A coming of age drama, LYRICAL depicts the collision of two worlds: that of the Black elite and the dispossessed. Clashing values across generations and socio-economic status drive this story of failure and redemption.
Joe, a Black and privileged Harvard Law School student, bristles at the pressure his dad puts on him to pursue a high-paying job and elite lifestyle – Joe’s lack of direction is obvious under his father’s scrutiny. Terrence, is a brilliant, young, Black spoken-word artist, raised in poverty, who’s gone in and out of the criminal justice system, resisting authority at every turn.
Their worlds collide during a law school fundraiser which Joe’s dad hosts and where Terrence works on the wait staff as part of a second-chance program designed so the formerly incarcerated can reenter the workforce.
When Joe’s dad kicks Terrence and others out of the fundraiser, they find themselves engaging with Harvard students who think they know how to freestyle rap. To escape his dad’s suffocating party, Joe joins the pop-up freestyle sessions only to find himself subjected to the same law enforcement forces that control Terrence’s daily existence. In a series of increasingly tense scenarios, Joe and Terrence find themselves leaning on each other to survive.
At its core, LYRICAL poses the question: is success determined by accomplishment or character? By the end, both Joe and Terrence must confront this question as if their lives depend on it.
