The library has always had great resources for music buffs, but lesser known among these are the many documentaries about music, musicians, and musical history that are available on our video streaming services. Often, these include both great insights into the works of famous musicians or hidden gems that tell a particular story about music history that is not necessarily well-known in the mainstream. If you are interested and want to learn more, here are three excellent documentaries about musicians and musical history that are available to you for free on Kanopy with your library card.
Nas: Time is Illmatic. This documentary, subtitled “The Making of a Groundbreaking Hip Hop Album,” is a little over an hour long and tells the story behind influential 90s rapper Nas’ breakout hit album. It also treats the early personal life of Nas himself.. The film includes interviews with musicians Nas influenced, worked with, and/or was influenced by, including Pharrell Williams, Alicia Keyes, and Busta Rhymes. It is also beautifully filmed, and this has been recognized critically as it has also been nominated for a few awards. It’s a real treat that it is available for free via Kanopy.
Bad Rap: The Lives and Careers of Four Asian-American Rappers. This 2016 documentary from filmmaker Salima Koroma follows four different Korean-American rappers who are trying to make it in a hip-hop scene that views them as outsides. At about an hour and a half long, it is substantial and well-made, artfully edited to portray the lives and careers of these young artists. The rappers themselves – whose real names are David Lee, Jonathan Park, Nora Lum, and Richard Lee, but some of whom you will be sure to recognize under their MC monikers – are portrayed in such a way that anyone watching the film, no matter their familiarity with hip-hop, might resonate with the struggles they experience in pursuing self-expression and finding their identity in the arts.
Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll. 
This film is just as much a lesson in Cambodian cultural and political history as it is about music. The documentary focuses on Cambodian pop and rock stars who were popular in the 50s, 60s, and 70s and shares the incredible direction and unique musical identity that was developing in Cambodia at that time, before the country and its thriving cultural scene was torn apart by the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s. To accomplish this, the movie relies on both interviews with surviving musicians and archival footage, and it is about 1 hour and 45 minutes long. It is both an incredibly informative insight to an underrepresented topic in music history, and an aesthetically pleasing experience to watch. Again, a real treat that it is accessible for free with a library card!
~ Posted by Hannah P.
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