Amazing Music Documentaries

Movies that went behind the music.

Amazing Music Documentaries - Brooklyn keeps on taking it. Yesterday, Dec. 4, Jay celebrated his birthday by releasing a 24-minute documentary that takes a look at his eight-show run at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, which he co-owns. He's seen performing, walking the arena, and even taking the subway to the arena before the last show. Here, in light of Hov's latest win, BET.com takes a look at some incredible music documentaries. Lights, camera, action. —Alex Gale(Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage)

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Amazing Music Documentaries - Brooklyn keeps on taking it. Yesterday, Dec. 4, Jay celebrated his birthday by releasing a 24-minute documentary that takes a look at his eight-show run at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, which he co-owns. He's seen performing, walking the arena, and even taking the subway to the arena before the last show. Here, in light of Hov's latest win, BET.com takes a look at some incredible music documentaries. Lights, camera, action. —Alex Gale(Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage)

Made in America - Hov has another promising concert documentary in the works. He recently recruited super-director Ron Howard to direct a documentary about his massive Made in America festival in September in Philly, which he headlined and helped curate. With the concert's bold-name backers and incredible lineup, we have high hopes the doc will be a winner. (Photos from left: Stuart Wilson/Getty Images, Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Jameson)

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Made in America - Hov has another promising concert documentary in the works. He recently recruited super-director Ron Howard to direct a documentary about his massive Made in America festival in September in Philly, which he headlined and helped curate. With the concert's bold-name backers and incredible lineup, we have high hopes the doc will be a winner. (Photos from left: Stuart Wilson/Getty Images, Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Jameson)

Marley - This essential 2012 documentary is a definitive look at reggae icon Bob Marley's life, music and impact, told through interviews with some of his closest friends, family members and collaborators.  (Photo: Courtesy Cowboy Films)

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Marley - This essential 2012 documentary is a definitive look at reggae icon Bob Marley's life, music and impact, told through interviews with some of his closest friends, family members and collaborators. (Photo: Courtesy Cowboy Films)

5. Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest - "A hip hop version of the Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter and one of the best music docs to come out in recent years. Whether you love hip hop or not, this is a documentary not to be missed and one that will not be forgotten." - Read the Full Review(Photo: Courtesy Rival Pictures)

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Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest - Actor-turned-director Michael Rapaport's acclaimed 2012 film at the rise and contentious fall of one of hip hop's most beloved groups. (Photo: Rival Pictures)

Photo By Courtesy Rival Pictures

The Show - The Show interviews an incredibly thorough and diverse list of hip hop legends — Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Method Man, Run-D.M.C., Slick Rick (behind bars at Riker's Island at the time), Wu-Tang Clan, Warren G., Notorious B.I.G. — about their own music and hip hop in general.  (Photo: Savoy Pictures)

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The Show - The Show interviews an incredibly thorough and diverse list of hip hop legends — Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Method Man, Run-D.M.C., Slick Rick (behind bars at Riker's Island at the time), Wu-Tang Clan, Warren G., Notorious B.I.G. — about their own music and hip hop in general. (Photo: Savoy Pictures)

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Backstage - Living up to his name, this 2000 doc goes behind the curtain at the 1999 Hard Knock Life Tour, one of rap's biggest tours ever, with Jay-Z, DMX, Method Man, Redman, Dame Dash's tirades and groupies galore.  (Photo: Dimension Films)

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Backstage - Living up to his name, this 2000 doc goes behind the curtain at the 1999 Hard Knock Life Tour, one of rap's biggest tours ever, with Jay-Z, DMX, Method Man, Redman, Dame Dash's tirades and groupies galore. (Photo: Dimension Films)

Style Wars - Though not a music film per se — its primary focus is graffiti, though rapping and b-boying are also covered — this classic 1983 doc is a must-see time capsule of hip hop culture in its cradle.  (Photo: PlexiFilm)

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Style Wars - Though not a music film per se — its primary focus is graffiti, though rapping and b-boying are also covered — this classic 1983 doc is a must-see time capsule of hip hop culture in its cradle. (Photo: PlexiFilm)

Wattstax - Wattstax captures the historic 1972 concert of the same name — seen by many as the Black answer to Woodstock — in booty-shaking, fist-raising detail, with Richard Pryor narrating and legends like Isaac Hayes, the Staple Singers and the Bar-Kays performing.

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Wattstax - Wattstax captures the historic 1972 concert of the same name — seen by many as the Black answer to Woodstock — in booty-shaking, fist-raising detail, with Richard Pryor narrating and legends like Isaac Hayes, the Staple Singers and the Bar-Kays performing.

Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser - 1988's Straight No Chaser is a poignant look at one of jazz music's most important, eccentric and enigmatic personalities.(Photo: Warner Bros.)

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Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser - 1988's Straight No Chaser is a poignant look at one of jazz music's most important, eccentric and enigmatic personalities.(Photo: Warner Bros.)

Rhyme & Reason - This 1997 movie directed by Peter Spirer interviews over 80 rap greats to examine hip hop's history, its strengths and its shortcomings with brutal honesty.(Photo: City Block Productions)

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Rhyme & Reason - This 1997 movie directed by Peter Spirer interviews over 80 rap greats to examine hip hop's history, its strengths and its shortcomings with brutal honesty.(Photo: City Block Productions)

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The Night James Brown Saved Boston - This 2008 documentary about the night a James Brown concert helped stem rioting in Boston when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated is stunning proof of the power of music.  (Photo: David Leaf Productions)

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The Night James Brown Saved Boston - This 2008 documentary about the night a James Brown concert helped stem rioting in Boston when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated is stunning proof of the power of music. (Photo: David Leaf Productions)

Photo By Photo: David Leaf Productions

Soul Power - This invaluable 2008 documentary gives viewers front-row seats to the legendary concert — James Brown, Bill Withers, B.B. King and many more — that accompanied the even more legendary Rumble in the Jungle between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire.  (Photo: Antidote Films)

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Soul Power - This invaluable 2008 documentary gives viewers front-row seats to the legendary concert — James Brown, Bill Withers, B.B. King and many more — that accompanied the even more legendary Rumble in the Jungle between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire. (Photo: Antidote Films)

Tupac: Resurrection (2003) - This posthumous documentary tells the story of Tupac’s life and music through rare archival footage, interviews with his family and friends like Jada Pinkett Smith, Treach and his mother, Afeni Shakur. And although his music frequently spoke of his demise, Tupac’s narration of his life as the voiceover in the film is completely surreal.

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Tupac: Resurrection - With Pac's mother, Afeni Shakur, executive producing and MTV giving director Lauren Lazin access to exclusive archived footage, this 2003 film is the best, most absorbing look at a fallen, flawed legend. (Photo: MTV Films)