Streets is Watching: Hip Hop　documentaries you may have missed from 21/22

Text: B SABURO

During our global lockdown the past few years, we’ve all become very familiar with our beloved streaming services. Whether it’s Squid Game, Tiger King or the Mandalorian, we’ve all experienced some must see tv moments. Hip Hop has certainly had its moments too. Props to Timbaland and Swizz Beatz for blessing us with Verzuz. And hip hop finally took center stage on the biggest stage, Super Bowl LVI. But there have also been some incredibly dope documentaries that may have slipped through the cracks. No worries, we got you! Here are our favorite hip hop based docs from the past few years.

Biggie: I Got A Story To Tell

We seen many documentaries about Biggie throughout the years, but none match this for intimacy and depth. With camcorder footage supplied rom BIG’s homie D-Roc, we finally get a chance to see Biggie behind the scenes, relaxed and unguarded. While it’s bittersweet to think about what could have been, it’s these rare glimpses that capture what made Biggie so magical. No deeper insight is provided on the unresolved case. However, we get a plethora of friends, family and creatives to give us deeper insight into a life cut down too soon.

This Is Pop: Episode 2 Auto-Tune

Netflix’s pop music deconstruction series is a great overview of what goes into the songs we know and love. Episode 2 in particular dives into a divisive yet integral element of hip hop culture: Auto-Tune. Love it or hate it, it’s been the backbone for two decades of hits. The episode is great introductory overview from the origins of Auto-tune software, to its first mainstream moment with Cher to the heyday of T-Pain and Kanye. Today Auto-Tune is as much a part of hip hop as sneakers and 808’s.

You Are Watching Video Music Box

If you haven’t caught this one yet, stop reading this and go watch. We’ll wait lol. An unbelievable directorial debut from none other than Nasty Nas himself. You can clearly feel Nas’s nostalgia for Video Music Box in the way he carefully crafts the story of Ralph McDaniels, the creator of the show. He does a great job balancing the history with the legacy and impact of Video Music Box. But you will be blown away by the footage of legendary performance after legendary performance… Many of them oft-discussed but never seen before. It will leave you hungry for more.

All The Streets Are Silent

Jeremy Elkin’s look back on hip hop culture and skateboard culture in early 90’s New York stole our hearts. If you were there, you know. If not, you can live vicariously through the beautifully edited footage captured back in the day on personal camcorders. All the usual suspects are here, Stretch & Bobbito, Rosario Dawson, Clark Kent, Harold Hunter, but the real star of this one is New York itself. Grimy and gritty as ever, the concrete jungle was the playground that spawned and then united these two cultural superpowers. Large Professor on the soundtrack? Icing on the cake.

Ricky Powell: The Individualist 

Sadly Ricky passed away last year, so this was a bit of a tough watch for us. It was even more difficult seeing the documentary expose the many hardships in his short life. However his exuberant, larger than life, New York to core personality makes you realize he lived everyday to the fullest with no regrets. His gift as a street photographer was being persistent enough to get the shots he needed, but making his subjects feel comfortable enough to let their guard down, like he was part of their crew. He also had the uncanny ability to be at the right place at the right time every time. A true character. We miss you Ricky.

Rolling Like Thunder

Since you don’t see graffiti on city trains lines any more, you may have assumed that bombing whole train cars is a relic of the past. You would be mistaken. Rolling Like Thunder shines a light on the world of freight train graffiti. The pieces may not be seen by as many people, but they cover much more ground. And the crews out for fame are as systematic and methodical as ever. There’s even cross country beef between writers in Miami and San Francisco. That’s patience and dedication!

Bonus Track:

Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy

This one is definitely not under the radar… In fact if you haven’t heard about it maybe you slipped through the cracks lol. But for the sake of completion we have to include Coodie’s documentary about Ye. Regardless of how you feel about Kanye in 2022 this is a must watch. The first two episodes are a masterclass in real time of the persistence, confidence and talent it takes to get on. And since we’re all familiar with the end result, watching the College Dropout get made is the ultimate fanboy experience of pulling back the curtain. You can probably skip the last episode, especially if you fall into the “I miss the old Kanye” camp.