Hip Hop Videos: Hip Hop Culture Videos

  American Pimp

Urban filmmakers, the Hughes Brothers, hit the mean streets with an exposé on real-life pimps. American Pimp is "a primer on pimp craft and culture" that takes you into the shadowy world of prostitution, putting on the screen everything you ever wanted to know about pimps. Cutting straight to the heart of the world's oldest profession, this intimate portrait of infamous "mack daddies" like Filmore Slim, C-Note, Gorgeous Dre and Rosebudd is eye-opening and shocking. From the dirty streets of New York, L.A. & San Francisco to the "Player's Ball" in Milwaukee, you'll hear every heart-wrenching story and hilarious anecdote. Forget what all the rappers tell you about being a pimp and take it from the pro's in this film. 

  Breath Control: The History of The Human Beatbox

An often overlooked aspect of hip-hop music gets its due in Breath Control: The History of the Human Beatbox. Beatboxing is the art of producing musical sounds, particularly percussion, without the use of instruments. Filmmaker Joey Garfield traces beatboxing from the early days, when the simple rhythms of Darren "Buff" Robinson helped make The Fat Boys a household name, to the amazing technical skills of such contemporary artists as Rahzel and Scratch of The Roots, and Anthony Rivera, also known as Click tha Supah Latin. As one artist, Chris Jung, explains, beatboxing "stemmed from the need to make music now." It grew out of a necessity to produce music when instruments and turntables were not available. Doug E. Fresh, Biz Markie, and others explain what they brought to the art, while Congo-born vocalist Marie Daulne of Zap Mama expounds on both the universality and the ethnic diversity of vocal rhythm-making. Breath Control won the Festival Choice Award at the 2002 New York Underground Film Festival.  

  Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme

Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme is a critically acclaimed film that is the first of its kind in many respects. It is the first film to explore the social and cultural background that led to the current development of the street poet, or MC. It provides an inside look into the framework of hip-hop culture, its rules, taboos and social impact. It gives a voice to popular Black/urban culture, which is known to be a profound influence on youth culture globally. Freestyle holds great educational value for hip-hop enthusiasts as well as for those misinformed about hip-hop culture due to its intimate and honest portrayal of hard working independent artists. This film focuses on a group of intelligent, ambitious, and talented young men in pursuit of a dream, deconstructing the 'thug life' image that is often associated with the music.  

  Rhyme & Reason

Numerous artists appear in this film from both coasts and all over. The film covers approximately 1994-1997 (considered by many the final golden years of hip hop). First the film quickly runs down some of the history of hip hop. Then Spirer goes through a series of related topics. He explores guns/violence, sex, cops, freestyling (ie. improvisational rapping), family, race and others. He touches only lightly on each topic, not really going into any depth, but that is appropriate for this type of documentary. This appears to be geared toward those who know something about hip hop, but may not be fully immersed in it. This film will take you back to the days where lyrics and flow ran the show. If you listened to rap in the mid-90s this is a nice throwback to those days, and if you know little about rap, this film could honestly educate you about the culture.