Bill Adler

1986 was a special year in the development of hip-hop. The Dutch TV documentary BIG FUN IN THE BIG TOWN captured this on film. And 15-year-old Pascal Garnier was immediately fascinated by New York’s young rap celebrities. Almost 40 years later, with the assistance of Bill Adler - the former publicist of the legendary Def Jam label - he tracked down the artists of that time. Roxanne Shanté, DMC and Def Jam’s creative director Cey Adams reminisce and also talk about their current lives. In his grandmother’s house, hip-hop icon LL Cool J talks about the meaning of “I Need Love”. Pure emotion - for viewers and everyone involved.

The 37th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony take place on Saturday, November 5, 2022 at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California. This year’s Performer Inductees are Pat Benatar, Duran Duran, Eminem, Eurythmics, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, and Carly Simon. Judas Priest and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis will receive the Musical Excellence Award, Harry Belafonte and Elizabeth Cotten the Early Influence Award, and Allen Grubman, Jimmy Iovine, and Sylvia Robinson the Ahmet Ertegun Award.

Umar Bin Hassan hasn’t even hit 70 yet, but he walks with difficulty and there’s sadness and fatigue in his eyes. As a member of The Last Poets, a group of performance poets who expressed the progressive spirit of the times starting in the late 1960s, he was a major influence on later hip-hop artists. In one of his best-known pieces, Ni****s are Scared of Revolution, he criticizes his black brothers’ destructive, macho behavior. Scared of Revolution concentrates on Hassan’s personal life, in which he still fights his demons. He grew up poor with a violent, unpredictable father, which in turn left him with an inferiority complex. In the course of his adult life, he has had a string of bad relationships and left children without a father figure. In his darkest hour, he also battled a crack addiction.

A provocative look into the seven-year history of the series that gave hip hop a voice and broke color barriers, integrating MTV with rap. "Yo! MTV Raps" premiered on August 6, 1988 with hosts Fab 5 Freddy, Ed Lover and Doctor Dré, and shaped the careers of many of today’s hip hop superstars, while simultaneously making groundbreaking strides in introducing hip hop to the mainstream.

Legendary hip-hop DJ Jason Mizell, aka Jam Master Jay, is gunned down in his Queens studio. Security tapes of the incident mysteriously disappear, the five witnesses are uncooperative and no one is talking... until now. 2 Turntables and a Microphone documents the investigation of the unsolved murder of Jam Master Jay, RUN- DMC's groundbreaking DJ and producer, deftly revealing the history of hip-hop and mainstream rap along the way. Exclusive, candid interviews with 50 Cent, Ja Rule, Russell Simmons, RUN-DMC, LL Cool J, The Game, and more offer insight into Jam Master Jay's life - including information that could finally help police solve the murder that shook the music world to its core.

Just for Kicks is a 2005 documentary film about the sneaker phenomena and history. It includes self confessed "sneakerheads" like Grandmaster Caz, Reverend Run, and Missy Elliott. It tells the story of the legendary Nike Air Force One's, or as they are called in New York "Uptowns." Also about the beginning of Air Jordans. The documentary also tells the story of how hip-hop pioneers DJ Run, Jam Master Jay, and DMC had everyone wearing Adidas Superstars with their smash hit "My Adidas."