noise to signal

Four great hip-hop documentaries

I've mentioned these to a couple of people now, and figured that rather than re-typing the list again and again I should just have the list here.

I can't say these tell the true story of hip-hop from an insider's perspective, because, uh, I'm not an insider. What I can say is that from an anthropological, documentary point of view, these are a terrific way to get some understanding of the visual art, music, literature, and dance of hip-hop culture. In fact, that's a pretty good way of ordering these.

Links go to Netflix for easy adding to one's queue.

Visual Art: Style Wars
First broadcast in 1983, this is the original hip-hop documentary, the first time the culture was given a serious documentary treatment. It's mostly focused on graffiti, but with some material on dj'ing and b-boys. If you watch this first you'll recognize material from this in several other videos. This video is responsible for my on-going mixed feelings about graffiti -- I'm not wild about property damage, but I find the work fascinating. Don't miss the interviews with many of the artists, 20 years later, in the special features.

Music: Scratch
Turntablism -- scratching and all of the other associated things DJs do to records -- is covered in great depth and energy here. Interesting trivia from the film: DJ decks -- two-turntable units with a fader -- are now outselling guitars.

Literature: Freestyle
Freestyling, improvisational rap, is an amazing thing to hear -- and they've got some terrific moments here. Rapping in rhyme, with the beat, playing with the rhythm... I could watch this video (and the excellent special features) again and again.

Dance: The Freshest Kids
This film, the one I've seen most recently, is also possibly the most complete. It shows B-Boying (also called breakdancing) in a broad historical context, from the earliest days in the Bronx to modern times. There's even a section with modern b-boys and b-girls recognizing the historical origins of b-boying -- from the vaudeville-era Nicholas brothers to Sammy Davis Jr.

Oh yeah -- if you didn't do it already, go back and click on that Nicholas Brothers link, just above. It's terrific.