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.

A smoke-filled journey across the lives and the careers of the groundbreaking, genre-defying Hip Hop group, Cypress Hill. Their unique sound, influenced by their Latin roots and West Coast upbringing, was built on a movement rooted in true authenticity: from cultivating the flower, to smoking it, to rapping about it, their influence is forever burned into the musical landscape of Hip Hop as they continue to stay relevant after 30 years.

A portrait of a homeless park community bonded by crack cocaine addiction. In the park’s drug-fixated shantytown, Cody is a kind of crackhead father figure who helps his friends when they are in trouble or in desperate need of a “blast.” His girlfriend, Alicia, is a romantic who’s losing her soul to the drug, and E-Max is a street hustling pimp who is trying to scoop young Linda into his motley legion of harlots. Hoover Blue, earth mother to all the addicts, attempts to pound some knowledge into the starry-eyed Linda while Cody tries to help young P-Air get his hustle on to record a hip hop track and make it big. But when Cody’s real son, Terry, tracks him down to tell him his wife has passed away, Cody doesn’t even recognize him at first and then can’t help him with postmortem affairs. After five years of crack addiction, Cody wants to get straight and do right by Terry, but the harder he struggles to escape the park, the more it closes in on him.

A look at the rise of crack cocaine in urban America in the 1980s and it’s influence on popular culture, especially in hip-hop music.

Weed. Marijuana. Grass. Pot. Whatever you prefer to call it, America’s relationship with cannabis is a complicated one. In his directorial debut, hip hop pioneer Fab 5 Freddy presents an unparalleled look at the racially biased history of the war on marijuana. A range of celebrities and experts discuss the plant’s influence on music and popular culture, and the devastating impact its criminalization has had on Black and Latino communities. As more and more states join the push to legalize marijuana, this documentary dives deep into the glaring racial disparities in the growing cannabis market.

SOMETHING FROM NOTHING: THE ART OF RAP is a feature length performance documentary about the runaway juggernaut that is Rap music. At the wheel of this unstoppable beast is the film’s director and interviewer Ice-T. Taking us on a deeply personal journey Ice-T uncovers how this music of the street has grown to dominate the world. Along the way Ice-T meets a whole spectrum of Hip-Hop talent, from founders, to new faces, to the global superstars like Eminem, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg and Kanye West. He exposes the roots and history of Rap and then, through meeting many of its most famous protagonists, studies the living mechanism of the music to reveal ‘The Art Of Rap’. This extraordinary film features unique performances from the entire cast, without resorting to archive material, to build a fresh and surprising take on the phenomenon that is Rap.

Exploring the social impact of what The Source Magazine in 1998 voted, “The Best Hip Hop Radio Show Of All-Time.” The documentary film is the story of quirky friends who became unlikely legends by engaging their listeners and breaking the biggest rap artists ever.

In Los Angeles, two rival gang leaders are also trying to be music producers. When DJ’s equipment shorts out and Lonzo is cut out of the action by a record producer, the two join forces, which also requires a tentative peace between gangs. With backing from Gator, a smooth New Orleans drug king, DJ and Lonzo start dealing, organizing their gangs into pushers. Just as their finances are looking up, one of Gator’s team pulls a double cross and two of DJ and Lonzo’s gang bangers start a shooting war. Can the erstwhile music producers salvage anything of their bond or their plans?