In 2005, the levees broke. But the music didn’t stop.

Two decades after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, 20 Summers: Rebuilding the Rhythm of New Orleans — a new digital short film from BET Media Group — revisits the storm’s aftermath through the voices of five artists who turned grief into rhythm, memory into movement, and loss into legacy.

The 15-minute documentary isn’t just a tribute to what was lost. It’s a declaration of what endured. Centered on the cultural contributions and deeply personal stories of Tarriona “Tank” Ball, PJ Morton, Sunni Patterson, Ha Sizzle, and Jared “Pell” Pellerin, the film explores how the sound of New Orleans became the lifeline of its people — and how that sound continues to evolve. The film opens with a swirl of archival footage that includes the infamous video of an elderly Black man being airlifted over water.

For Tank, the Grammy-winning frontwoman of Tank and the Bangas, Katrina is both backdrop and birthplace. “I was still a teenager,” she says in the film. “Everything changed. But somehow, the music made it through.” Her reflections are layered with footage of her performing on stages she once only dreamed about — proof that even in fractured places, creativity finds a way to rise.

PJ Morton, also a Grammy winner and one of the most recognizable voices in modern soul, speaks about returning to New Orleans post-Katrina and reconnecting with his roots through gospel and funk. “Music is ministry here,” he says. “It always has been.”

The documentary also makes space for the spiritual, the sensual, and the sacred. Poet Sunni Patterson, whose spoken word has long served as a balm for the city’s soul, offers lyrical testimony on displacement, gentrification, and the echoes of ancestors that still ring through the streets.

Then there’s Ha Sizzle, crowned King of Bounce, who reminds viewers that the clubs and dance floors of New Orleans became sanctuaries after the storm. His raw energy and unfiltered storytelling point to how joy — specifically Black joy — became a form of protest and preservation.

Rapper Pell rounds out the cast, reflecting on what it meant to be displaced as a child and then come back with a voice shaped by survival. “There’s something about this city,” he says, “that never lets go.”

Shot by New Orleans native Khalif Breaux, edited by BET’s Richardson Roberts, and produced by Yesha Callahan, Head of Content for BET Media Group, Blair and Brandon Dottin-Haley (of The Blairisms), the project is rooted in place and people. “It was important to us that this story involved people who know this city in their bones,” says Callahan. Even the motion graphics — led by BET’s Corey Manning and his design team — blend color and culture, adding visual texture to an already rich story.

Launching alongside a 3-part editorial companion series in August 2025, 20 Summers is both memory and momentum. It honors what came before, while looking ahead to what’s still possible.

Because in New Orleans, music isn’t just a soundtrack — it’s survival. And 20 summers later, the beat goes on.