Movies Similar to From Scratch: The Birth of Hip Hop

Breakin'(1984)

A struggling young dancer joins forces with two breakdancers and together they become a street sensation.

CB4(1993)

A "rockumentary", covering the rise to fame of MC Gusto, Stab Master Arson, and Dead Mike: members of the rap group "CB4". We soon learn that these three are not what they seem and don't appear to know as much about rap music as they claim... but a lack of musical ability in an artist never hurts sales, does it? You've just got to play the part of a rap star...

BAD HOP LAST ALBUM IN ATLANTA(2024)

Riv Kjæft(2025)

Fremmed Rase is the rap group that burst out of Trøndelag in the early 2000s, and took the country by storm with playful rhymes, tough beats and explicit vocabulary. “Riv Kjæft” is an adventure about ups and downs from 1997 to 2025, a group with a completely unique legacy, and not least: real, "trøndersk", HipHop.

Step Up 2: The Streets(2008)

When rebellious street dancer Andie West lands at the elite Maryland School of the Arts, she finds herself fighting to fit in while also trying to hold onto her old life. When she joins forces with the school's hottest dancer, Chase Collins, to form a crew of fellow outcasts to compete in Baltimore s underground dance battle The Streets.

Silvana(2017)

A documentary about the Swedish rapper and artist Silvana Imam.

The Game: The Documentary(2005)

See the movie that started it all.

The Game: The Documentary 2(2015)

10 years after releasing his debut album The Documentary, Compton rapper, The Game, recently released a double album in two separate installments. The first disk was titled The Documentary 2 and the second which dropped a week later was called The Documentary 2.5. This 50 minute film is the official making of and we get just that, giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at the recording sessions that went into his latest body of work.

The Writing on the Wall(1986)

"In this half-hour documentary, Producer Sandra King provides an intimate portrait of a public phenomenon: Graffiti. Over an 18 month period, King and her crew followed the teenage members of a graffiti 'crew,' Vandals on the Street, as they painted and rapped and moved through the streets of downtown Newark. What emerges is a unique glimpse behind the 'tags' at the kind of inner city kids who write on walls, but who also make art; who create out of wedlock children, but who also form binding relationships; who drop out of school and never read a book, but who create their own brand of poetry through the medium of 'rap.'

Asia Rising: The Next Generation of Hip-Hop(2019)

With the help of record label 88rising, we look through the eyes six different artist from six different backgrounds, all within Asia, as they share their thoughts on the recent rise of hip-hop throughout the region.

Honey(2003)

Honey Daniels dreams of making a name for herself as a hip-hop choreographer. When she's not busy hitting downtown clubs with her friends, she teaches dance classes at a nearby community center in Harlem, N.Y., as a way to keep kids off the streets. Honey thinks she's hit the jackpot when she meets a hotshot director casts her in one of his music videos. But, when he starts demanding sexual favors from her, Honey makes a decision that will change her life.

Straight Outta Compton(2015)

In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking us back to where it all began, Straight Outta Compton tells the true story of how these cultural rebels—armed only with their lyrics, swagger, bravado and raw talent—stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world’s most dangerous group, N.W.A. And as they spoke the truth that no one had before and exposed life in the hood, their voice ignited a social revolution that is still reverberating today.

Bolletjes Blues(2006)

Spike, an aspiring rapper, gets sucked into a criminal environment and ends up in jail for smuggling drugs.

Bad Animal(2021)

Everything changes for a rising hip-hop star, SEMBRÉ, and his manager, MARLENE, a talented indie artist in her own right; as they are dealing with the collapse of their five-year romance, a new producer shows up with a major record deal, forcing them to confront their past while navigating the price of loyalty and fame in the underground Chicago music scene.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story(2007)

Following a childhood tragedy, Dewey Cox follows a long and winding road to music stardom. Dewey perseveres through changing musical styles, an addiction to nearly every drug known and bouts of uncontrollable rage.

Rap, O Canto da Ceilândia(2005)

A documentary about rap artists from Ceilândia, a satellite-city of Brazil capital, Brasilia. The film portrait the struggle of the lives of the rapers and makes a parallel with the violent building of the city designed to settle the outcast from Brasilia after its completion.

Global Enlightenment: Part 1(2005)

The shape-shifting and enigmatic hip hop artist Kool Keith has managed to surprise, shock, and enrage fans and detractors alike with virtually every album he has released. His many personas include Dr. Octagon, under which he released 1996's Dr. Octagonecologyst, a futuristic masterpiece that flouted traditional hip hop mores in favor of intriguingly disruptive, warped rhymes. He is also the Black Elvis, Dr. Doom, Mr. Gerbik, and Rhythm X, and is formerly of the Bronx group the Ultramagnetic MCs, with whom he first established himself as a rapper that pushes the envelope and is not afraid to be critical of the system within which he operates. This DVD release features multiple interviews with the artist, as well as live concert footage. Keith takes his audiences on a tour of Manhattan and the Bronx. Keith also explains why he loves seltzer water.

De La Soul Is Not Dead: The Documentary(2016)

De La Soul Is Not Dead is an ode to the act’s iconic 1991 studio album De La Soul Is Dead. The film documents the Long Island group’s rise to prominence and subsequent rise through the ranks of rap. Centered on De La Soul’s first four projects, De La Soul Is Not Dead is a study of the critically-acclaimed group’s most productive, significant period of creation.

Life According to Moskri(2017)

The late controversial hip-hopper, the founder of Prti Bee Gee rap group, Davor Bobic Moskri, suddenly returns to the world of the living. He's allowed to return as a 10 year old child, with a goal to win a ticket to paradise, by showing his followers from underground where the motto Hit the pot, win a jackpot leads.

Straight from the Projects: Rappers That Live the Lyrics - Brownsville, Brooklyn(2003)

Rap group M.O.P. gives a tour through Brownsville in Brooklyn to show where they grew up, and what inspires their music.