In just over thirty years Hip Hop has established global influence. Creativity and passion for hip hop comes out though a rich variety of means of expression. This makes capturing it on film all the more difficult. Here is a selection of the best hip hop films, in no particular order.

Style Wars

Director: Tony Silver
Released: 1983
The most essential of the early hip-hop documentaries, up there with Wildstyle, it exposes the weird and wonderful world of graffiti, a culture burgeoning in New York with fresh art and an underground dialogue centred on notions of originality versus biting. The fascination here comes from the colourful characters such as Cap, who defies the etiquette destroying the “burners” of his rivals by “going over”. An iconic slice of budget b-boy cinema.
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Beat This – a Hip-Hop history

Director: Dick Fontaine
Released: 1984
Causing thousands of kids to body pop in the playground an inspiring a whole generation of artists and producers, this was primetime TV at its best. Gary Byrd’s commentary is inoffensive, Bam’s primitive sci-fi vision still engages but it’s the endearing image of Kool DJ herc driving around the Bronx complete with towering soundsystem speakers that lingers. And yes Malcolm McClaren is very annoying.
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Biggie and Tupac

Director: Nick Broomfield
Released: 2002
Beef has long been a staple of the hip-hop diet, but no rap rivalry has got so dark and surrounded by conspiracy theory as that of Tupac and Biggie. nick Broomfield goes straight to the heart of the matter: visiting LA’s roughest hoods, interviewing Biggie’s mum, and even tracking down the infamous Suge Knight in prison.
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Fade To Black

Director: Patrick Paulson & Michael John Warren
Released: 2004
A master at the game on the top of his game. From incredible studio scenes shopping for beats at hip-hops top table with Kanye, Pharrell and Timerberland to running the stage of a capacity Madison Square Garden with The Roots, Mary J, Ghostface & Foxy, Jay-Z is flawless and always the brightest star on screen.
Watch the Trailer

New York 77 – the coolest year in hell

Director:
Released: 2004
The year was 1977. New York City had fallen into decay and chaos. Yet from the chaos sprang one of the most creative times any city ever encountered. Hip-hop was emerging from the South Bronx, punk music was emerging from the Lower East Side, and disco was emerging from Queens and midtown Manhattan.
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Watch an Excerpt

80 Blocks from Tiffanys

Director: Gary Weiss
Released: 1979
A solid documentary covering some of the most notorious street gangs in the South Bronx before they faded away and Hip Hop took over. After peering into this looking glass you will be glad that Hip Hop is here to stay.
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Wild Style

Director: Charlie Ahearn
Released: 1983
Legendary New York graffiti artist Lee Quinones plays the part of Zoro, the city’s hottest and most elusive graffiti writer. The actual story of the movie concerns the tension between Zoro’s passion for his art and his personal life, particularly his strained relationship with fellow artist Rose. But this isn’t why one watches Wild Style – this movie is *the* classic hip-hop flick, with a massive cult following and a 25th anniversary reissue to boot.
Official Site

Scratch

Director: Doug Pray
Released: 2002
A lesson in hip-hop history, Scratch is an astonishing view at the ever evolving form of turntable manipulation. Interviews with Africa Bambaataa and Kool DJ Herc explain the fundamental role of the DJ while turntablists such as Qbert and Mix Master Mike show off their tricks. Educational and entertaining for the heads but not overly nerdy.
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Keepintime

Director: B+
Released: 2004
What happens when you put a bunch of classic funk drummers and super skilled break juggling DJs in the same room? B+’s film shows us that music is a universal language and that ultimately the generation gap closes quickly when funky jam session is on the go. A must for the footage of Axelrod’s drum beater Earl Palmer, who has since passed away.
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The Freshest Kids – The history of the B-Boy

Director: Israel
Released: 2002
This lively documentary isn’t about hip-hop or hip-hop culture as much as about an integral part of that culture. The narrative traces their evolution from the South Bronx 1970s to media-crazed 1980s to today, as the phenomenon has returned to the underground while remaining as popular as ever (as exemplified by footage from Germany, Japan, etc.). The old and new school are on hand to explain and to praise the b-boy; everyone from rappers like KRS-One and Mos Def to breakers like Crazy Legs and Ken Swift.
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Freestyle – The Art of Rhyme

Director: Kevin Fitzgerald
Released: 2005
This captures the electrifying energy of improvisational hip-hop, the rarely recorded art form of rhyming spontaneously. Like preachers and jazz solos, freestyles exist only in the moment, a modern-day incarnation of the African-American storytelling tradition. Shot over a period of more than seven years, the film systematically debunks the false image put out by record companies that hip-hop culture is violent or money-obsessed. Instead, it lets real hip-hop artists, known and unknown, weave their own story.
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Rhyme & Reason

Director: Peter Spirer
Released: 1997
Suggested By: Jay Ru
This documentary explores the history of hip hop culture, how rap evolved to become a major cultural voice (and a multi-billion dollar industry), and what the artists have to say about the music’s often controversial images and reputation. Interview subjects range from veteran old-school rappers, such as Kurtis Blow, KRS-One and Chuck D, to gangsta rap icons Ice-T, Dr. Dre, and MC Eiht, to several current rap hitmakers, including Wu-Tang Clan, The Fugees, and Sean “Puffy” Combs.
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Note
Props due to Shook Magazine for some extracts featured above.