Dance

This documentary traces the rise of hip-hop from the urban streets of New York to its current status as a multibillion-dollar industry. COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS examines the creative and commercial value of musical sampling, including the related debates over artistic expression, copyright law, and (of course) money.

The story behind Nas's groundbreaking 1994 debut album 'Illmatic,' and the early life of one of the most talented rappers of all time. Featuring interviews with Pharrell Williams, Alicia Keys, Q-Tip, and Busta Rhymes.

The craft. The history. The power. All these elements of the hip-hop movement are discussed with director Ice-T and the legends he interviews --Afrika Bambaataa, Eminem, Nas, Mos Def, Kanye West, Chuck D, KRS-One, Snoop Dogg, Run-DMC, and Ice Cube--in this compelling and gritty feature-length documentary.

For over 30 years, Martin Bisi has recorded music from his studio in Brooklyn's Gowanus neighborhood. After a chance New York encounter, the studio was founded with money from Brian Eno, who subsequently worked on the album On Land there. Working with Bill Laswell and the band Material, Bisi recorded Herbie Hancock's hit Rockit in this underground space. This was the first mainstream, popular song to feature a DJ and a turntable, utilizing 'scratching'. Following that success, Bisi worked with many other influential musicians there, including Sonic Youth, Swans, Angels of Light, John Zorn, Foetus and the Dresden Dolls. He has recorded across many genres, from experimental music, to hip hop and indie rock in the old factory building by the contaminated Gowanus Canal.

This documentary looks at the popularity of hip-hop among America’s white youth. It asks whether white identification is rooted in admiration and a desire to transcend race or if it is merely a new chapter in the long continuum of stereotyping, mimicry and cultural appropriation? Does it reflect a new face of racial understanding in white America or does it reinforce an ugly history?

Has Hip-Hop been exploited for economic gain, to the detriment of the masses of urban youth who embrace it? Who's really making the money, controlling the systems and influencing the youth?

A fascinating chronicle of hip-hop, urban fashion, and the hustle that brought oversized pants and graffiti-drenched jackets from Orchard Street to high fashion's catwalks and Middle America shopping malls. Director Sacha Jenkins' music-drenched history draws from a rich mix of archival materials and in-depth interviews with rappers, designers, and other industry insiders.

Provides a riveting examination of manhood, sexism, and homophobia in hip-hop culture. The director pays tribute to hip-hop while challenging the rap music industry to take responsibility for glamorising destructive, deeply conservative stereotypes of manhood.

Before hip-hop culture took over the world it was vividly captured by New York photographer Jamel Shabazz, who’s impactful images defined not only the generation it captured, but all those that followed.

This is a story of women who are connected by their love for hip-hop music. Despite the fact that these talented female artists exist within a culture that revolves around self-expression, the subjects of Rachel Raimist's documentary must struggle to be heard.

In a hip-hop world dominated by men and noted for misogyny, the unstoppable female lyricists of SAY MY NAME speak candidly about class, race, and gender in pursuing their passions as female MCs.

"Style Wars" is regarded as the indispensable document of NY street culture and subway graffiti art of the early '80s, the filmic record of a golden age of youthful creativity that exploded into the world from a city in crisis.

In the early years of hip hop, designers like Tommy Hilfiger mined street style for ideas. Today, the artists themselves have joined the fashion industry.