INT. DECS LOFT (STUDIO)
Dexter is online researching Stray $hots and Sage the Traveler. As he watches, he leans forward to the screen while picking up a lit blunt. He scrolls through Sage the Traveler's Instagram, noticing the Afrocentric clothing he wears, the incense he burns, a book that he posts about: A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe. Dec logs into Amazon and orders the same book. Web searches detailing news and cultural events from Opa Locka come across his screen. He brings the blunt to his lips and burns. Huge clouds of smoke flood from his mouth as he exhales. He starts to bob his head to one of the tracks, taking another toke from the blunt. He watches clips of people from the hoods of Opa Locka talking to the camera, flashing money, throwing up signs. He fixes his face to imitate their facial expressions. He stands up and begins recreating their body movements. He watches a clip of an interview with Stray $hots.
STRAY $HOTS (FROM INTERVIEW CLIP)
Yeah I'm bout that life though, woop.
DEXTER
(imitating Stray $hots)
Yeah I'm bout that life though, woop.
(repeats, trying to perfectly recreate
the voice) Bout that life though,
woop. Bout that.. bout that life.
Dexter walks into a glass booth inside of the dimly lit loft. one side is blue, the other side is red. He begins to mimic the physicality of the Opa Locka rapper as he mumbles to himself. He writes in his pad as he vibes with the beat.
Inside the booth, he steps to the mic and begins to improvise. Each verse is relevant and poignant to the place and the time of the rapper he is mimicking. An accent begins to form as he continues improvising. Somehow he is able to see into who the rapper wants to be not who he is and Dexter gives them the best version of that. We watch as Dec transforms into another person before our eyes. He is a master lyricist. For the first time we see Dec, in all his glory as we watch his methods.
Dexter steps out from behind the mic, goes over to his computer and stops the recording. He plays it over and over and goes back to his pad to scratch words out and jot down more lyrics. He gets back behind the mic again to repeat the process.
Dexter goes back and forth from the mic, to the computer, to the page, to the blunt. His process is brilliant and every time he hits the mic, the verses get better and better.
FADE TO BLACK: