There have been dozens of hip hop documentaries, most covering much the same territory. Rap's humble beginnings in the inner cities of the 1970s thanks to people like DJ Kool Herc and the Cold Crush Brothers, to its emergence as a cultural force during the 1980s, and its creative peak in the 1990s. For someone like me, who lives and breathes the music as much as I do movies every single day, these documentaries are always fascinating, exploring the origins of the four elements of hip hop in movies like Scratch and Wild Style, or highlighting rap royalty as in last year's Beats, Rhymes, and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest.
One thing that doesn't happen enough in hip hop documentaries is having someone who lived the movement, and was an integral part of it, behind the camera. That changes with Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap, a new film directed by the "grandfather of gangster rap" himself, Ice-T. Somehow he found time between ruining his reputation on Ice Loves Coco to interview dozens of hip hop's greatest for the movie, which takes an insider's look at what made these hip hop greats tick. Doug E. Fresh, KRS-1, Nas, Kanye West, Dr. Dre, Common, Afrikka Baambaata, Big Daddy Kane, Brand Nubian, and dozens of underground artists get down 'n dirty on what they think is happening to hip hop in the pop music dominated scene.
The film premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival to great acclaim, and will hit theaters on June 15th. Check out the trailer below....
