Hip Hop Chronicles

For Chuck Berry's 60th, Keith Richards assembled a pickup band of Robert Cray, Joey Spampinato, Eric Clapton, himself, and long-time Berry pianist Johnnie Johnson. Joined on stage by Etta James, Linda Ronstadt, and Julian Lennon, Berry performs his classic rock songs. His abilities as a composer, lyricist, singer, musician, and entertainer are on display and, in behind-the-scenes interviews, are discussed by Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bruce Springsteen, the Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison, and others.

What was born on the streets of the South Bronx has now taken root globally, and the young poets of New York have helped to spawn regional dialects everywhere. Through dynamic archival footage, in-depth interviews and vertie excursion with artists like Nas, Tech9, J Cole, Rapsody and Anderson .Paak, Word is Bond explores the many dimensions the hip hop poetics occupy.

The Hip Hop Project is the dynamic and inspirational story of a group of New York City teenagers who transform their life stories into powerful works of art, using hip hop as a vehicle for self-development and personal discovery. The film traces the evolution of this award-winning outreach program developed by Kazi, a formerly homeless teenager turned youth mentor. After four years of collaboration, the group produced a powerful and thought-provoking album that provides a revealing look at their lives. In contrast to all the negative attention focused on hip hop and rap music, this is a story of hope, healing and the realization of dreams.

From neighborhood ciphers to the most notorious MC battles, "Freestyle: the Art of Rhyme" captures the electrifying energy of improvisational hip-hop--the rarely recorded art form of rhyming spontaneously. Like preachers and jazz solos, freestyles exist only in the moment, a modern-day incarnation of the African-American storytelling tradition. Shot over a period of more than seven years, it is already an underground cult film in the hip-hop world. The film systematically debunks the false image put out by record companies that hip-hop culture is violent or money-obsessed. Instead, it lets real hip-hop artists, known and unknown, weave their story out of a passionate mix of language, politics, and spirituality.

It's raw, blistering talent that defines the legendary MCs. But going from hungry amateur to rich professional takes more... much more! From the filmmakers who brought you The MC: Why We Do It, Beef, Beef II, The Freshest Kids and Rhyme and Reason, learn from the biggest MCs of our time exactly how they achieved success. They share their approach to live performances and how they put together a demo tape, got signed and dealt with labels as well as their hard-won behind-the-scenes knowledge about how the industry really works.

A documentary on the evolution of MC battles from verbal one-upmanship to street warfare.

A study in the world of hip-hop, done mostly with interviews, in order to see why it is as popular as it is today and what the future holds.

SOMETHING FROM NOTHING: THE ART OF RAP is a feature length performance documentary about the runaway juggernaut that is Rap music. At the wheel of this unstoppable beast is the film's director and interviewer Ice-T. Taking us on a deeply personal journey Ice-T uncovers how this music of the street has grown to dominate the world. Along the way Ice-T meets a whole spectrum of Hip-Hop talent, from founders, to new faces, to the global superstars like Eminem, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg and Kanye West. He exposes the roots and history of Rap and then, through meeting many of its most famous protagonists, studies the living mechanism of the music to reveal 'The Art Of Rap'. This extraordinary film features unique performances from the entire cast, without resorting to archive material, to build a fresh and surprising take on the phenomenon that is Rap.

A frighteningly focussed man of many talents, passports, and identities, arrives in Northampton - a strange and haunted town in the heart of England, as dangerous as he is. On a mission to locate a stolen artefact for his menacing client, Fletcher finds himself entangled in a twilight world populated with vampires, sleeping beauties, Voodoo gangsters, noir private eyes, and masked avengers. He quickly sinks into a bizarre and delirious black hole, that is hidden just beneath the surface of this seemingly quiet town. Soon enough Fletcher discovers that dreams and reality have been blurred and there might no longer be a real world to go back to - Welcome to The Show.

From 1968 to 1975, gangs ruled New York City. Beyond the idealistic hopes of the civil rights movement lay a unfocused rage. Neither law enforcement nor social agency could end the escalating bloodshed. Peace came only through the most unlikely and courageous of events that would change the world for generations to come by giving birth to hip-hop culture. Rubble Kings, the most comprehensive documentation of life during this era of gang rule to date, tells the story of how a few extraordinary, forgotten people did the impossible, and how their actions impacted the world over.

Experience the rise of N.W.A, a groundbreaking hip-hop group from California, in this biographical drama directed by F. Gary Gray. Follow Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, and DJ Yella as they navigate challenges in the hip-hop scene. The cast, including O'Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown Jr., Aldis Hodge, and Paul Giamatti, delivers authentic performances in this immersive journey through the era's struggles and triumphs.

Time Is Illmatic is a feature length documentary film that delves deep into the making of Nas' 1994 debut album, Illmatic, and the social conditions that influenced its creation. Twenty years after its release, Illmatic has become a hip-hop benchmark that encapsulates the socio-political outlook, enduring spirit, and collective angst of a generation of young black men searching for their voice in America.

Having forged a 20-year run as one of the most innovative and influential hip hop bands of all time, the Queens NY collective known as 'A Tribe Called Quest' have kept a generation hungry for more of their groundbreaking music since their much publicized breakup in 1998. Michael Rapaport documents the inner workings and behind the scenes drama that follows the band to this day. He explores what's next for, what many claim, are the pioneers of alternative rap.

Critically acclaimed MC and journalist Shad Kabango sets out to uncover the foundations of Hip-Hop music. Beginning his journey in the Bronx, Shad meets with the DJs and MCs who set the template for all to follow. Along the way, Shad retraces Hip-Hop's progression from underground parties to mainstream culture, but realizes something much more profound-that Hip-Hop's success is only part of the story: from the boroughs of NYC to the ghettos of LA and beyond, Hip-Hop created a new voice for the disenfranchised.