrey D. Sams) is convinced he has a future as a rapper -- so much so that he leaves his wife and family to go to New York and reach for the brass ring. While scuffling for work Rich meets another MC I Tick (Ron Brice) whose roughneck style is a contrast to Rich's smooth delivery. The two rhymers begin working together and soon find that they may have a shot at the big time.System Requirements:Running Time: 93 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 043396064270 Manufacturer No: 06427

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #90777 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2004-07-06
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 93 minutes

Amazon.com
This may not be the best rapsploitation pic to come out of the early 1990s, but it does have some interesting ideas and nicely shot club and concert scenes. Fly by Night tells the story of Rich (Jeffrey D. Sams), who leaves his wife and child to pursue a career as a rapper. He teams up with hardcore gangsta I Tick (Ron Brice), and their combined light-and-heavy style makes them a hit. Some of the most interesting material comes from the secondary characters, including a 45-year-old, white DJ (Leo Burmester) who works the club circuit with a young, black rapper. There's also an early performance by Maura Tierney of New Radio fame, and a decent soundtrack by MC Lyte. Still, the definitive rap movie is yet to be made. --James DiGiovanna

Customer Reviews

Captivation
I happen to agree with a couple of other reviews. This movie is much more than a rapconcoction of lyrics and music. It is a social, and an especially poignant drama of emotions and desires. The King, (Mr. Sams), should have stayed with his wife and baby and continued to pursue his school work. He has a decent job to sustain himself and his family. However, his desires are greater than all of those IMPORTANT matters. He plays the role exceptionally well. I Tick, (Mr. Brice), does a superb job of playing a stone thug who has little to live for and less to care about. He is in the Rap world without caring about the Rap world. He has a talent that he realizes can be enhanced by this young straight boy, who is not a thug, but has a talent for writing. He realizes that their two lives would need to merge. What are his desires, actually? I have begun to wonder, as it is clear he does not want the King to walk out on him, and he appears to be prepared to prevent him from doing so. I love the interplay between the unspoken words that "I" has when he watches "THE KING" wind and wrangle and rapping in front of him on the stage. Yet he admires everything about him while finding his "brand" of black man, distasteful. I don't know what the writers/producers wanted us to get from this movie, but there was a lot more presented here than perhaps was intended. The final scene may have been tacted on, but it left me feeling sorry for the thug whom I feared, in this movie, would be the ruination of the King and eventually kill or destroy the life of the good guy. It is interesting that a shooting scene was added to the club scene. If anything was tacted on, I felt it was that one. Although, since I am such a fan of Mr. Brice, I loved every scene with him, particularly his rauncy lyrics and his presentation of them. How did this movie get away from me from 1993 until the year 2002? Thanks to BSTARZ I have been able to see this movie. It needs to be revived. It is certainly contemporary in its concepts.

i have mixed feeling about this flick
it doesn't know weather it want's to make rap out to be a useless outlet or praise it.plus the idea of a record ceo being right about the arguement he had with the rappers was laughable.maybe they was trying to be un biased buy telling his side of the story.but it camed off as a anti rap movie.oh and lets not start on the suburban middle aged white women who said there music was garbage?.and then offered them coffee.like she gives a [darn] about them making good or bad quality rap.

Wrap This "Rapper" and Trash It
This is a real car wreck of a movie and its easy to see why it never got a theatrical release. The Director deserves most of the blame, but there's plenty to go around. The only copies of this film likely to sell will be to people who worked on it, trying to get every copy off the market so they can sponge the stain off their resumes.