REVIEWED - LIFE & LYRICSTHOSE readers unfamiliar with the South London rap scene will find many of their preconceptions shattered by this distinctly underpowered contemporary retread of Romeo and Juliet.
It seems that the hip-hop enthusiasts of Brixton and Streatham like only the occasional glass of wine with their meals, favour no recreational drug stronger than marijuana, and rarely use bad language when good will suffice. Ashley Walters, onetime So Solid Crewmember and star of 2004's decent Bullet Boy, is in danger of turning into the next generation's Cliff Richard (not that I'd say it to his face).
The former Asher D plays an aspiring DJ who falls in love with a woman, Carmen, divided from him both by class and local affiliation. Danny is the most thoughtful member of a rap posse that includes a token woman, a token white bloke, a man with a beard and - subject of one of several anaemic subplots - a lost youth searching for his real mother. Carmen, played without much enthusiasm by Louise Rose, trains as a solicitor by day and by night sings r'n'b with the arch enemies of Danny's gang.
Everybody growls and mutters when it is discovered that the latter-day Montague and his fair Capulet have begun to spoon, but, truth be told, the Jets and Sharks from West Side Story, another Romeo and Juliet steal, managed more fearsome grimaces, even while exercising prissy dance steps.
Life & Lyrics, though blessed with some decent performances and enhanced by good location work, has the safe, worthy look of a piece commissioned by community youth workers as a way of soaking up an overgenerous government subsidy. (Not that I'd say that to their faces.)
