Coming to Starz tonight, Wednesday, February 24: HUSTLERS CONVENTION
Mike Todd’s tribute to an influential precursor to hip-hop made its world premiere at Sheffield last year. It went on to screen at DOC NYC and to have a theatrical release in the UK. The doc now comes to Starz for its broadcast debut.
For hip-hop historians and aficionados, Lightnin’ Rod’s 1973 spoken word album Hustlers Convention played a pivotal role in the development of the genre, offering African American audiences an authentic representation of the temptations and dangers of inner city life. Despite selling a million copies with virtually no official promotion, and being well-respected by the first generation of rappers, the album and its importance to African American music history has largely been forgotten. Mike Todd’s appreciative film helps to correct that, allowing for a re-examination of its creator, Lightnin’ Rod, better known as Jalal Mansur Nuriddin of The Last Poets, a prominent group within the Black Arts Movement. The ever-rhyming Nuriddin, bolstered by an impressive collection of interviews with legendary hip-hop artists, from KRS-One and Chuck D to Fab 5 Freddie and MC Lyte, reveals the story behind the album, which is illustrated throughout via vibrant animated sequences, culminating in a celebratory event in London which sees the now-senior citizen perform it live for the first time ever.
what (not) to doc 