Public Enemy’s Chuck D leads a cast of hip-hop icons and leading African-American and Latino cultural commentators as they chart the factors that led to the birth of the revolutionary art form of hip-hop in 1970s New York, as well as the creation of the seminal hit The Message. They evoke a picture of how, after the turbulence of the 60s and the civil rights struggles, desperate social conditions and the experience of countless dispossessed people of colour living in a city mired in crisis helped give birth to a new art form.

An intimate look at the evolution and impact of women emcees and rappers, told by the trailblazing artists who helped create a musical and cultural empire.

Scene Not Heard features interviews with some of the originators of hip-hop such as Lady B, Schoolly D, Monie Love and Rennie Harris, with vanguards chiming in including Bahamadia and Ursula Rucker, and presents current talents such as the Jazzyfatnastees, Ms. Jade, and Lady Alma, and emerging talents such as Versus, Keen of Subliminal Orphans and Michele Byrd-McPhee of Montäzh, as well as scholars, critics and local promoters.

The Hip Hop Years is a three part series of one hour television documentaries, made for Channel 4 in 1999. The series was devised by David Upshal who produced, directed and narrated the series. He also produced the 33-track compilation CD which accompanied the series and co-wrote the book with Alex Ogg, also titled The Hip Hop Years. The series charts the definitive story of Hip Hop, rising from the streets of the Bronx to become, what Upshal calls, "the new Rock'n'Roll". The programmes combine archive clips and performance from TV, movies and music videos with specially shot material and interviews with key players.

In Living Color is an American sketch comedy television series that originally ran on the Fox Network from April 15, 1990, to May 19, 1994. Brothers Keenen and Damon Wayans created, wrote and starred in the program. The show was produced by Ivory Way Productions in association with 20th Century Fox Television and was taped before a live studio audience at stage 7 at the Fox Television Center on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. The title of the series was inspired by the NBC announcement of broadcasts being presented "in living color" during the 1950s and 1960s, prior to mainstream color television. It also refers to the fact that most of the show's cast were black, unlike other sketch comedy shows such as Saturday Night Live whose casts are usually mostly white. Other members of the Wayans family—Kim, Shawn and Marlon—had regular roles, while brother Dwayne frequently appeared as an extra. The show also starred the previously unknown actor/comedians Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx, and David Alan Grier. Additionally, actress Rosie Perez, Dancing with the Stars judge and choreographer Carrie Ann Inaba and dancer Jennifer Lopez were members of the show's dance troupe The Fly Girls. The series won the Emmy for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series in 1990.