‘All Up in the Biz’ Review: A Documentary That’s Got What You Need

Biz Markie’s dying in 2021, on the way-too-young age of 57, robbed hip-hop — hell, robbed American music, interval — of certainly one of its most idiosyncratic and singular skills.

“All Up in the Biz,” a brand new documentary directed by Sacha Jenkins, is a cogent, affectionate and largely apt tribute to Markie, the D.J. and rapper who was generally known as a gifted beatboxer.

The documentary makes use of animation together with comedic and dramatic sketches to underscore Markie’s irresistibly antic nature. For occasion, whereas there aren’t any documentary scenes of his prolonged hospitalization earlier than his dying, the artist’s spouse, Tara Hall, re-enacts the loving care she gave to her husband, who’s performed within the dramatization by a bemused-looking puppet.

Even because the film portrays Markie — whose delivery title was Marcel Theo Hall and who’s incessantly referred to by pals as “Mark” — as a clown prince whose humor was a means of deflecting and transcending a troublesome childhood, it charts the near-parallel growth of Bronx-bred hip-hop and its Long Island model, with Markie a stellar consultant of the latter. In his early days, the rapper labored on his lyrics and supply with the Juice Crew, a collective in Queens, earlier than he launched his first EP.

With respect to business growth, Markie was, because the cliché goes, loopy like a fox, even when his charms weren’t instantly appreciated. The leisure veteran Bernard Alexander recollects listening to the eccentrically drippy “Just a Friend” in demo type and throwing the cassette off a resort balcony. Months later it was Markie’s breakthrough single, and the burly, goofy man behind it was a pop star.

“You get a little jealous when someone loves hip-hop more than you do,” the rapper and report producer Rakim, a detailed buddy, says right here. “Biz made me jealous.”

All Up within the Biz
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes. Watch on Showtime platforms.