On Saturday I saw the documentary P-Star Rising at the Tribeca Film Festival. It’s the story of nine-year-old rapper P-Star (Priscilla Star Diaz) growing up with her father and sister in Harlem. She is one interesting character, and a genuinely talented emcee; she was writing her own rhymes, battle-rapping on the streets, performing in clubs, and sharing studio time with Remy Ma, all as a nine- and ten-year-old kid.
As cute as she was, it was far from a cutesy/feel-good film. As a young girl, Priscilla became the breadwinner of the family, as the early profits from her music career allowed them to pay all of their bills and move into a more spacious apartment. The family went through a lot of problems, from trying to track down their druggie mother to sorting through trust issues with record executives. And as P-Star’s rap career started to go downhill while she was still only 11 or 12 years old, viewers were left wondering if she and her family (and especially her father) had really been making the right choices.
Check out the trailer here! (I couldn’t embed it.)
Priscilla, her sister, and her father, as well as the filmmaker (Gabriel Noble), were all at the screening to answer questions from the audience. The family seemed to be doing well, and P-Star—upon request—spit a nice verse for us all.
I hope to hear more from P-Star as she gets older!
DJ Jojo 
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