Life Of Rhyme (Documentary)

Join Akala as he journeys through UK rap. Channel 4 documentary Life Of Rhyme charts the genre's path from humble trad hip hop beginnings - pushed by the likes of Rodney P and Task Force - to its recent meteoric rise to the charts, courtesy of Wretch 32, Tinie Tempah and the like. It's up for another 27 days and counting, so get to it.

Life Of Rhyme (Documentary)

Isle Of Rhyme aka Bare Means A Lot (Documentary)

Shot five years back, this short independent documentary charts the hip hop and then nascent grime scenes. Expect features from Skinnyman, Braintax, Rodney P, Dubbledge, Poisonous Poets, Foreign Beggars, Crazy Titch, Roll Deep, Jammer and a load more.

Get your learn on.

Mark B Presents - Black Market Breaks Documentary

Mark B - the man behind The Unknown and Task Force's New Mic Order - made this beat diggin' radio documentary for the BBC. Here's what they're saying:

"In the cold harsh winter of 2002 UK producer Mark B was approached by BBC’s Radio One team do a short documentary based around the art & knowledge of record collecting from a hip-hop perspective. Already aware of the global coverage & support of Radio One with the success of the Mark B & Blade Unknown LP (2000) he jumped at the opportunity to take a break from the studio & touring to further his skills & learn the art of producing a radio documentary.

After a few shorts meetings with their team Mark bounced a few ideas off of them & took the challenge one step further by expanding an already well covered theme to the heart of New York City to investigate the story behind one of hip-hop’s most recognizable & biggest ever hits both on the streets, radio & MTV audiences alike. No matter what music you listen to underground or commercial, rock pop, house techno or reggae it’s more than likely you will know the song in question but it’s very doubtful you will actually know the true story behind this song or its original source.

Straight from the rotten apple Mark B exposes the dirty dealings of break trading, record producing, record diggin’ & the origins of an LP sold to over 20 different producers before falling into the hands of Dr Dre & Melman.

With the help & interviews from the legendary DJ Marley Marl, VIC, Dilated Peoples, Bubba Sparxxx, DJ Greenpeace, David Holmes, Tommy Koi of Mr Bongo Records, Andrew Mason of Wax Poetics & Jared from The Sound Library record store this is one documentary you don’t want to miss."

Still Underground (Documentary)

This serves as a snapshot of UK hip hop as it is today. The aim of the documentary is to gauge whether the scene is still considered underground, by speaking to the people involved in it.

My take is that you have to be strict and pedantic about how you define UK hip hop for a definitive answer. I suspect the handful of people reading this consider sample-based, 90bpm music that has a lineage with the sounds of 2000 to represent the truest sense of the term. And if that’s what you consider to be UK hip hop, I would say it’s still very much underground and actually has a less avid following than it did five or more years ago. That style of music won’t ever cross over to the mainstream because it has no mass appeal - but is that even a problem? Why pander to a fickle public just for the sake of being able to lay claim to a larger audience?

Chester really hits it on the head with his comments.

Get in where you fit in.

Bad Meaning Good

This documentary originally aired on the BBC way back in 1987. It offers a great insight into hip hop culture as it emerged over here and makes you realise not only how long the homegrown scene has been kicking about, but also how it’s now firmly found its own voice. There used to be a rap-in-a-British-versus-rap-in-an-American-accent debate, which just doesn’t exist anymore.

Definitely give this a watch. It’s all about Bionic and Sipho of London Posse in the back of Westwood’s clapped out Ford estate spitting to the camera. Also, hearing the Big Dog shit-talking with 80s slang is a proper treat. Bad (meaning good).