‘…Go ‘head and envy me,
I’m rap’s MVP,
And I ain’t going nowhere,
So you can get to know me.’

As lyrics from Hate It or Love It by The Game set the tempo, we are introduced to the swoops and ally oops of eight future NBA superstars. Gunnin’ For That #1 Spot follows Lance Stephenson, Kyle Singler, Kevin Love, Donte Greene, Brandon Jennings, Tyreke Evans, Michael Beasley and Jerryd Bayless, as they compete in the first annual Boost Mobile Elite 24 high school basketball tournament.

The location of this competition has been described as the ‘Mecca’ of basketball – Rucker Park, Harlem, New York. It was the intention of the Elite 24’s organisers to take the game back to its roots: outside on concrete, where it may be bad for your knees, but better for your soul. Nicknames are badges of honour on this court; every player wants to come away with a name, a story and a following. But first you have to earn it.

All the greats have played at ‘the Rucker’ – Alan Iverson, Coby Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and the list goes on. As a result, the games played here are typified by a high level of emotion. One commentator stated: ‘You can feel the spirit on the asphalt’. Rucker Park is an institution and the eight NBA hopefuls are determined to live up to the standards set by their heroes. It is not surprising that Adam Yauch wanted to document this historic moment; he has done a fantastic job.

The Elite 24 tournament is the first of its kind, picking talent regardless of high school grade or shoe affiliation. To be selected is no mean feat; these boys are in the top 0.1% of players in the United States – the true crème de la crème. Yauch uses a slick technique to get us up to speed on the background of these young men. Each player is presented on a basketball card showing their position, age, year in high school and graduation date. For someone like me, a stereotypical sport-phobic, this was a clever way of displaying all the necessary information, making it clear and easy to absorb. As we focus on each player individually, Yauch takes us to Google, thus showing articles, statistics, videos and photos on each player, delving a little deeper into their lives.

All the players are driven, committed, focused young men; each harnessing the unique forces that drive them to succeed: the loss of a loved one, as with Donte Green; the mentoring of a former NBA star in the family (Kevin Love’s father, Stan Love, was 9th pick in the 1971 NBA draft); or in the case of Kyle Singler, just damn good genes.

The Hercules of the team has to be Michael Beasley or ‘Be Easy’. Commentators in the film describe him as a ‘man-child’. (The Beastie Boys even have a new track, Beasley is a Beast, which is featured in the film.) He has literally been called ‘the dream’. Beasley’s talent continues to captivate coaches and fans alike; this year he was 2nd pick of the NBA draft, selected to play for Miami Heat.

After introductions have been made, there is a beautiful overhead shot of Manhattan before the game itself. Cleverly intersecting the Elite 24 footage, Yauch focuses in on the external forces affecting these young people. Although a lot of attention is given to the positive affects the game has on their lives, there is a darker side to high school basketball. Like most sports, it is fast becoming a money-driven industry that targets a progressively younger audience.

First, for the chopping block, is the business of rating players – a sector typically propagated by rich, nerdy white males who look like they’ve never worked up a sweat in their lives. The calculation of the ratings is unfathomable. How can you rate a forward against a point guard when both positions demand different skills? The coaches in Gunnin’ For That #1 Spot comment that even if someone is ranked ‘best player’, it is never clear what this is based on. It seems to be a false enterprise, and one that is gradually becoming ‘a cut and paste situation’, where any computer geek can set up a website and wait for the cash to roll in.

Another issue at play is that of branding. Every player is associated with one of the three big sports brands – Nike, Adidas or Reebok. As the boys don’t get paid, free shoes act as a bonus, but the young men fail to see that they’re being used as walking advertisements. Sadly, this is happening earlier than ever before, as proven by a shot of a news article entitled: ‘Shoe companies set sights on kids as young as 12’.

In addition to the shoe companies, the film also takes the media to task for their heavy interference in the lives of young sportsmen. One coach asked: ‘[If you are] treated like a star before you are a star…what are your objectives for the next level?’. As with any child prodigy, these players haven’t been given the chance to grow up in what society calls a ‘normal’ way. They face continuous pressure on the court and off it. If they don’t live up to the expectations the media sets for them, they are the ones who get blamed. People rarely blame the media.

As a result of this, the boys are forced to avoid some typical male rites of passage – like dating girls. Everything but the game is labelled a ‘distraction’. Tyreke Evans says it’s best to focus on the sport because ultimately: ‘Basketball is gonna get you where you want to go’. Yet it is not them, nor the girls who hound these boys with daily texts and phone calls, but the coaches, agents and advisors that seek to make money from their success.

You really feel for these boys; to live up to their dream they have to give up so much. Basketball is certainly not the answer for everything. These boys need life experience too. If they are not taught to lead a balanced life in their teens, how will they react when they start making serious money and they can afford to indulge in any temptation they want? Their parents and coaches want to keep them shut away like circus animals, training hard until their next performance. A life of excess seems like a plausible choice after so much hard work. It is clear from the game footage that the boys have fun, but the film avoids delving deeper into their fears about the future, which I think could have given it a unique edge. In asking the safe questions, Yauch creates a restrained documentary that avoids controversy.

Not surprisingly, Gunnin’ has a flawless soundtrack. Adam Yauch, who directed and produced the documentary, is better known as MCA from the Beastie Boys – one of the longest serving hip-hop acts in the world, who were recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yauch has directed a number of the Beastie Boys music videos under the pseudonym ‘Nathaniel Hörnblowér’, and has developed a certain eccentric style. Inspired by everything from Godzilla (1998) to Star Trek, the music videos allowed Yauch the free reign to do whatever crazy things pop into his head.

Conversely, Gunnin’ is a serious labour of love: Yauch, hoops and hip-hop forming a heady ménage a trois. Throughout the film I was bouncing to the beats: House of Pain’s Jump Around, Joe Budden’s Pump It Up, the title track by Ludacris Number One Spot, and of course, the odd Beastie Boys track was thrown in for good measure.

The actual game footage itself is captivating to any viewer. You don’t have to be a fan of basketball to recognise that these kids are incredibly skilled. Personally, I love this kind of film.  Given my general awkwardness and lack of aptitude for any physical activity, I was always fascinated by those that had natural flair. There is an elegance to sport, a grace that some are blessed with and others, like me, can just watch in awe. The great thing about Gunnin’ is that you continually feel like part of the action and you can live vicariously through the player’s achievements.  Although at times Yauch plays it safe, in Gunnin’ For That #1 Spot he has created a real crowd pleaser.