The L.A. Riots, The L.A. Rebellion, The L.A. Uprising. No matter what you call it, the violent events that exploded on April 29, 1992 in the wake of the Rodney King verdicts brought to light the vast racial and political problems facing the city of Los Angeles. For those who didn’t experience firsthand the chaos that happened when a jury acquitted LAPD cops of the brutal videotaped beating of Black motorist Rodney King, Birth Of A Nation 4*29*1992, the raw and gritty 1993 documentary by filmmaker Matthew McDaniel, captures all the rage and hard realities in the aftermath of injustice. McDaniel, who came up doing vital interviews with rap artists for his Rhythm Rock video series in the late ’80s, includes not only interviews with luminaries such as Ice Cube, Ice-T and KRS-One in the doc, but mixes in local TV news clips with on-the-scene footage shot by himself and his team. In one particularly memorable scene, one angry protestor states: “If you ain’t down for the Africans here in the United States — period point blank — if you ain’t down for the ones that suffered in South Africa from apartheid and shit, Devil you need to step your punk ass to the side and let us brothers and us Africans step in and start puttin’ some foot in that ass!” The dialog was, of course, sampled by Dr. Dre for The Chronic‘s “The Day the Niggaz Took Over.” See the hour-long, award-winning video film — and don’t forget to pass the popcorn — after the break…
via egotripland.com
