Fight the Power Hip-Hop Doc from BBC Studios

BBC Studios is collaborating with PBS on a new four-part music documentary boxset featuring and executive produced by hip-hop legend Chuck D.

Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World will tell the story of the relationship between politics and the hip-hop movement, recounting the origins of the art form through firsthand accounts and charting the journey of how it became a cultural phenomenon against a backdrop of social and political American history.

Hip-hop luminaries featured in the series include B-Real from Cypress Hill, DMC, Eminem, Ice-T, Fat Joe, KRS-One, LL COOL J, MC Lyte, Monie Love, Abiodun Oyewole, Roxanne Shanté and Will.I.Am as well as other cultural figures such as Rev. Al Sharpton, Sway Calloway, Walter “Hawk” Newsome, Nelson George, Dr. Rosa Alicia Clemente, Lee Quiñones (New York graffiti artist), Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Michael Holman, Ernie Paniccioli, Dan Charnas, Shinese Harlins-Kilgore, Soren Baker, Dancin’ Doug Colón (one of the original b-boys), Leah Wright Rigueur and more.

The doc series has been developed by Chuck D and his producing partner, Lorrie Boula. It will air on BBC Two and drop as a boxset on BBC iPlayer on January 21. Produced in partnership with PBS, the four-part series will premiere in the U.S. on January 31.

Chuck D said: “The hip-hop community has, from the start, been doing what the rest of media is only now catching up to. Long before any conglomerate realized it was time to wake up, hip-hop had been speaking out and telling truths. Working with PBS and the BBC is an opportunity to deliver these messages through new ways and help explain hip-hop’s place in history and hopefully inspire us all to take it further.”

Max Gogarty, commissioning editor for BBC, said: “Hip-hop is one of the most influential and culturally defining movements of our time, and we feel privileged to be able to bring this story to audiences, in collaboration with one of its founding figures—Chuck D. We’re grateful to all of the contributors in this series and our partners PBS who have helped tell this important story.”