Synopsis

Hip Hop as a street culture was created in the 1970s by young African American kids from the Bronx and became a vast cultural movement that influenced fashion, art, music, dance and our broader consciousness. And for the past 30 years, Hip Hop music, represented by rap, breakdance and DJ-ing, has continued to captivate youth regardless of the era it passed through. As Hip Hop has travelled through time and crossed many borders, the complexity of Hip Hop spirit and content may have changed. But no one will dispute the fact that it was inspired by the sadness and rage that resulted from years of oppression. This is perhaps why words such as freedom, resistance, and critiquing social injustice are invoked when describing Hip Hop music. The Furious Force of Rhymes tours through four continents and six countries to explore the current state of world Hip Hop as a music of resistance. The film starts in the South Bronx during the 1970s to introduce the birth of Hip Hop. Then it moves on to current social and political issues such as poverty, immigration, racism, dispute and peace, and neo-colonialism in Africa, as discussed by various Hip Hop musicians from France, Germany, Palestine, Israel and Senegal. To these artists, Hip Hop is an artistic tool for expressing their musical talent as well as a means of resistance through which they can state an opposing opinion of the world. The most impressive aspect of this film is the dynamic editing of photographs, footage, interviews and performances that are arranged into what looks like a long and visually extraordinary music video. In particular, all of the interviewed musicians appear at the end of the film to present a spectacular rap relay that lasts over four minutes. (CHUNG Woo-chung)

Director

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  Joshua ATESH LITLE
  

  Joshua Atesh Litle graduated from Sonoma State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications (Video Production) in 1993. He worked as a cinematographer on various documentaries, reality shows and magazine shows for A & E, the History Channel, Discovery Channel, Court TV, OLN, Tech TV and others. He is a bass and keyboard player, and also a composer, DJ and sound engineer. He produced and distributed an album by hip-hop artist Adass in 1996.
  
  The Furious Force of Rhymes (2010)
  Ever Since the World (2007)
  Minutes (2007)
  Cops (2007)
  Mercies (2007)

Credits

• Director, Cinematographer  Joshua ATESH LITLE
• Producer  Serge LALOU
• Editors  Jérôme LEFDUP, Martha SKOLNIK, Gloria BREMER
• Sound  Alexandre ABRARD, Guillaume VALEIX

Production Company

• Production Company  Les Films d’Ici

Distribution / World Sales

• Distribution / World Sales  Doc & Film International
• Address  13 rue Portefoin 75003 Paris, France
• Tel  33 1 42 77 56 87
• E-mail  international@docandfilm.com