The Breaks (2016) VH1 Original Movie - Review

The Breaks is a VH-1 original movie that serves as a pilot episode that could result in a TV series continuation should it prove to be popular. Certainly the lack of a definitive ending would suggest the makers of the film are hoping so. Set in New York City in the summer of 1990, most of the film follows three main characters, Nikki, a woman who claims to have given up going to Harvard Law School to make something of herself in the hip-hop record industry, her boyfriend David, a Jewish lover of hip-hop and son of a successfu-but-corrupt music producer who is stuck at an R&B-format radio station that is adamant against playing any rap music, and their friend DeeVee, a DJ and producer looking for that next big vocal talent to put to his beats to land him a record deal. Nikki sees nothing but a closed door, but through her uncompromising attitude, manages to land an unpaid internship working for a successful hip-hop label, Fouray Entertainment, scrubbing toilets and running errands hoping to prove her worth to do more. David's on a mission to prove that hip-hop is the way of the future, but his boss won't hear him out. DeeVee ends up returning to the hood he grew up in to try to find that raw talent and soon discovers a local thug named Ahm,, though his volatility puts his burgeoning career in danger, if not his life.