Black cinema in general really began on a meaningful level with blaxploitation films in the early seventies, which grew alongside hip hop and served as a precursor to the genre's later love of mobster movies. From its inception and up into the early eighties, rap artists followed the stylings of pimps, drug dealers, and the movies (rather than the other way around), using them as both a template and a reference point to guide their characters.
In the mid-eighties as the music exploded in popularity, the movies started to chase the growing scene, for better and for worse. This was the start of what in retrospect has been referred to as rapsploitation. By the beginning of the nineties, “hood flicks” arrived and found a relatively happy medium between blax- and rapsploitation, one where the narrative became at least slightly more realistic and the films used the culture less as a trendy prop or spectacle and more as a relatable backdrop. Though still over the top, more of the violence was now woven into the story rather than presented as needlessly and gratuitously as before.
However, as the overall sound became increasingly gangster, so in turn did the corresponding visuals. And no longer were these two mediums chasing or leaning on the other for support as much, but were now standing on their own and complimenting each other, creatively feeding one another in a more kind of symbiotic relationship. This search for realism allowed the lines between the art and the street, that were once clearly defined, to continue to blur for both the artists and the audience. Today you see this more and more with social media and in the music videos that serve as short films, to the point where some personalities and careers have been created and facilitated entirely through Twitter or YouTube. But enough of that, it's now time for Friday night's midnight matinees...
Title: Cotton Comes to Harlem
Director: Ossie Davis
Genre: Action, Blaxploitation, Comedy
Released: May 27th, 1970
Title: Right On!
Director: Herbert Danska
Genre: Blaxploitation, Documentary, History
Released: April 8th, 1971
Title: Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
Director: Melvin Van Peebles
Genre: Blaxploitation, Drama, Thriller
Released: April 23rd, 1971
Director: Gordon Parks
Genre: Action, Blaxploitation, Thriller
Released: July 2nd, 1971
Title: The Godfather
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Released: March 24th, 1972
Director: Gordon Parks Jr.
Genre: Action, Blaxploitation, Drama
Released: August 4th, 1972
Title: Slaughter
Director: Jack Starrett
Genre: Action, Blaxploitation, Drama
Released: August 16th, 1972
Title: The Harder They Come
Director: Perry Henzell
Genre: Crime, Cult, Drama
Released: August 21st, 1972
Director: Ivan Dixon
Genre: Action, Blaxploitation, Drama
Released: November 1st, 1972
Genre: Action, Blaxploitation, Drama
Title: Do the Right Thing
Director: Spike Lee
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Hood
Released: July 21st, 1989
Title: Harlem Nights
Director: Eddie Murphy
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Released: November 17th, 1989
Title: House Party
Director: Reginald Hudlin
Genre: Comedy, Rapsploitation, Romance
Released: March 9th, 1990
Title: GoodFellas
Director: Martin Scorsese
Genre: Crime, Drama, History
Released: September 21st, 1990
Title: King of New York
Director: Abel Ferrara
Genre: Crime, Drama, Hood
Released: September 28th, 1990
Title: New Jack City
Director: Mario Van Peebles
Genre: Crime, Drama, Hood
Released: March 8th, 1991
Director: John Singleton
Genre: Crime, Drama, Hood
Released: July 12th, 1991
Title: Juice
Director: Ernest R. Dickerson
Genre: Crime, Drama, Hood
Released: January 17th, 1992
Director: Edward James Olmos
Genre: Crime, Drama, History
Released: March 13th, 1992
Title: White Men Can't Jump
Director: Ron Shelton
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Sport
Released: March 27th, 1992
Title: Deep Cover
Director: Bill Duke
Genre: Action, Crime, Hood
Released: April 15th, 1992
Title: Class Act
Director: Randall Miller
Genre: Comedy, Rapsploitation, Romance
Released: June 5th, 1992
Title: South Central
Director: Stephen Milburn Anderson
Genre: Crime, Drama, Hood
Released: September 18th, 1992
Title: Trespass
Director: Walter Hill
Genre: Action, Crime, Hood
Released: December 25th, 1992
Title: CB4
Director: Tamra Davis
Genre: Comedy, Parody, Rapsploitation
Released: March 12th, 1993
Title: Who's the Man?
Director: Ted Demme
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Rapsploitation
Released: April 23rd, 1993
Title: Blood In, Blood Out
Director: Taylor Hackford
Genre: Crime, Drama, Hood
Released: April 30th, 1993
Title: Menace II Society
Directors: The Hughes Brothers
Genre: Crime, Drama, Hood
Released: May 26th, 1993
Title: Poetic Justice
Director: John Singleton
Genre: Drama, Hood, Romance
Released: July 23rd, 1993
Title: Strapped
Director: Forest Whitaker
Genre: Action, Drama, Hood
Released: August 21st, 1993
Title: Carlito's Way
Director: Brian De Palma
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Released: November 12th, 1993
Title: Above the Rim
Director: Jeff Pollack
Genre: Crime, Hood, Sport
Released: March 23rd, 1994
Title: Crooklyn
Director: Spike Lee
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Hood
Released: May 13th, 1994
Title: Fear of a Black Hat
Director: Rusty Cundieff
Genre: Comedy, Parody, Rapsploitation
Released: June 3rd, 1994
Title: Fresh
Director: Boaz Yakin
Genre: Crime, Drama, Hood
Released: September 2nd, 1994
Title: Jason's Lyric
Director: Doug McHenry
Genre: Crime, Drama, Hood
Released: September 28th, 1994
Title: Higher Learning
Director: John Singleton
Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance
Released: January 11th, 1995
Title: New Jersey Drive
Director: Nick Gomez
Genre: Crime, Drama, Hood
Released: April 19th, 1995
Title: Friday
Director: F. Gary Gray
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Hood
Released: April 26th, 1995
Title: The Show
Director: Brian Robbins
Genre: Documentary, History, Rapsploitation
Released: August 25th, 1995
Title: Clockers
Director: Spike Lee
Genre: Crime, Drama, Hood
Released: September 13th, 1995
Title: Dead Presidents
Directors: The Hughes Brothers
Genre: Crime, Drama, Hood
Released: October 6th, 1995
Title: Casino
Director: Martin Scorsese
Genre: Crime, Drama, History
Released: November 22nd, 1995
Title: Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood
Director: Paris Barclay
Genre: Comedy, Parody, Rapsploitation
Released: January 12th, 1996
Title: La Haine [Hate]
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz
Genre: Crime, Drama, Hood
Released: February 23rd, 1996
Title: Bullet
Director: Julien Temple
Genre: Action, Drama, Hood
Released: October 1st, 1996
Title: Set It Off
Director: F. Gary Gray
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Released: November 6th, 1996
Title: Gridlock'd
Director: Vondie Curtis-Hall
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Released: January 29th, 1997
Title: Rhyme & Reason
Director: Peter Spirer
Genre: Documentary, History, Rapsploitation
Released: March 5th, 1997
Title: Gang Related
Director: Jim Kouf
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Released: October 8th, 1997
Title: Jackie Brown
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Released: December 25th, 1997
Title: Slam
Director: Marc Levin
Genre: Crime, Drama, Hood
Released: October 7th, 1998
Title: Belly
Director: Hype Williams
Genre: Crime, Drama, Hood
Released: November 4th, 1998
Title: The Wood
Director: Rick Famuyiwa
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Released: July 16th, 1999
Title: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Released: March 24th, 2000
Title: Wave Twisters
Directors: Syd Garon & Eric Henry
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Rapsploitation
Released: January 23rd, 2001
Title: Baby Boy
Director: John Singleton
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Hood
Released: June 27th, 2001
Title: New York Beat Movie [Downtown '81]
Genre: Comedy, Drama, History
Released: July 13th, 2001
Title: How High
Director: Jesse Dylan
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Rapsploitation
Released: December 21st, 2001
Nowadays, the target market is at an age where there's a lot of nostalgia for those previous three decades. And by the time we catch back up to the present we've heard so much talk filled with long forgotten promises (that many, perhaps rightfully, doubted from the start), while dozens of other potential pet projects range from still supposedly in pre-production to already waiting in the wings.
Are biopics really going to play that big of a part in the future evolution of this genre? With more money behind Hollywood's search for easily tellable rap stories than ever before, we'll just have to wait and see whether the ratio of well to not-so-well films changes and also whether what's next has any real staying power, as I'm sure some of the usual flops and missteps will continue to occur along the way.
And that's, for some, perhaps the greatest asset when it comes to the lukewarm or even outright bad movies; their unintentional comedy lends them a staying power and replay value, even if it is just something to have on in the background for the four thousand and eightieth time.
— The Big Sleep
[Posted concurrently with The T.R.O.Y. Blog on April 22nd, 2016.