I would have give this a higher rating but ...

Rating: 7/10 (4 October 2015)

...I think it's a fair rating nonetheless. Nostalgia and emotion might have contributed to this rating, but then again, I have not over-analyzed my other ratings to determine if any emotion was at play there so... yeah ... my rating remains as is.
There were parts of the movie (it's loooong) where I noticed the acting and was dragged out of their world into the real world for a minute or so. To be fair, this only happened some time over the hour mark when my brain's ADHD kicked in while sitting on the same spot in an environment where I have to be on my best behavior (the theater).
The cast were on point, for the most part, I did however judge the one actor to a stricter set of criteria than the others as I was a bit nit picky over the portrayal of the one artist who filled the void of older brother as I was growing up in a heavily censored environment without any father figure or older brother to mentor me and/or help me deal with my early childhood anger issues.
I was a bit disappointed in that the character development of that said artist was very limited and felt rushed over in order to focus on the other two characters instead. Without the context or familiarity or celebrity of that artist, the lack of character development would have left huge gaping holes in the plot. On the other side, I do however think that Jason Mitchell did an exceptional job. I was completely immersed in his world whenever he appeared on screen. The same goes for Corey Hawkins.
In hindsight, parts of the drama seemed a bit after school special-ish, but I decided to attribute that to difficulty of nailing drama without it coming across as even the tiniest bit cheesy in this judgmental age of instant gratification.
Overall, it was extremely enjoyable and nostalgic and quite an achievement given that at least 3 of the main characters have led such interesting lives to cover even a fraction of it in just over 2 hours and retain context is a bit ambitious.