Ice T/Smoothe Trigger-Sex Money & Gunz: The Repossession Live (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Menu Animation & Audio Featurette-On Set With Ice-T Interviews-Cast Featurette-Miami Featurette-Concert Featurette-Freestyle Rap Featurette-Afterparty
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	95:51
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (0:00)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Nefertiti Strong
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Ice-T Smoothe Trigger
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	?	Music	SMG

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    It's been a long time since I bought my first Ice-T record, so when this DVD came up for review I thought I'd give it a shot since it's music that has been with me for a long time. I was lucky enough to discover the Iceberg back when he recorded the title track for Colors, a movie that made rap music more acceptable to me. I can't say the same nowadays of course, because like most things rap has now become mainstream and I am very loathe to listen to anything that permeates popular culture.

   It's also interesting that I've never actually attended a rap party, so this disc served two purposes at the same time; to revisit the music and to get a small taste of what it would be like to be in attendance at one of these happenings. The other two main rappers, Smoothe and Trigger, are admittedly unknown to me and I had little idea of what to expect, but all three kick out a mean hardcore rap experience with some free flowing rhymes and some excellent freestyle thrown in. In addition, there were a few other rappers who were part of the SMG group, including Deuce Fever and Sheane Sean adding their own unique style to the general mix.

    A word of warning to the wise - if you aren't used to this form of rap it can be hard to understand. I'd say it's similar to listening to Eminem (to pick on a more recent rap artist) - you really have to concentrate to catch what they are saying. Still, listening a couple of times through wasn't that hard a challenge. The whole concert/party appears to be in aid of the release of a new CD, although the small crowd was a little disappointing. On the whole it was fairly good. The length was just about right, the use of freestyle rap was pretty invigorating and of course Ice's all time kick-arse tracks, including O.G., New Jack Hustler, Colors and High Rollers were definite highs for yours truly, with a fairly rocking background courtesy of D.J. Evil-E. This is probably something that will only appeal to the more hardcore rappers or those with an interest in Ice-T.

Video

    Recorded at B.B. King's in New York, this has been captured with the usual several cameras offering different viewpoints of the goings-on, but with the camera angles mostly centred on the stage and the immediate area in front of the stage. The entire venue isn't that big, so there isn't a lot of camera movement as a rule, which was handy. The editors stuck to simple switches between camera positions and the overall effect is very watchable.

    The transfer is offered in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    Apart from some edge enhancement (see 30:20 for a typical example) this is a decent looking concert by any standard. The level of sharpness is directly proportional to who has the camera trained on them for the most part, with the background players being easily visible. There is little need for shadow detail since the stage is very shallow and pretty crowded most times. The grain was very minimal which made for a more pleasing picture and low level noise was not an issue.

    There is not much of an array of colour in use here and the level of brightness wasn't that high so anything in the background doesn't exist. There are no colour bleed or chroma issues with this disc.

    No film or MPEG artefacts were noted on this disc at all.

    Unfortunately someone forgot to add the subtitles...but then this is gangsta rap, so tuff!

    Even though listed as an RSDL disc, no layer change was detected.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are two audio tracks on this disc, both Dolby Digital, the first being a 5.1 soundtrack at 448 kilobits per second and the alternate, a 2.0 track at 224 kilobits per second. The question as to which one was better is up to personal choice. The 2.0 track was equally as good as the 5.1 with slightly more clutter in front although good separation across the soundstage can be heard quite often. There was definitely plenty of guts to it given it was half the bitrate of the 5.1 track and it didn't lose anything by comparison. The 5.1 is a lot more open with good space across the fronts as the rappers move about. There isn't much envelope created since the music is mostly secondary to the words, as you'd expect, but some ambient crowd noise can be heard in the rears for effect.

    Syncing and dialogue were excellent, although the voices were a little hard to understand at times, but that wasn't an issue with the transfer.

    The music is a mixture of the styles of the three main members of SMG, provided by D.J. Evil-E on a couple of turntables with some additional noise makers. Quite often they rap without music as is the nature of the beast.

    In the 5.1 mix the surround channels add in some ambience but don't do much to create a great effect. Some immersiveness can be heard at times, but the concentration on the rappers themselves and their voices means the rears get little to do at the best of times.

    Every now and again the subwoofer will kick in with some bass notes, but this is not the sort of music that really delivers a lot of low-end sound anyway.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu Animation & Audio

Featurette - On Set With Ice-T - 11:21, 4x3 letterboxed with 1.85:1 and 2.35:1 inserts

    Basically Ice-T in a monologue about his part on the show of Law and Order: SV/u. He explains in his own inimitable style being approached by Dick Wolf, the show's creator, his attitude to working on-set, his character and lots of other snips of information. The whole thing was obviously shot on video and has a typical videotape feel to it.

Interviews-Cast

Featurette - Miami - 14:09 in 4x3 Full Frame

    Another home-movie type extra about a concert in Miami which they promote as being taped for the X Games DVD. This shows them travelling to hotels, girls promoting the concert on rollerskates and meeting with some of the fans.

Featurette

Featurette - Freestyle Rap - 3:10, 4x3 Full Frame

    This is video taken at a Freestyle Competition where SMG are in attendance and Ice-T MCs.

Featurette - Afterparty - 4:45, 4x3 Full Frame

    Taken at Black Gold, a strip joint where the crew relax after a hard night's rapping and get to enjoy the sights.

    There is no Region 1 release of this DVD at this time.

    If you are into rap music you may want to visit this disc as it has some excellent tracks and some nice free form. The video quality is very decent but not over-the-top and the audio nicely matches in with the general quality. There is a decent extras package to complement the whole deal and for those into music videos/DVDs, this is very good overall for the genre it is in.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall