Paul was recruited by Director Kevin Fitzgerald to collaborate on Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme: 

“It was fascinating to watch Kevin direct. He is not only a hip hop evangelist, but also an avid fan. Kevin would organize screenings of our latest cut and invite all the freestyle artists in that area to attend. Inevitably, they would form cyphers and battle after the screenings. Of course Kevin had cameras ready to document the action. It was my job to incorporate the best of this new material into the next cut. Then the process would repeat. 

In this context it was sometimes challenging being the one to insist also on narrative discipline. But that’s exactly what the project needed - a framework within which the filmmaking itself could became its own version of a freestyle. 

That is the theme of the piece shown here, “360”. The film itself is just another example. 

After we premiered the final version and had a fun festival run, Freestyle stalled for almost two years. The cost of clearing the music and archival footage would have wiped out any money to be earned from the full-rights sales offers we had. 

Luckily, I made contact with a rep who passed on my new movie Power Trip, but who loved Freestyle. He found us a domestic deal for broadcast on VH1 which covered the cost of all rights. That left open international broadcast sales opportunities, allowing the team (who had worked mostly on spec) to make some money. This was followed by theatrical release, DVD and streaming distribution through Palm Pictures. 

Finally, Freestyle emerged and found its audience! I knew my collaboration with Kevin was a complete success when I read this LA Times review, one of my most gratifying: 

“For such a free-form approach to filmmaking, Freestyle is surprisingly well structured - that rare feat of making the creative process interesting while also telling a story.”