Search Museum of the Moving Image

Real Rap: Hip-Hop Star Power on Screen

Jul 28 — Oct 21, 2023

In the summer of 1973, hip-hop was born in the prominently African American and Afro-Caribbean communities of The Bronx. For 50 years, the insatiable beats and lyrics of hip-hop have proliferated throughout every borough, every corner of the United States, and all over the world, and it has evolved into a cross-cultural, boundary-busting art form. This series focuses on hip-hop artists who have appeared on the big screen, featuring action-packed blockbusters, thoughtful comedies, and independent dramas from the 1990s to the 2000s—essential stories of diverse communities as performed by gifted and compelling artists on film. These dynamic performers came to transform pop culture, transcending music to find brilliant expression, ultimately reshaping and redefining movie stardom.   

Organized by Austin Smith, Special Assistant to the Executive Director, and Tiffany Joy Butler, Assistant Curator of Public Programs 

This series will include special introductions, discussions, a spoken word showcase, and a summer dance party. 

Share

Past Films in Series

A man with a goatee looks angrily offscreen

Ghosts of Mars
A man with a goatee looks angrily offscreen

Ghosts of Mars
Three young women sitting in a classroom looking towards the camera; the woman in the middle-ground wearing sunglasses, the woman in the foreground staring with attitude

Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
Three young women sitting in a classroom looking towards the camera; the woman in the middle-ground wearing sunglasses, the woman in the foreground staring with attitude

Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
Three young women sitting in a classroom looking towards the camera; the woman in the middle-ground wearing sunglasses, the woman in the foreground staring with attitude

Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
A man screams into a microphone against a black background

Slam
A man screams into a microphone against a black background

Slam
A young woman and man sit outside, she's behind him, glancing his way sympathetically while the man, wearing a backwards baseball cap in the foreground and looking offscreen

Poetic Justice
A young woman and man sit outside, she's behind him, glancing his way sympathetically while the man, wearing a backwards baseball cap in the foreground and looking offscreen

Poetic Justice
A close-up of a smiling man in a New York Yankees baseball cap

Get Rich or Die Tryin’
A close-up of a smiling man in a New York Yankees baseball cap

Get Rich or Die Tryin’
A man in yellow and gray windbreaker and a woman in a pink jacket stand under a blue and white umbrella in the rain smiling

Just Wright
A man in yellow and gray windbreaker and a woman in a pink jacket stand under a blue and white umbrella in the rain smiling

Just Wright
A man with a tall afro hairdo stands in a living room talking into a microphone while another man, wearing a shirt and tie, looks at him curiously

House Party
A man with a tall afro hairdo stands in a living room talking into a microphone while another man, wearing a shirt and tie, looks at him curiously

House Party
A man and a woman standing together look off screen and smile

Any Given Sunday
A man and a woman standing together look off screen and smile

Any Given Sunday
A man in a skull cap sits on a bus with headphones on looking out the window

8 Mile
A man in a skull cap sits on a bus with headphones on looking out the window

8 Mile
A man in a white tank top sits on a toilet, leaning over, with a young child, out of focus in the bathtub behind him

Baby Boy
A man in a brown suit and fedora sings in front of a line of chorus girls in pink

Idlewild
A man in a white tank top sits on a toilet, leaning over, with a young child, out of focus in the bathtub behind him

Baby Boy
A black woman spins records at a DJ station

Real Rap Summer Dance Party
A man in a brown suit and fedora sings in front of a line of chorus girls in pink

Idlewild (with summer dance party)
A man looks through the window of a barbershop from outside on the street

Barbershop
A man sits on a black couch below a baroque framed art work of a sexualized woman

Belly
A man sits on a black couch below a baroque framed art work of a sexualized woman

Belly
Two men in fedoras, one wearing a red shirt and gold chain necklace and rubbing his hands together look at camera, with a third man in a suit standing behind them

New Jack City
Two men in fedoras, one wearing a red shirt and gold chain necklace and rubbing his hands together look at camera, with a third man in a suit standing behind them

New Jack City