Top 10 Hip Hop Movies

One of my favorite things to do while growing up was watching hip hop movies. Being in love with hip hop at such a young age, and watching these hip hop movies, inspired me to get involved in the music aspects of the culture when I got older. Every one of these movies showed a different aspect of hip hop that was new to me.

These weren’t just shoot em up movies, these were movies of love, bet, happiness, adventure and yes some did have violence in it. But that was hip hop. Hip hop has always had many facets to it, not just selling drugs and shooting guns. Hip hop’s diversity is what makes it the most listened to music and copied culture on the face of this planet!

There are a variety of classic hip hop movies that have been released a few years back, but as the years go on there are less and less of them being produced. The most recent ones were Straight outta Compton and NOTORIOUS, which are going down as two classics. One of the things you may or may not know is that you can actually find hip hop movies on Netflix! More of these movies need to be produced so it can show a different side of the hip hop culture. The real side. Below we have a list of popular and classic rap movies.

1) Crush Groove (Year 1985)

Russell Walker (Blair Underwood) has started a new hip-hop and rap label called Krush Groove, which features a stellar list of acts that includes Kurtis Blow and Run-D.M.C. However, Walker doesn’t have sufficient money to keep up the label, especially after Run-D.M.C. scores a big single.

As he struggles to fund the label, more and more rap groups, like the Beastie Boys and LL Cool J, emerge in the New York City hip-hop scene. The film is based on the beginning of Def Jam Records.

2) Do The Right Thing (Year 1989)

Salvatore “Sal” Fragione (Danny Aiello) is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin’ Out (Giancarlo Esposito), becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria’s Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors. Buggin’ Out believes a pizzeria in a black neighborhood should showcase black actors, but Sal disagrees. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to Buggin’ Out and to other people in the neighborhood, and tensions rise.

3) House Party (Year 1990)

Play’s parents are out of town, and he’s planning the house party to end all house parties. His best friend, Kid, wants to go more than anything, knowing Sydney (Tisha Campbell), the hottest girl in school, is sure to be there. But when Kid gets into a fight at school, his father (Kid ‘N Play) grounds him. Still determined to go, Kid sneaks out of the house and faces one calamity after another as he makes his way to Play’s house and the party of the school year.

4) New Jack City (Year 1991)

Drug tycoon Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes) and his minions, known collectively as the Cash Money Brothers, have rapidly risen to the top of the New York City narcotics trade. Under Nino’s heartless leadership, the drug operation has grown into a multimillion-dollar empire. Scotty (Ice-T) and Nick (Judd Nelson), two police officers who know their way around the streets of Harlem, aim to bring Nino and his cohorts down. To do so, though, they’ll have to play by Nino’s rules and go undercover.

5) Juice (year 1992)

Four Harlem friends — Bishop (Tupac Shakur), Q (Omar Epps), Steel (Jermaine Hopkins) and Raheem (Khalil Kain) — dabble in petty crime, but they decide to go big by knocking off a convenience store. Bishop, the magnetic leader of the group, has the gun. But Q has different aspirations.

He wants to be a DJ and happens to have a gig the night of the robbery. Unfortunately for him, Bishop isn’t willing to take no for answer in a game where everything’s for keeps.

6) Menace 2 Society (Year 1993)

After growing up in the gang lifestyle of the Los Angeles projects, 18-year-old Caine Lawson (Tyrin Turner) wants a way out. Everyone around him, including his unpredictable friend O-Dog (Larenz Tate), is trapped in their lives of crime and violence. With the help of his caring teacher (Charles Dutton) and supportive girlfriend (Jada Pinkett), Caine plans to leave the city for good. But in a series of tragic events, Caine realizes that escape will not be easy.

7) Belly (Year 1998)

Ever since they were kids, Sincere (Nas) and Buns (DMX) have lived life close to the edge, doing whatever it takes to survive. As adults, they build up their kingdom of crime on drug dealing and robbery.

But Sincere grows weary of the criminal lifestyle and joins a black Muslim religious group. Buns, on the other hand, sinks deeper into criminality and faces serious prison time. The cops offer him a deal, however — assassinate the head of the Muslim group, and he will go free.

8) Paid In Full (Year 2002)

In the late 1980s, Ace (Wood Harris) is a young man employed by a Harlem dry cleaning shop, working hard to stay out of the drug business. While making deliveries, he meets Lulu (Esai Morales), a drug dealer who convinces Ace to join him. Ace recruits his friends Mitch (Mekhi Phifer) and Rico (Cam’ron), and the trio become major players in the Harlem drug underworld, a violent business that will test the friends’ loyalty and wits as the money rolls in and the dangers grow beyond their control.

9) Hustle & Flow (Year 2005)

DJay (Terrence Howard) is a pimp living day to day on the tough streets of Memphis, Tennessee. Pushing 40, he’s tired of the life he’s living and dreams of something greater. When he meets up with an old friend who is now in the recording industry, he’s inspired to turn his life around and uses his criminal life as an inspiration to create rap music. When he hears that a rap superstar is coming to town, Djay works a hustle to gain the rapper’s attention and hopefully get signed by a label.

10) Get Rich Or Die Trying (Year 2005)

After losing his mother to murder as a boy, Marcus (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson) has little support in his life. He starts working for drug dealer Levar (Bill Duke) and his assistant (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje).

Although Marcus makes good money selling, his dream is to become a rapper. When he reunites with an old love (Joy Bryant) and is later shot numerous times during a robbery, Marcus decides it’s time to change his life. However, his old associates won’t let him go so easily.