Special Collection

H2ONewsreel

2003, 66 min., Color, US

AFRO-PUNK explores race identity within the punk scene. This film tackles hard questions, such as issues of loneliness, exile, inter-racial dating and black power. We follow the lives of four people who have dedicated themselves to the punk rock lifestyle. They find themselves in conflicting situations, living the dual life of a person of color in a mostly white community. Afro-Punk features perfo ... More

All the Ladies Say

Ana Garcia

Producer: Ana "Rokafella" Garcia

2010, 45 min., Color, US

Veteran b-girl Ana "Rokafella" Garcia's first documentary film ALL THE LADIES SAY features the work of female breakdancers in the United States, including Aiko, Baby Love, Beta, Lady Champ, Severe and Vendetta. This film raises awareness of the female presence in Hip-hop and promotes the growth of this dance community in the United States and internationally. Discussions about femininity, motherho ... More

Arctic Hip Hop

Randy Kelly

Producer: Jacques Ménard & Micheline Shoebridge

2007, 44 min., Color, Canada

In Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, an isolated community of 1500 mainly Inuit residents, Hip-Hop has been popular for many years. But it’s the glamourized gangsta lifestyle on display in music videos that many of the local kids choose to emulate.

Capitalizing on the popularity of Hip-Hop, social worker and longtime B-boy Stephen Leafloor has been bringing positive Hip Hop workshops to Northern ... More

The Art of Love and Struggle

Jessica Habie

2006, 78 min., Color, US

In this film, artists, singers, emcees, activists, poets and writers come together in an explosive exploration of feminine creation. Each lady brings to the screen her innermost struggles in an attempt to outline the obstacles that face the female artist. "The Art of Love and Struggle" navigates the challenges of poverty, politics and personal sacrifice and explores love, identity and urban cultur ... More

Blaze: The Truth Through Hip Hop

Maurice Lynch

2006, 90 min., Color, US

The Hip-Hop Christian movement has been uplifting youth by delivering positive religious messages that are not about drugs, sex, or hate but of hope and peace.

In a society where artists are glorified for being gunned down, women are admired for wearing fewer clothes, and children are quoting lyrics to songs that should be deemed Rated X, how do you spell relief? B- L- A- Z- E!
... More

Breakin' In: the Making of a Hip Hop Dancer

Elizabeth St. Philip

2005, 45 min., Color, Canada

The images are everywhere: young black women shaking their assets in music videos featuring the biggest names in hip-hop. The dancers appear to be pretty props, gyrating to songs with misogynistic lyrics sung by mostly male rappers?images that appear to be exploitative and stereotypical. Yet auditions are highly sought after. This edgy documentary goes behind the scenes to follow Linda, Michelle a ... More

Democracy in Dakar

Ben Herson, Magee McIlvaine & Chris Moore

Producer: Nomadic Wax and Sol Productions

2007, 66 min., Color, US/Senegal

"Democracy in Dakar" explores the transformative role of Hip-Hop in politics in Senegal, West Africa during the 2007 presidential election campaign. This documentary mixes interviews, freestyles, and commentary from journalists, artists and politicians. Senegalese society is seen on the brink of democratic change, where Hip-Hop artists are one of the few groups unafraid of speaking out.

Dreams Deferred: The Sakia Gunn Film Project

Charles B. Brack

Producer: Charles B. Brack, CoProduced with Third World Newsreel

2008, 58 min., Color, US

This documentary tells the little known story of Sakia Gunn, a 15 year old student who was fatally stabbed in a gay hate crime in Newark, New Jersey. Sakia was an Aggressive, according to GLAAD, a homosexual woman of color who dresses in masculine attire but does not necessarily identify as female-to-male transgender. Sakia held promise as a basketball player and was an "A" student, looking forwar ... More

Favela Rising

Jeff Zimbalist & Matt Mochary

Color, Brazil

Their music fueled a movement. His message fought a war.

FAVELA RISING documents a man and a movement, a city divided and a favela (Brazilian squatter settlement) united. Haunted by the murders of his family and many of his friends, Anderson Sá is a former drug-trafficker who turns social revolutionary in Rio de Janeiro’s most feared slum. Through hip-hop music, the rhythms of the stree ... More

Follow Your Heart: China's New Youth Movement

Duncan Jepson

2007, 89 min., Color, China

A revealing documentary on the work and life of successful and independent Chinese Hip-Hop artists and their cultural influence in a society rapidly changing from communism to consumerism. Clashing with both traditional Chinese values and new modern ones, these artists believe that Hip-Hop allows for the expression of freedom and being true to oneself. Furthermore, the film describes the high opti ... More

Frekuensia Kolombiana

Vanessa Gocksch

2006, 58 min., Color, Colombia

FREKUENSIA KOLOMBIANA profiles the grassroots Hip-Hop scene in Colombia, exploring the popularity of all the elements--MCing, breakdancing, graffiti, and DJing--and their relation to the political and class realities of Colombia. Told through interviews of Hip-Hop artists, as well as regular residents of communities in Medellin, Bogota, Cali, and Barranquilla, we see the ways in which Hip-Hop's m ... More

Hip Hop Sp

Francisco Cesar

1990, 11 min., Color

Young Black members of Sao Paulo's hip hop movement depict their experience and views of Black Brazilian history through their music, dance and graffiti.

I Love Hip Hop in Morocco

Joshua Asen & Jennifer Needleman

Producer: Rizz Productions, Inc.

2007, 80 min., Color, US/Morocco

This feature-length documentary follows the creation of Morocco's first-ever Hip-Hop festival, from inception all the way to the stage. Along the way we meet DJ Key, a self-taught turntable prodigy who is torn between his love for Hip-Hop and his
devotion to Islam; H-Kayne, a pioneer rap group on the verge of stardom; and Fati, a high school girl who's trying to make it as a female rapper in ... More

Inventos: Hip Hop Cubano

Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi

2005, 50 min., Color, US/Cuba

INVENTOS explores the burgeoning Hip-Hop scene in Cuba. In spite of the US trade embargo against Cuba, the Hip-Hop movement is flourishing with popular innovative groups such as EPG&B, Grandes Ligas, Anonimo Consejo, and Sexto Sentido offering creative energy and powerful social commentary on Cuban social issues and politics. Groups such as Orishas are profiled as one of the few Cuban Hip-Hop grou ... More

Jails, Hospitals, and Hip Hop

Mark Benjamin & Danny Hoch

2000, 90 min., US

From the mind of Brooklyn actor, performance artist and Hip-Hop activist Danny Hoch, this film spins out the stories of ten lives shocked by global Hip-Hop, the prison system and life in general. Moving masterfully in and out of the characters while the camera cuts from film narrative to live performances, Danny blows your mind and makes you look at cultural power in a new way that is hysterically ... More

La Bruja: A Witch from the Bronx

Felix Rodriguez

2005, 50 min., Color, US

Art, labor and family blend in this intimate documentary about performance artist Caridad De La Luz, better known as 'La Bruja'. Born and raised in the Bronx, this daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants takes the number 6 train to downtown Manhattan where she performs at popular New York City venues. She reads her poetry in Joe's Pub, stages her one-woman show in the Nuyorican Poets Café, and perform ... More

Living the Hiplife

Jesse W Shipley

2007, 61 min., Color, US/Ghana

This film is a musical portrait of street life in urban West Africa. It follows the birth of Hiplife music in Accra, Ghana, a mix of various African musical forms and American hip hop. Archival footage and hip hop music videos are remixed with interviews and the daily lives of rap artists. We follow Reggie Rockstone, the Godfather of Hiplife in the founding of the musical movement, as well as the ... More

Lockdown, USA

Michael Skolnik & Rebecca Chaiklin

2006, 84 min., Color, US

In 1973, New York State enacted the Rockefeller Drug Laws, which are the harshest drug control measures ever passed in any democratic nation. President Reagan declared the National “War on Drugs” in 1982 and cited The Rockefeller Laws as the model for new drug regulations. By 1983, 48 states had passed drug control measures based on the Rockefeller Drug Laws. These laws have resulted in the US pri ... More

Masizakhe: Building Each Other

Angelica Macklin and Scott Macklin

Producer: Open Hand Reel

2008, 80 min., Color, South Africa/US

"Masizakhe, Building Each Other" explores the role of art, social activism and Hip-Hop in education and presents students, teachers, artists and principals working to support each other while re-establishing individual and cultural identities.This is an important and inspiring film that demonstrates that Hip-Hop is a global culture committed to peace and youth liberation. It has been a powerful me ... More

Me, the Vinyl and the Rest of the World

Lila Rodrigues & Karina Ades

2010, 72 min., Color, Brazil

"If a guy wants to be a DJ, he's already a dreamer." - DJ Max

Ten DJs from Sao Paulo's "periferia", or poor neighborhoods in the outskirts of Brazil's largest city, compete for the first prize at the Hip Hop DJ championship, one of the most important DJ competitions in Latin America.

Every year young, talented DJs from Sao Paulo dream of competing at Hip Hop DJ, a DJ tourname ... More

Mr. Devious

John Fredericks

2006, 73 min., South Africa

MR. DEVIOUS is an exploration of the life and impact of South African Hip-Hop artist Mr. Devious on the youth and community of Cape Flats in Cape Town, South Africa. The film traces Mr. Devious' introduction to Hip-Hop, his hardcore style of rapping about ghetto life in Cape Flats, his experiences being signed to a major record label and then returning to life as an independent artist, his interna ... More

Nas: Time Is Illmatic

One9 & Erik Parker

Producer: One9 & Erik Parker

2014, 74 min., Color, US

Twenty years after the release of Nas’s groundbreaking debut album ‘Illmatic,’ NAS: TIME IS ILLMATIC takes us into the heart of his creative process. Returning to his childhood home in Queensbridge, Nas shares stories of his upbringing, his influences — from the music of his jazz musician father Olu Dara to the burgeoning hip-hop scene in New York City — and the obstacles he faced before his major ... More

Respect is Due

Cyrille Phipps

Producer: Third World Newsreel Workshop

1992, 10 min., Color, US

In keeping with the doctrines of Wall Street and Madison Avenue, sex sells rap music. In this video, Black youth examine the ways women of African descent are frequently portrayed in rap lyrics and music videos. Hip-hop riffs and clips from rap videos illustrate interviews with young rap enthusiasts, art critics, activists and rapper "Sista Souljah". Excellent for discussions on sexism, gender rol ... More

Scene Not Heard

Maori Karmael Holmes

2005, 45 min., Color, US

Right from the beginning of the hip hop movement, Philadelphia's artists have made major contributions as emcees, grafitti artists, dancers, and especially as deejays. Native talents such as Will Smith, The Roots and Eve have made great strides domestically and internationally. But somehow Philly still doesn't get the kind of props that L.A. or even Atlanta does, despite its unique proliferation o ... More

She Rhymes Like a Girl

J.T. Takagi

Producer: Third World Newsreel

2005, 7 min., Color, US

Toni Blackman and the FreeStyle Union are challenging the male dominated world of hip hop and empowering women to speak their minds in freestyle workshops. This music video/documentary hopes to promote a movement of female MCs. Part of the Call for Change Series.