Bastards of the Party (2010)

Raised in the Athens Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, Cle “Bone” Sloan was four years old when his father died, and 12 when he became a member of the Bloods. Now an inactive member of the notorious gang, Sloan looks back at the history of black gangs in his city and makes a powerful call for change in modern gang culture with his insightful documentary, Bastards of the Party.

Bastards of the Party draws its title from this passage in “City of Quartz”: “The Crips and the Bloods are the bastard offspring of the political parties of the ’60s. Most of the gangs were born out of the demise of those parties. Out of the ashes of the Black Panther Party came the Crips and the Bloods and the other gangs.” Bastards of the Party traces the timeline from that “great migration” to the rise and demise of both the Black Panther Party and the US Organization in the mid- 1960s, to the formation of what is currently the culture of gangs in Los Angeles and around the world.

The documentary also chronicles the role of the Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI in the evolution of gang culture. During his tenure from 1950 to 1966, Chief Robert Parker bolstered the ranks of the LAPD with white recruits from the south, who brought their racist attitudes with them. Parker’s racist sympathies laid the groundwork for the volatile relationship between the black community and the LAPD that persists today.

Kobe Bryant's Muse Documentary

Kobe's PR campaign continues.

If Scientists Designed Roller Coasters. Holy.

The 'Centrifuge Brain Project' is an obviously fake (sorry) mockumentary looking at scientific experiments on amusement park rides.

Time Is Illmatic [documentary]

The New Zealand Film Festival presents, 'Time Is Illmatic' - a film that chronicles Nasir Jones' creation of the greatest hip hop album of all time.

LINK TO BUY TICKETS: Time Is Illmatic

The 1984 NBA Draft [documentary]

'The 84 Draft' is a film that documents just that - the 1984 NBA draft. The one where Houston picked Hakeem Olajuwon as the number #1 overall pick, followed by Portland's face palm of an idea (they've had a few) to select the injury-prone Sam Bowie ahead of some guy called Michael Jordan. Cue Jay-Z's, "I ball for real: y'all niggas is Sam Bowie"

Regarded as the greatest draft of all time, its talent also featured future greats Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Sam Perkins, Alvin Robertson, Otis Thorpe, Kevin Willis, Brazil's greatest baller, Oscar Schmidt and the now Dallas Mavs head coach, Jim Carrey Rick Carlisle.
 

The Tanning of America [Documentary]

Music marketing industry heavy-weight Steve Stoute, is certain that you can draw a line connecting the birth of hip-hop, at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, directly to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, where President Obama is serving his second term in office. It's a story Stoute told in his 2011 book titled 'The Tanning of America' that has now been turned into a documentary on VH1, with the same name - but now features commentary from hip-hop legends such as Russell Simmons, Reverend Run, Rick Rubin, Nas and Diddy.

Part 1 is up top, Parts 2, 3 and 4 are after the jump.

Watch A Film About Making Music

'What Difference Does It Make?' is a film about musicians and the creative process they go through to make music and get heard. Featuring Brian Eno, Thundercat, Rakim, Erykah Badu, Q-Tip, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Bernie Worrell, Egyptian Lover, Steve Arrington, Tom Moulton and a bunch of up-and-coming-never-heard-befores. Enjoy.
  Spotted at ETL

Contract Killer Richard 'The Iceman' Kuklinski Talks. Listen.

Get to know paranoid psycho-sociopathic killer, Richard Kuklinski, through a series of interviews conducted by psychiatrist Michael Baden.

 

From One Second To Another [documentary]

I once did an ad for Vodafone encouraging people to not TXT and drive. It may have helped, but it never stopped me doing it. This video, however.

J Dilla - Crate Diggers [documentary]

Watch a short doco on the greatest hip hop producer of all time (name someone better), including his extraordinary vinyl record collections, and some of the stories behind his collection of beats.

PREVIOUS: France's J Dilla Alley
PREVIOUS: J Dilla - Still Shinning [documentary]

The Overview Effect [documentary]

On the 40th anniversary of the famous ‘Blue Marble’ photograph taken of Earth from space, Planetary Collective presents a short film documenting astronauts’ life-changing stories of seeing the Earth from the outside – a perspective-altering experience often described as the Overview Effect.

The Overview Effect, first described by author Frank White in 1987, is an experience that transforms astronauts’ perspective of the planet and mankind’s place upon it. Common features of the experience are a feeling of awe for the planet, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.

The Show (1997)

Hit play and reminisce on your favourite 90s hip hop documentary that features eerie words from The Notorious BIG, Wu-Tang Clan arguing with each other on a Japanese bullet train, a horsed Snoop Dogg, a still in-prison Slick Rick and a host of other dope moments from era when Hip Hop was still great.

PREVIOUS: Rhyme & Reason (1997) - Hip Hop Documentary

Rhyme & Reason (1997)

 I still think  The Show was better, but this is definitely a close second as far as 90s hip hop docs go.
Spotted at TSS

PREVIOUS: Hoop Dreams [documentary]
PREVIOUS: Talib Kweli's Favourite 25 Verses

Hoop Dreams [documentary]

Watch the amazing, award-wining '94 doco the follows two up-and-coming basketball players, Arthur Agee and William Gates, pursue their dreams of playing in the NBA and moving their family out of the ghetto.

PREVIOUS: ESPN 30 For 30 - Benji

The History of Hip Hop, Drum & Bass and Dub From A 6 Second Break

The 'Amen Break' is a six-second drum sample from the b-side of a chart-topping single from 1969. This sample was used extensively in early hip hop and sample-based music, and became the basis for drum-and-bass and jungle music and several entire subcultures. Cray.

Shot Tim

South Bronx, New York Gangs Docco (1979)

80 Blocks From Tiffany's is a 1979 documentary directed by Gary Weis. It depicted the daily life of gangs within the context of the South Bronx. It dealt primary with two African American and Puerto Rican gangs known as the 'Savage Skulls' and the 'Savage Nomads'.

Pinched from the Home Brew Blog

PREVIOUS: NY77 - The Coolest Year In Hell [New York docco]

Did Man Land On The Moon?

The above film documents the bullshit behind the US Government and NASA's trip to the moon, nudge-wink-cough.

PREVIOUS: 'The Shining' Moon Landing Conspiracy Theory

Pink Floyd – Live at Pompeii (1972)

Spotted at EgoTripLand

NY77 - The Coolest Year In Hell [doco]

An entertaining, fast-moving historical look at not only one of New York’s City’s most turbulent years of its existence, but a dope chronicle of the rise of disco, punk rock and hip-hop mixed in with riots, gangs, blackouts and urban decay.

The cast of talking heads is crazy: Geraldo, KRS-One, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Caz, Annie Sprinkle, Legs McNeil, Richard Hell, Tommy Ramone, Chris Stein, DJ Hollywood, Henry Chalfant, BLADE, LEE, Sal Abbatiello, Al Goldstein, Gloria Gaynor & Mayor Ed Koch are just a few of the folks who take you through the NY realness of yesteryear.

2 Live Crew 'Banned in the USA' (1990)

Via Egotripland

Looking back, it’s hard to believe the powers that be took it this far. Or is it? News footage of Charles Freeman, a Fort Lauderdale record store owner arrested on “obscenity” charges for selling 2 Live Crew records, sums up the lawmakers’ persecution on adult entertainment pretty succinctly: “This is stupid.” Although we get to hear briefly from Fresh Kid-Ice, Brother Marquis and DJ Mr. Mixx, it’s not surprising that Luke is heard from the most here. (“Next thing you know Madonna, she got to put her clothes on,” he warns the rest of the music industry about the government clampdown on rap.) In one of the doc’s best moments, some rather interesting tidbits about As Nasty as They Wanna Be, the first album ever to be found legally obscene by a federal judge, are revealed: it contains 226 uses of the F-word, 117 explicit terms for the male and female genitalia, 87 descriptions of oral sex, 163 uses of the word “bitch,” 15 uses of “ho,” 81 uses of the vulgarity “shit,” 4 descriptions of group sex, 1 reference to incest, and over a dozen illustrations of violent sex. (No wonder we love it so much.) Included for your viewing pleasure are the music videos “Me So Horny,” “Doo Wah Diddy,” and “Move Somethin’” as well as live versions of “Throw The ‘D’” and “We Want Some Pussy.” Make sure to watch til the end to see the mini-riot that breaks out when 2 Live Crew doesn’t perform at a club when the owner refuses to pay them.