On the Come Up

“It only takes one battle to change your life.”

Brianna "Bri" Jackson (Jamila Gray) is sixteen and wants to win the battle rap scene, partly to lift her family and partly to honor her father, a local hip-hop legend whose career ended in gang violence. Sanaa Lathan, directing her first feature, follows Bri as her first hit song goes viral for the wrong reasons and the industry starts handing her a persona to wear. The film is about whether you keep the voice that got you noticed once someone else is paying for it.