14 Essential Hip Hop Movies

“Boyz N The Hood” (1991)
With a title taken from Eazy-E‘s debut solo single, which was written by fellow NWA member Ice Cube and who stars here, John Singleton‘s “Boyz N The Hood” may not ostensibly be about hip hop, but it is wholly indebted to hip hop culture. Though the last words of the film read “Increase The Peace,” part of the legacy of this layered, seminal directorial debut set in South Central Los Angeles is how it was blamed for acts of violence that followed, namely the 1992 LA riots. No matter the attention paid in the film toward intelligently exploring the cycle of violence, the story of Tre, Ricky and Doughboy was spun into a negative by a scaremongering media establishment. Since more than 25 years later similar judgments are being made of Spike Lee‘s “Chiraq” well before its release, clearly we haven’t come far enough. Willed into existence by an assured 22-year-old Singleton, ‘Boyz’ drew on the director’s upbringing in LA, and brings out incredible performances from Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Morris Chestnut as the film’s central three friends, while Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne do career-best work in support as well. It’s a film that felt immediate and undeniable, announcng Singleton as powerhouse voice that subsequent films like “Rosewood” and “Higher Learning” never quite did justice to. To hear the director speak about his planned Tupac biopic is to sense that urgency return, but until that long-awaited project comes to fruition, ‘Boyz,’ definitively one of the most prescient and important films of the 20th century, is not a bad placeholder.

“CB4” (1993)
Given the mock-rock-doc’s beloved status among comedy fans, it was inevitable that hip hop would get its own version of “This Is Spinal Tap,” and it arrived in the shape of the thoroughly enjoyable if somewhat uneven “CB4.” Directed by Tamra Davis (who definitely knew hip hop, having directed N.W.A. videos and being married to Mike D of the Beastie Boys), and co-written by and starring Chris Rock at the very beginning of his career, it’s a mock-documentary that sees three naive, relatively mild-mannered, middle class young rappers, Albert (Rock), Euripides (Allen Payne) and Otis (Deezer D) changing their image and reinventing their past to become bad-boy gangsta rappers, becoming the target of shocked politicians (Phil Hartman), groupies (Khandi Alexander) and the ganglord they sent to prison (Charlie Murphy) along the way. The handsome production values and credible hip hop connections —Ice Cube, Flavor Flav and Eazy E are among those who cameo, while the soundtrack features Public Enemy, KRS-One and Blackstreet— makes the satire land even when you suspect the film is pulling its punches. And it’s very funny in places: in fact, Rock’s only recently found a comedy vehicle as worthy of his talents again with “Top Five.” But for every joke that lands, there’s another that feels lazy, and as with so many studio comedies, the plot takes over in the third act and ends up steamrolling over the gags. Not quite the hip-hop ‘Spinal Tap,’ then, but not a bad attempt (the following year’s lower-budget, lower-profile “Fear Of A Black Hat” came closer, but suffers from some of the same problems).

“Dave Chappelle’s Block Party” (2004)
In 2004, Dave Chappelle was on top of the world. He already had two seasons of “Chappelle’s Show” under his belt, a sketch comedy series that would flood the popular lexicon of the time (we all surely remember “I’m Rick James, bitch”) and was regarded as taboo-crushing and truly subversive, and he was one of the most popular and respected stand-up comics in the industry. So his decision to throw a massive hip-hop block party in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, and invite people from all around the country to attend was a somewhat curious. Raising the stakes considerably was Chappelle’s decision to bring along many of his own favorite hip hop acts, including Common, Talib Kweli, The Roots, a Graduation-era Kanye West and a reunited (!!!) Fugees. And yet “Block Party” turns out to be much more than just a vividly realized and so-fun-it’s-contagious concert movie (which it also is). It’s a rousing testament to the power of community, as well an affirmation of the crazy idea that something as internally divisive and controversial as hip hop music can bring a large mass of people together. Lovingly directed with the whimsy dialed down by Frenchman Michel Gondry, ‘Block Party’ is also laced with the typically irreverent and scatological humor of its host (the scenes where Chappelle addresses the crowd personally are naturally among the highlights) and the performances are electric. The politically-minded Dead Prez evoke fire, brimstone and fierce black preachers with their incendiary set, Big Daddy Kane cements his status as a bonafide mic legend, and Kanye proves why as an M.C. he’s worth more than all the meaningless gossip that surrounds his persona. This isn’t just a great hip-hop movie: it’s a great movie, period.