Love Beats Rhymes

Love Beats Rhymes (2017) is a music drama you can watch online on iFILM. Coco wants to break into hip hop, but her parents set a condition first: finish the degree. That lands her in a college poetry class, baffled about why she needs sonnets when she already has bars.

Her professor, Dixon (Lorraine Toussaint), refuses to accept rhyme for rhyme's sake and pushes Coco to dig for the meaning under the words. The push sends her from the lecture hall out to rap clubs and spoken-word nights, where she starts finding a voice that's actually hers — and falls for someone along the way. Azealia Banks carries the title role, backed by Common, Jill Scott, Method Man and a young John David Washington.

Behind the camera is RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, and you can hear his ear for it: the battles and performance scenes are shot like someone who knows how the street sounds. The coming-of-age arc is familiar, but the live energy and a cast stacked with real musicians keep it honest. One for anyone who likes films about growing up through art. Stream Love Beats Rhymes (2017) online on iFILM.