The Dominion

It’s 1993. The film follows Ramira Menendez, a young, unhappy, shy teenage girl from Harlem, NY. Working as a part time grocer who deals with everyday struggles and different aspects of life. She deals with her drug addictive mother, Carmen, who puts drugs before her. Also dealing with her mom’s new live-in boyfriend, Carlos, who tries to rape Ramira on the side when her mother isn’t around. Ramira is a die-hard hip-hop head but underestimates her talent and is too shy to perform her work in front of crowds. Her friends Angelo and Sharice push her into pursuing her talents and showing the world what she has to offer. Prior to the events of the story she’s in a current relationship with her boyfriend, Enrique Calderone, the high school basketball team captain. Very jealous, self-centered and arrogant, doesn’t support Ramira’s dreams or goals. He gets envious because she hangs with Angelo Rizzo, her childhood friend, and DJ. Angelo and Ramira have both loved each other and had a thing for one another since they were little kids, but neither of them knows it. Angelo catches Enrique cheating on Ramira with another girl in the record store. Ramira denies it and comes to find out later that Angelo was telling the truth and catches Enrique with another girl in the corner store. Ramira can’t catch a break throughout the film; her mother gets a new boyfriend who tries to rape her, dealing with a rival rap gang named the Cano Crew, and Lady El, the crew’s head leader and Ramira’s school bully. She runs into a girl named Jazzy O, who her and Ramira scuffle and fight. Lady El doesn’t like the fact that Ramira is very talented at rapping and that’s a threat to her. Ramira ends up getting fired from her job from being late and can’t help her mom pay the bills, who is on food stamps and welfare. Ramira depends on her rap career to take off when she hears about a battle going on in the South Bronx. The relationship with Ramira and Angelo become a bit stronger in the middle when they are in his room and begin to make out. Caught off guard, Ramira runs out of the building and walks out having a flashback of when her and Angelo were kids. Overtime, Ramira starts to take her craft seriously, goes to an empty basketball court where there’s a freestyle session. Word of mouth goes around about Ramira and her skills, people are getting jealous. There’s a brawl at the basketball court. She gets a call late night from a producer names Anish Singh who schedule’s her for a meeting. She meets up with Anish Singh, they schedule for another meeting with the A&R. She has the second meeting, a guy named Jay approached her, lying and saying he works for Power Records, he brings her out back to a warehouse and sets her up, her ex-boyfriend Enrique is there. Fight breaks out and she was unable to meet with label execs. Jay and Enrique hold her hostage but let her go. Ramira blames Angelo and doesn’t know what she got herself into. Ramira and local emcees come to join forces at the Dominion battle in the South Bronx, Ramira is shook and nervous. The film starts with three battles. Ramira progresses to the final round against Lady El, she is so embarrassed by her skills that Lady El forfeits. The film ends with Ramira winning, her friends cheer her on. Angelo meets with Ramira outside and they express their feelings and how deep they are in love. Ten years later pass, Angelo and Ramira sit at a park bench, reminiscing when they were kids, as they watch their daughter play in the park while they film fades to black.