When I was invited to curate the programme honouring 50 years of Hip Hop at Porto/Post/Doc, I knew straight away what I wanted to focus on. I see Hip Hop as something much bigger than just a musical genre. It's a cultural phenomenon with urban roots, that is dynamic and in constant transformation, which encompasses countless disciplines and whose ramifications extend to various spheres of our current society (art, fashion, advertising, cinema, etc.). I've tried to ensure that the richness, diversity and dynamism of Hip Hop culture is well represented in the titles I've chosen for this programme. Over the course of five decades, we have accumulated a large number of documentaries, and despite the fact that other lists of equally valid titles could be constructed, I've compiled a series of films that can be considered canonical (Tony Silver's Style Wars) and new productions that cover many facets of this culture. The fundamental role of independent radio in spreading Hip Hop from its inception (Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives, by Bobbito Garcia), the importance of samplage and the construction of the beat, understood as the constant pulse without which this organism could not exist, the crossover between the street and R&B romanticism and a reference to one of the best albums in the history of the genre (Nas. Time is Illmatic, by One9). I also wanted to add to this list a contemporary look at the new incarnations of the genre (trap) with an excellent documentary centred on the ill-fated figure of Lil Peep, produced by Terrence Malik (Lil Peep. Everybody's Everything, by Sebastian Jones, Ramez Silyan).

These and some other titles that I consider a must-see for any lover of Hip Hop culture are included in this special selection, though with Porto/Post/Doc in mind. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did the first time I saw them. See you at the cinema!

Guille de Juan

HIP HOP 50: A CELEBRATION

Lil Peep: Everybody's Everything
Sebastian Jones, Ramez Silyan, USA, United Kingdom, 2019, DOC, 115’
18 SAT, 21:30, PASSOS MANUEL
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In less than five years, Lil Peep went from underground to music star and fashion icon. His unclassifiable style (an unlikely combination of punk, emo and trap) was destined to transform mainstream music. But Lil Peep died of a drug overdose in 2017, aged 21. The day before his death he posted on Instagram the phrase "I just wanna be everybody's everything". This documentary, produced by Terrence Malick, is a moving and brutally humanist portrait of a young man who sought to change the world through music.

Nas: Time Is Illmatic
One9, USA, 2014, DOC, 74’
21 TUE, 21:30, PASSOS MANUEL
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In the history of Hip Hop there is a before and after to "Illmatic", Nas' debut album, released in 1994. The rapper took the writing of lyrics and the raw portrayal of suburban life on the west coast of the USA to another level. Nas: Time Is Illmatic was released on the twentieth anniversary of the album and features Nas himself and his brother, who return to the neighbourhood they grew up in to describe their journey of critical ascent and liberation from poverty through music. The film also features musicians such as Pharrell Williams, Alicia Keys, Q-Tip and Busta Rhymes.

Style Wars
Tony Silver, USA, 1983, DOC, 69’
22 WED, 15:00, BATALHA 1
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Style Wars is the seminal film on the art of graffiti (also referring to rap and breakdancing), not only because it documents a particular moment in New York's urban art scene, but also because it captures the air of the times of a social and artistic movement that would transform the face of cities all over the world. The phenomenon is analysed in a polyhedral way, giving voice to the graffiti artists, but also to the mayor of the time, Ed Koch, who advocated prison sentences for the artists. For this reason, although it was originally produced for the public television channel PBS, it went on to win the prize for best documentary at the Sundance festival.

Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme
Kevin Fitzgerald , USA, 2000, DOC, 72’
23 THU, 23:30, PASSOS MANUEL
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Freestyle. The Art of Rhyme looks at one of the purest forms of Hip Hop, improvised rap challenges. The film describes the journey of MC Supernatural and his epic freestyle rap battles, in particular with his archenemy of lyrics and beats, Craig G of the Marley Marl Juice Crew. Director Kevin Fitzgerald also includes (from archive material) appearances by Mos Def, Wu-Tang Clan and The Notorious B.I.G. and features historical commentary from one of the Last Poets, the legendary Abiodun Oyewole. A vibrant portrait of the power of oral poetry as a form of political affirmation.

Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives
Bobbito Garcia
USA, 2015, DOC, 99’
23 THU, 15:00, BATALHA 1
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In 1990, "The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show", an underground radio programme dedicated to Hip Hop, began broadcasting in New York. This was a space of resistance to the progressive commercialisation of Hip Hop on mainstream radio, featuring various artists not linked to any label, rarities from the 1970s, live freestyle battles and scratch sessions. It was on this programme that Stretch and Bobbito "discovered" a series of musicians who would make a name for themselves in the late 1990s, including Eminem, Jay-Z, Big L, Big Pun, Fat Joe and Wu Tang Clan. Directed by Bobbito himself, the film tells the story of the "best radio show in the world", as Nas called it.

You Can't Create The World Twice
Catarina David, Francisco Noronha, Portugal, 2017, DOC, 155’
25 SAT, 14:30, BATALHA 1
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In this film, dedicated to the history of hip hop in the north of Portugal, particularly in the Porto-Gaia axis, words command the action. From a collection of interviews with figures involved in the first steps of this genre, such as members from Mind da Gap or Dealema, there is a path of discovery and wonder. Testimonies that recall the earliest achievements, friendships and rhymes, are aided by archival images that evoke the influence that the genre has been conquering. In revisiting some of the mythical spaces that survive in memory, one remembers with pride an unrepeatable moment. (João Araújo)