Drawing on his experience as a documentarian and music-video maker, director Peter Spirer edits together soundbite-sized interview segments with dozens of hip-hop artists -- from bigshots like Dr. Dre, Ice T, and Salt-N-Pepa to lesser-knowns like Spice 1, DJ Rip-One, and Wise Intelligent -- with gritty vérité street scenes from the 'hood and the occasional performance clip. There's no narrative voiceover to guide the flow from subject to subject (hip-hop's formative years as graffiti art/breakdancing/block parties; misogyny; turf wars; and the new career opportunities for African-Americans afforded by hip-hop all might have worked as subheadings). The brisk pace of the cut-and-paste banter does provide the pleasant illusion of forward motion. Still, by the end of the film you're left with the unsettling impression that Spirer's been circling around his subject, hoping to catch a glimpse of the true heart of hip-hop. If it's there, then nobody in the film seems to agree on what it is, or even where the facts of the ghettoization of African-Americans leave off and gang-banging fantasies begin. At the Fresh Pond and in the suburbs.