Directed by Charlie Ahearn • 1982 • United States
Starring Lee Quiñones, Lady Pink, Fab 5 Freddy

The original hip-hop movie, WILD STYLE was the first feature film to document the scene’s music, break dancing, and street art at its inception. Through the eyes of a subway tagger named Zoro (played...

Directed by Tony Silver • 1983 • United States
Starring Cap, Daze, Dondi

An essential record of 1980s street art, this landmark documentary follows graffiti greats like DONDI, Seen, and one-armed writer Kase2 as they turn New York City and its subway system into a sprawling, spray-painted wonder...

Directed by Spike Lee • 1989 • United States
Starring Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, Rosie Perez

Set on one block of Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy Do or Die neighborhood, at the height of summer, this 1989 masterpiece by Spike Lee confirmed him as a writer and filmmaker of peerless vision and passionate social ...

Directed by Bill Duke • 1992 • United States
Starring Laurence Fishburne, Jeff Goldblum, Victoria Dillard

Film noir hits the mean streets of 1990s Los Angeles in this stylish and subversive underworld odyssey from veteran actor-director Bill Duke. Laurence Fishburne stars as Russell Stevens, a p...

Directed by Rusty Cundieff • 1993 • United States
Starring Larry B. Scott, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Rusty Cundieff

Gangsta rap gets the Spinal Tap treatment in this gag-a-minute mockumentary about a controversy-inciting trio with a penchant for outrageous headwear, questionable lyrics, and a s...

Directed by Jim Jarmusch • 1999 • United States
Starring Forest Whitaker, John Tormey, Cliff Gorman

Jim Jarmusch combined his love for the ice-cool crime dramas of Jean-Pierre Melville and Seijun Suzuki with the philosophical dimensions of samurai mythology for an eccentrically postmodern take o...

Directed by Kevin Fitzgerald • 2000 • United States
Starring Muhammad Ali, Planet Asia, Bahamadia

Go deep inside the world of improvisational rap in this explosive look at the music and history of 1990s underground hip-hop culture. Packed with rare and archival footage of some of the most amazin...

Directed by Doug Pray • 2001 • United States

With insight and verve, this illuminating documentary explores the world of the hip-hop DJ: from the birth of hip-hop, when pioneering DJs began extending breaks on their party records (which helped inspire break dancing and rap), to the invention of ...

Directed by Michael Rapaport • 2011 • United States
Starring Mary J. Blige, Common, Q-Tip

In this fascinating documentary about one of the most innovative and influential hip-hop groups of all time—the Queens, New York, collective A Tribe Called Quest—director Michael Rapaport takes viewers on a...

Directed by Ice-T and Andy Baybutt • 2012 • United States
Starring Ice-T, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube

The craft. The history. The power. All these elements of the hip-hop movement are discussed with codirector Ice-T and the legends he interviews—including Nas, Eminem, Mos Def, Kanye West, Chuck D, KRS-One...

Directed by Charlie Ahearn • 2013 • United States
Starring Jamel Shabazz, Fab 5 Freddy, KRS-One

In the infancy of hip-hop, Brooklyn-born photographer Jamel Shabazz documented the pioneers of music and style who would launch an enduring worldwide phenomenon. In JAMEL SHABAZZ STREET PHOTOGRAPHER, ...