I loved this movie because as a true Hip Hop fan, I felt the same way at the time! I really missed the true essence of hip hop and all of the feel good music that it produced. I also loved how they related her love for hip hop, with her love for Dre (played by Taye Diggs). The movie combined the style of romance, comedy, drama and reality. I thought Sanaa was wonderful, she has turned into a great actress. Taye Diggs was also great and added humor to the film, along with the wonderful Queen Latifah and Mos Def,who is a hip hop legend and rising star in the movie industry. One of my favorite films, Brown Sugar was very fresh and real.

This movie portrays a relationship between two childhood friends who are in love but choose to suppress their feelings for each other. It also tries to portray Hip Hop in a non-stereotypical manner. Hip Hop is portrayed as an art form appreciated by professionals, as opposed to thugs and street-wise teenagers smoking weed and cursing all the time. Dre'(Taye Diggs) is a young record executive who is fed up with his company, due to their pragmatic approach towards their artists. He feels the artistic element is being compromised and decides to start his own record company. (Sanaa Lathan) offers him financial and moral support while his wife is jealous and complains about their friendship, this and the engagement between Kelby(Boris Kudjoe) and Sydney triggers a climax with a predictable conclusion. The only thing good about this movie, is portraying Hip Hop in a better light.

Boy and girl are friends, just not romantically. Each have a significant other. All their friends know they are in love, but don't get together till the end, when they finally admit they are in love. Nothing original about this story. It is what it is. It sticks to the formula and isn't bad. Just nothing that I would call great.FINAL VERDICT: Unless you are a sap for romances, then just skip this one. It's been done a thousand times.

You know how some songs sound better when you discover them yourself? That's kind of how this film is... at first glance, the marketing made it look like just another hip-hop romantic comedy - but it's subtler, deeper, sweeter, and more realistic than just about any other love story set in the black community - it really is the "When Harry Met Sally" of hip-hop. Right from the get-go the film startles and confounds, by opening with real life interviews with some of hip hops's biggest names and old school heroes, from De La Soul to Method Man, as it sets up the film's neat parallel lines of Dre's (Taye Diggs) and Sidney's (Sanaa Lathan) love of hip hop run parallel with their love of each other. Of course, there are a few concessions made to the conventions of romantic comedy, but at every turn the film surprises - except one: Mos Def, one of the most naturally gifted actors around, gives yet another nuanced performance as a would-be rapper with his eye on the film's other supporting actor, the indomitable Queen Latifah, here playing a nicely restrained spin on the typical "sassy best friend" which... ugh, just the thought of "Maid in Manhattan" makes me shudder. Bottom line? See this beautifully made movie and tell your friends about it - as I said up front, songs are so much better when you discover them yourself.