Complex: The Best Hip-Hop Movies
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- DirectorCharlie AhearnStarsLee QuiñonesLady PinkFab 5 FreddySouth Bronx graffiti artist Zoro is commissioned to paint a backdrop for a hip-hop concert.
- DirectorMichael SchultzStarsSheila E.Joseph SimmonsDarryl McDanielsThe story of a man who has started a new hip-hop/rap label called Krush Groove.
- DirectorStan LathanStarsRae Dawn ChongGuy DavisJon ChardietAn aspiring DJ from the South Bronx and his best friend, a promoter, try to get into show business by exposing people to hip-hop music and the local culture.
- DirectorCharles Stone IIIStarsMekhi PhiferWood HarrisChi McBrideA young man from Harlem, forced to cope with the 1980s drug scene, builds an illegal empire, only to have a crisis of conscience.
- DirectorReginald HudlinStarsChristopher ReidRobin HarrisChristopher MartinKid decides to go to his friend Play's house party, but neither of them can predict what's in store for them on what could be the wildest night of their lives.
- DirectorCurtis HansonStarsEminemBrittany MurphyKim BasingerFollows a young rapper in the Detroit area, struggling with every aspect of his life; he wants to make it big but his friends and foes make this odyssey of rap harder than it may seem.
- DirectorF. Gary GrayStarsIce CubeChris TuckerNia LongIt's Friday, and Craig and Smokey must come up with $200 they owe a local bully or there won't be a Saturday.
- DirectorErnest R. DickersonStarsOmar EppsTupac ShakurJermaine HopkinsFour inner-city teenagers get caught up in the pursuit of power and happiness, which they refer to as "the juice".
- DirectorTamra DavisStarsChris RockAllen PayneDeezer DA guy makes a documentary of the rap band CB4 by following them. CB4 got popular by stealing Gusto's name, background and image. He wants them dead.
- DirectorJoel SilbergStarsLucinda DickeyAdolfo QuinonesMichael ChambersA struggling young jazz dancer meets up with two break-dancers. Together they become the sensation of the street crowds.
- DirectorMario Van PeeblesStarsWesley SnipesIce-TAllen PayneA crime lord ascends to power and becomes megalomaniacal while a maverick police detective vows to stop him.
- DirectorRick FamuyiwaStarsTaye DiggsSanaa LathanYasiin BeyFriends since childhood, a magazine editor and a hip-hop record executive stumble into romantic territory.
- DirectorHype WilliamsStarsNasDMXTaral HicksTwo young friends involved in organized crime and drug dealing find that their priorities differ.
- DirectorJeff PollackStarsDuane MartinTupac ShakurLeonStory of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.
- DirectorJim SheridanStars50 CentJoy BryantAdewale Akinnuoye-AgbajeA tale of an inner city drug dealer who turns away from a life of crime to pursue his passion of rap music.
- DirectorRusty CundieffStarsLarry B. ScottMark Christopher LawrenceRusty CundieffA mockumentary chronicling the rise and fall of NWH, a not particularly talented--or particularly bright but always controversial--hip-hop group.
- DirectorGeorge Tillman Jr.StarsJamal WoolardAnthony MackieDerek LukeThe life and death story of The Notorious B.I.G. (a.k.a. Christopher Wallace), who came straight out of Brooklyn to take the world of rap music by storm.
- DirectorDavid DanielDamon DashStarsKevin HartBeanie SigelMemphis BleekPaper Soldiers follows an overeager rookie burglar named Shawn (Kevin Hart) through the ups and downs of his short, stressful career. Already on parole but faced with the power being turned off and his child forced to eat nothing but cereal, Shawn convinces an older thief Will (Derrick "Capone" Lee) to train him. He soon finds himself caught between his angry girlfriend Mo'Nique (Tiffany Withers), his incompetent would-be-criminal friends Birdie (Derron "Smokey" Edington) & Johnny (Paul Sado), his parole officer (Angie Martinez) and his neighborhood sociopath with a hair-trigger temper Stu (Beanie Sigel).
- DirectorTed DemmeStarsEd LoverDoctor DréBadja DjolaThe two worst barbers in Harlem become cops while a real estate developer forces people out of Harlem.
- DirectorJesse DylanStarsMethod ManRedmanObba BabatundéTwo guys by the name of Silas and Jamal decided to one day smoke something magical, which eventually helps them to ace their college entrance exam.
- DirectorCraig BrewerStarsTerrence HowardLudacrisAnthony AndersonWith help from his friends, a Memphis pimp in a mid-life crisis attempts to become a successful hip-hop emcee.
- DirectorMarc LevinStarsTariq TrotterKaren StarcBonz MaloneA charismatic rapper falls in love with a young Jewish girl despite the confines of her religious background.
- DirectorAbdul Malik AbbottStarsBeanie SigelOmillio SparksMemphis BleekBeans decides that the only way to grasp the American Dream is to take it. State Property follows Beans and his crew, as they take over the city creating mayhem as their empire builds.
- DirectorMichael MartinStarsMaster PAnthony JohnsonGretchen PalmerTwo small-time scam artists, Black and Blue, sell boomboxes and broken TVs from their van in a parking lot. When a shipment of cellular phones comes to them by mistake, they soon find themselves targeted by the FBI and gangsters.
- DirectorSteven EstebStarsB.G.Lil' WayneTurkShowing the life(dramatization) of the hot boys or cash money millionaires and how it goes down in the magnolia,dirty cops,drug life and shoot outs with a twist of reality
- DirectorF. Gary GrayStarsO'Shea Jackson Jr.Corey HawkinsJason MitchellThe rap group NWA emerges from the mean streets of Compton in Los Angeles, California, in the mid-1980s and revolutionizes Hip Hop culture with their music and tales about life in the hood.
- DirectorMichael LarnellStarsChanté AdamsNia LongMahershala AliIn the late 80s/ early 1990s, the most feared battle MC in Queens, New York, was a fierce teenage girl with the weight of the world on her shoulders. At the age of 14, Lolita "Roxanne Shanté" Gooden was well on her way to becoming a hip-hop legend as she hustled to provide for her family while defending herself from the dangers of the streets of the Queensbridge Projects in NYC.
- DirectorJohn WhitesellStarsJamie KennedyRyan O'NealBlair UnderwoodA senator arranges for his son, a rich white kid who fancies himself black, to be kidnapped by a couple of black actors pretending to be murderers to try and shock him out of his plans to become a rapper.
- DirectorRick FamuyiwaStarsShameik MooreTony RevoloriKiersey ClemonsLife changes for Malcolm, a geek who's surviving life in a tough neighborhood, after a chance invitation to an underground party leads him and his friends into a Los Angeles adventure.
- DirectorAlbert HughesAllen HughesStarsTyrin TurnerLarenz TateJune Kyoto LuA young street hustler attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life.
- 19961h 29mR6.5 (62K)53MetascoreDirectorParis BarclayStarsShawn WayansMarlon WayansKeenen Ivory WayansA parody of several U.S. films about being in the 'Hood', for instance Boyz n the Hood (1991), South Central (1992), Menace II Society (1993), Higher Learning (1995) and Juice (1992).
- DirectorWarren BeattyStarsWarren BeattyHalle BerryKimberly Deauna AdamsA suicidally disillusioned liberal politician puts a contract out on himself and takes the opportunity to be bluntly honest with his voters by affecting the rhythms and speech of hip-hop music and culture.
- DirectorBoaz YakinStarsSean NelsonGiancarlo EspositoSamuel L. JacksonDeath and violence anger a twelve-year-old drug courier, who sets his employers against each other.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsDanny AielloOssie DavisRuby DeeOn the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.
- DirectorJohn SingletonStarsOmar EppsKristy SwansonMichael RapaportPeople from all different walks of life, encounter racial tension, rape, responsibility, and the meaning of an education on a university campus.