Chuck D
as Self
Public Enemy’s Chuck D leads a cast of hip-hop icons and leading African-American and Latino cultural commentators as they chart the factors that led to the birth of the revolutionary art form of hip-hop in 1970s New York, as well as the creation of the seminal hit The Message. They evoke a picture of how, after the turbulence of the 60s and the civil rights struggles, desperate social conditions and the experience of countless dispossessed people of colour living in a city mired in crisis helped give birth to a new art form.
Chuck D
as Self
KRS-One
as Self
Grandmaster Caz
as Self
Melle Mel
as Self
Abiodun Oyewole
as Self
Nelson George
as Self
Hasan Kwame Jeffries
as Self
Darryl 'DMC' McDaniels
as Self [RUN-D.M.C]
Lee Quiñones
as Self
Michael Holman
as Self
Douglas Colón
as Self
Rosa Alicia Clemente
as Self
LL Cool J
as Self
Fat Joe
as Self
Sway Calloway
as Self
Leah Wright Rigeur
as Self
John Forte
as Self
Al Sharpton
as Self
Kaye Whitehead
as Self
Killer Mike
as Self
Ice-T
as Self
Jody Armour
as Self
Monie Love
as Self
Ernest R. Dickerson
as Self
Eminem
as Self
B-Real
as Self
Soren Baker
as Self
Warren G
as Self
Shinese Harlins-Kilgore
as Self
Discover the factors that led to the birth of Hip Hop and its first socially conscious hit "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five in 1982.
Explore the 1980s and the birth of Hip Hop as social commentary in the Reagan Era with the emergence of artists like Public Enemy, KRS-One, Ice-T, and NWA.
Experience the 1990s during the Clinton years and the unstoppable rise in popularity of Hip Hop, which becomes a force that is attacked by all sides of the political establishment.
Follow the evolution of Hip Hop as its artists turn into multimillionaires and successful entrepreneurs. As a cultural phenomenon, Hip Hop continues to change history and is adopted as the voice of protest around the world.