LET IT SHINE

LET IT SHINE is the story of Cyrus, the choir director for his father’s Pentecostal Baptist church. Cyrus really wants to be a rap singer. His father, Pastor Jacob, however, preaches against rap as the Devil’s music.

The movie opens with a choir number, “Make a Joyful Noise unto the Lord,” turning into a rap, dance number. Cyrus’s father is furious. Unknown to his father, Cyrus works at the local rap club as a waiter. He and his friend, Kris, try to engage in one of the rap contests, but fail. Cyrus is embarrassed on stage.

Cyrus hears about a contest being thrown by a young lady named Roxxie, who’s not only one of the top rap singers but also a kindergarten friend of Cyrus. Cyrus enters the contest under the name “Truth” and wins. However, he sends a photo of himself and Kris together, and Kris is a handsome young man. So, Roxxie and her manager think Kris is the winner.

This sets up a Cyrano de Bergerac situation. Roxxie is truly in love with Cyrus’s lyrics. Cyrus engineers the board and surreptitiously sings as Kris lipsyncs at the recording studio. The Truth, the name of the rap singer, gets invited with Roxxie to go to the Rap Grand Slam. Regrettably, Kris posing as Truth has to sing, not lipsynch.

How is Kris going to get out of this? How is Cyrus going to admit the Truth? What is Roxxie going to say? And, worst of all, Pastor finds out about the deception and forbids Cyrus from ever singing rap again.

There’s a lot of Gospel in LET IT SHINE. There are some very poignant apologies, confessions and reconciliations. Each person, Pastor Jacob, Cyrus, Roxxie, and Kris, has to come clean and confess their sins. The ending is a great Gospel celebration. Along the way, there are some wonderful dance numbers. LET IT SHINE is HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL combined with CYRANO DE BERGERAC.