To get to that point, though, you have to accept the drug-dealing Ray as a neighborhood shaman who buys ice cream for the kids on the street when he's not selling weed or writing a love poem so local kingpin Big Mike (Lawrence Wilson) can charm his new squeeze. When Big Mike gets whacked, Ray is picked up and booked for possession, and his stay in the joint with feuding gangstas is further confused by creative-writing teacher Lauren Bell (Sonja Sohn), who urges him to participate in a poetry slam. Their relationship is tortured and superficial, but the generous amount of time Levin allows real-life slam poets Williams and Sohn to strut their stuff more than redeems the picture's generic lapses.