It was the straw that broke the
camel’s back. On the afternoon of April
29th, 1992, the long simmering tensions between the LAPD and the Black
residents of Los Angeles finally exploded.
The Acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers in the brutal beating
of motorist Rodney King proved to be one slight too many. That the beating was caught on videotape ultimately
didn’t make much difference to the jury.
Even in the face of irrefutable evidence, some people refused to acknowledge
the obvious. The destruction that
followed proved shocking to many, despite the many warnings issued by the rap
artists of the day. In the years
immediately preceding the riots, they had tried to alert Americans to the coming
storm.
As its title plainly spells out, Uprising: Hip Hop and The L.A. Riots documents
the most infamous case of civil unrest in American history. It also looks at the daring
form of music that anticipated the whole ugly affair. Well before the first store
was looted or the first car overturned, Ice-T, N.W.A, and Ice Cube had fired
sonic warning shots. Those shots reverberated around the world
and resonated with young people of all races. Still, they went largely
unheard by much of the American mainstream. Director Mark Ford offers not only a look
back at that tumultuous time, but gives that generation’s rap artists their due
as both griots and prophets.
Uprising fashions a narrative via archival footage and interviews
that follow the progression of the riots from alpha to omega. Vintage MTV clips of N.W.A and Ice Cube
offering their insights are strewn throughout.
Like the riot itself, Ford organizes everything along a steady
progression that grows exponentially until finally going nuclear. These images are powerful, and their effect
is cathartic. As the citizens of LA
spring into action, it’s hard not to feel their anger and exhilaration. Angry mobs often swell as onlookers get swept
up in the whirlwind. Uprising has that same effect, and takes
the viewer along for the ride. It doesn’t
offer easy moralizing or Monday morning quarterbacking.
Uprising goes into Meta territory when it contrasts the experiences
of two men with cameras who were at ground zero when all Hell broke loose. Filmmaker Matthew McDaniel stood outside of South
Central’s First AME Church while community leaders congregated inside. He recorded the events with his Magnavox
camera. That footage was fashioned into the
documentary Birth of a Nation 4x29x92,
which Dr. Dre referenced throughout his genre bending classic The Chronic. Meanwhile, photographer Bart Bartholomew became
the target of an increasingly angry mob at Florence and Normandy. The musical selections are creepy yet
appropriate. N.W.A’s “Approach to Danger,” which sampled
a selection from Lalo Schifrin’s Dirty
Harry score entitled “Scorpio,” makes the skin crawl.
Many of the most compelling
moments in the latter half of Uprising
come by way of Henry Watson, the man who infamously held down Reginald Denny as
rioters beat him bloody. Watson is unapologetic, and Uprising does not shy away from the
sheer horror of his actions. Yet, somehow he doesn’t come off as truly
villainous, but instead seems shockingly
self-aware. In perhaps the most surreal
moment of the entire broadcast, Korean store owners form their own makeshift
militia to deal with the rioters.
Uprising: Hip-Hop and The L.A. Riots is a troubling yet necessary
work.
It looks back at a time not altogether different from our own, and
shows a populace equally tired of being treated like second class citizens. It
doesn’t issue a challenge to the establishment, but instead a dire warning: This
could happen again. Since the powers that be didn’t learn anything
from it the last time, maybe a repeat of history is needed. The Black entertainers of that generation got
the word out. Much of that music has
stood the test of time. It was violent,
misogynistic, and flat out negative. It
was also a necessary evolution in the history America, much like the riots
themselves.
This documentary seems like a very interesting thing. I'm thinking about watching it and writing a review for College-paper.org review. That would be a nice experience for me and an interesting article.
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