Search - And 1 Mixtape, Vol. 5 (Street Basketball) on DVD

The Series Takes A Dive

Chon-ny | 05/08/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"What was so money about the early And1 MixTapes was the fact that only the few hardcore ball fans knew about them. When the And1 crew rolled into town, cameras in tow, local ballers simply had no idea. When it would be all said and done, the crew would leave local ball wizards with crushed egos, broken ankles and an everlasting fear of playing D with their legs too wide apart.
The series peaked in ability in Volumes 3 and 4 with the significant additions of Philly product Aaron "AO" Owens, and an introduction into the twisted but spectacularly dazzling world of Phillip "Hot Sauce" Champion, who would grow to rival And1 godfather Rafer "Skip 2 My Lou" Alston in mainstream popularity. By the release of the fourth volume and the collector's DVD, much of the ball world had been exposed to or knew of the And1 antics: the ball around the head, through your legs, under his shirt, behind the back pinned between the elbows.
This proves to be the downfall of Volume 5. Most of the ballers on tape are simply out to pull of their moves, with no attention to defense (which has never been much of a part to these tapes). This takes a lot of luster off of the moves on tape; it's much more astounding to see Hot Sauce put the ball around an opponent trying his hardest to steal the ball than to see a slacker pay for not playing hard enough. However, the level of competition in Volume 5's games rivals that of the last game of the night at the rec center--everyone's jogging down and letting one-on-one no help D games develop.
The video does provide a well-needed dose of "Skip" Alston, whose home videos kicked off the series in Volume 1. This time, his magnetic ball handling skills are captured from multiple angles on higher resolution cameras. Even in a trick-level game, it's still impressive to see Skip change directions with the ball behind his back only using his left hand; or whipping circles in and around his body before serving a blind dish to a cutting teammate. Also notable is the footage of locals playing each other, where some pride and dignity in playing D and trying to stop the other guy still exist.
It's not a must have like the collectors edition 1-4 MixTape; there aren't any significant moves to make you want to rewind and rewind and rewind and still scratch your head. Volume 5 is like a slightly different retelling of an old joke; everyone knows what's gonna happen, and everyone's just pushing for the punchline, but it just isn't as good as the first time you heard it."

Best One Yet

asian playa | 07/10/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Well first off this isn't the best [stuff] in the world but it is the best so far. Skip To My Lou is owning repeat owning this tape and nun of yall can deny that. [Darn] Skip and Shane have a little fued it's tight. There aren't all the moves like the boomerang, tornado, etc... But don't worry there is still stuff you can learn from it. Headache, Sauce, AO, Shane, Main and 1/2 Man are still kiling defenders enough said. The addition of 50, High Octane, Flash and Sik Wit It are nice they bring more excitiment to the game more moves and defentily more dunks since 3 out of 4 are dunkers. Note Headache throws an awesome alley oop to High Octane that's all the moves i am saying (don't want to ruin it). The music is tight. Defenitley, sorry, Most Defenitly worth getting. "The Best Mix Tape So Far". Watch for Skip (Streetball Legend)"

Been there, done that...

G. UHR | Wash. DC, USA #1 | 07/25/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I own the DVD of Volumes 1 - 4 collected and now Vol. 5. I can't say which volume is the best, but 5 isn't it. If you have never seen any of the And 1 Mixtapes, pick this one up to see some sick handles, dimes, and dunks, but if you've seen And 1 Mixtapes before, there is nothing remarkable here."

This is an alright mixtape

Ted A Robinson | St. Joseph, MI United States | 11/23/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The mixtape is pretty tight...I've seen all 5 of the mixtapes and this isn't the best one. It's sweet when Main Event does a 360 windmill on a guy, and when this girl made a guy fall. But those are the only two awesome things if you've seen the other tapes. No new moves in this tape. But if you're a newbie to teh mixtape game...get this one"