reading:
John Bowe (ed): Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs
Gail Simone: Birds of Prey
Sarah Vowell: Take the Cannoli
Howard Zinn: People's History of the U.S.
Following the stabbing death of his brother, a young man living in South Central Los Angeles, Flip (Jamaal), is forced by his father to make a choice: get a job with a steady paycheck, or pursue his dream of becoming a hip-hop rapper, and live on the street. The choice comes alive on the screen as we see Flip following parallel and simultaneous paths, one in which he becomes a police officer like his father, and another where pursues a career as a rapper.