Soundtrack: Freedom Writers - Various Artists

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Reviewing a soundtrack is like reviewing how well a product fits its purpose, and this little compilation is no different. For those who have seen Freedom Writers, good for you. Although it isn't essential to have watched the film before you can start appreciating the whys in which these songs have been put in the movie, a general understating of the film's plot will prove useful.

The Freedom Writers Soundtrack is chock full of many great songs spanning our Hip Hop timeline from as early as Digable Planets’ Rebirth of Slick to present day sounds like Common and will.i.am’s cut, A Dream.

A few tracks into this CD, and you begin to understand what is actually going on. It's not just a compilation of cool tracks some Hollywood muso decided to throw into 'another' urban movie, but each song serves a purpose. Tracks like Gang Starr's Code of the Streets depict what the students in the film currently go through in everyday life, where as Common's A Dream paints a brighter future.

Of course, no Hip Hop compilation in any context would be complete without a select few classic party tracks, and we're reminded on how they usedta do it with Naughty by Nature’s Hip Hop Hooray and When The Ship Goes Down by Cypriss Hill.

As you may well know, a soundtrack is little more than a compilation of songs (albeit this one has a few original works), but I still had fun playing this in the car on my A to Bs.

Soundtrack Album Producers - Richard Lagravenese, Stacey Sher and Mary Ramos.