Big Words

Three men once in hip hop crew the Down Low Poets are reunited on the eve of Obama’s 2008 election.


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  • Director-Screenwriter Neil Drumming
  • Producer Matthew Keene Smith
  • With Dorian Missick, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Darien Sills-Evans
  • USA 2012
  • 93 min
  • Production company Twice Told

John aka Big Words was once in hip hop crew DLP. Years later, while trying to impress a girl, he awkwardly confesses that he was in the Down Low Poets but ‘there was nothing gay about that, it was the ’90s’. In fact while John and Terry, who is still trying to make a living as DJ Malik, are indeed straight, James (aka Jaybee Da Mac) has come out and is living an affluent life with his partner in Brooklyn, filled with fine wine and nice white lesbian friends. Set in Brooklyn on the eve of Obama’s election in 2008, Drumming’s highly enjoyable debut feature explores black masculinity with an impressive supporting cast, including Yaya Alafia (The Kids Are All Right), Zachary Booth (Keep the Lights On) and MC Jean Grae.

Nazmia Jamal