Ford screened the film at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles Thursday (April 26) night, followed by a panel discussion with Kurupt, Too Short, John Singleton, Arsenio Hall, Henry Watson, Mathew McDaniel, and Cheo Hodari Coker; all of whom were featured in the documentary.

Narrated and executive produced by Snoop Doog, Uprising takes a look at Hip-Hop's role in foreseeing and encouraging the riots that cost the city of Los Angeles $1 billion, and took 53 lives. Notable rap records like N.W.A.'s "F**k tha Police," and Ice Cube's "Black Korea" broadcasted the climate in Southern California neighborhoods where gang violence and racial tension divided the area. "Back then regardless if I was writing songs about some pimp stuff, or N.W.A. was rapping about chasing girls, there was a part [where] every rapper mentioned what was going on in your surroundings," said Too Short, during the discussion.

On March 31, 1992, Rodney King's vicious beating at the hands of LAPD officers revealed to the nation the racism and obvious abuse of power within the department. When his attackers got off without punishment the people of L.A. had finally had enough. Among those fed up was Henry Watson, one of the men captured by a news chopper beating Reginald Denny, a construction truck driver passing through South Central, L.A. Like many in his neighborhood Watson was enraged over the King verdict, and targeted Deny because he---like the freed officers---was white. "It's hard for me to come to terms with it," he revealed. "I know we've come 20 years, we should have changed but we haven't. I cant' explain to you what happened, it's just something that happened. It is what it is."

Looking back many of the men living through, or somehow involved in the riots, have changed their mindsets on the damage done by the turmoil. "When you're young you don't see the seriousness of it," noted Kurupt. "It's more along the lines of joining in with everybody and you don't really get the cause. Looking at it now it's like I wouldn't want my kids to be involved in that." Citing the death of Trayvon Martin as an example, the West Coast rapper feels little has changed over the last two decades. "It was kind of like they [the police] were like, 'let these n***ers calm down and then we're going to get back to our regular scheduled programming.' We got a lot more further to go."

Uprising: Hip-Hop & The LA Riots  airs on Tuesday, May 1 at 9 p.m. EST, on VH1.

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Photo: VH1

Plans for the flick have been in the works for a while now. In March, Ice Cube announced that the script was nearly done, and that he had started the search for a director. "We're interviewing a lot of directors," he said. The 42-year-old's company, Cube Vision will produce the film, while the screenplay is written by Andrea Berloff, the woman behind Oliver Stone's World Trade Center."I don't want to say 'yay' or 'nay,' but we're interviewing directors. So, the movie's in progress in this high speed, it's coming along. Hopefully, we'll get it done."

Rumors have been circulating that Cube's son, Doughboy, will portray him in the film, while Eazy-E's son and namesake, Eric Wright Jr., is hoping to tackle the role of his late father. Eazy died from complications from AIDS back in 1995,  just 10 days after announcing his diagnosis.

No word yet on when Straight Outta Compton will hit the silver screen, but there's a pretty good chance that it will be released before Dr. Dre's Detox album.

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Photo: Ruthless/EMI

It looks like John Singleton is out as director of Tupac's biopic.

According to Variety, Singleton could not close a deal to direct the project for Universal Pictures and Morgan Creek.

Singleton is the second director to drop out following casting struggles to find an actor to play Tupac Shakur's character.

I guess that frees up Singleton to direct the NWA biopic.

VH1 got love for their Planet Rock: The Story of Hip Hop and the Crack Generation, so the network is doing another documentary exploring the rap world's reaction to the riots in L.A. in 1992.

Uprising: Hip Hop and the L.A. Riots producers, police officers and victims.

Rodney King, Arsenio Hall and John Singleton will also be a part of the documentary.

John Singleton may be on his way to directing a Tupac Shakur biopic.

According to reports, Singleton, director of classic films like Boyz n The Hood and Higher Learning, is in negotiations to direct the 2Pac biopic for Morgan Creek and Universal Pictures.

The NYmag.com reports:

The project had been set up with Training Day director Antoine Fuqua, but we're told he had difficulty casting the role of Shakur; even a nationwide talent search failed to yield candidates of which Fuqua approved.

As such, Fuqua has moved on and is looking at other projects, most notably attaching himself to direct Relativity Media's Hunter Killer, a thriller about an American submariner and a Navy SEAL team who must work together to rescue the Russian president during a military coup d'état.

Singleton has also been rumored to be directing a N.W.A. biopic but insiders believe the N*ggaz Wit Attitudes film has been put on hold due to the director's interest in bringing the Pac story to the big screen.

Biggie's biopic has been out for years now, it's only right if they do for for Pac, right?

Tupac Shakur starred in John Singleton's 1993 film Poetic Justice.

As previously reported, the biopic was said to already be in the works and was being  written by Andrea Berloff, a white woman noted for writing the screen play for Oliver Stone's World Trade Center.

Now Singleton's speaking out on the project and confirmed while doing press for the film "Abduction" that he and Ice Cube had discussed making the movie.

“I can't talk about it too prematurely about the stuff I'm doing because nothing's come to fruition yet, but Cube and I are talking about doing the N.W.A. story,” Singleton told The Playlist.

“The script is really, really good, and so we're just figuring it out. New Line really wants to make it.”

 

The NWA biopic would tell the story of Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy E, DJ Yella and MC Ren who rose to fame with their debut Straight Outta Compton.

Additional writers for the film include Leigh Savidge, Alan Wenkus and Matt Alvarez.

Here are ten (individual and teams) black film producers who toil behind the scenes so that we can sit back, relax, and be entertained.

Peep The Black Hollywood Shot Callers At The Atlanta Post

Ice Cube is giving juice to the Raiders and directing a one hour long ESPN documentary on his former foes. As previously reported by Hip-Hop Wired, Compton's finest was given the reins on a new project for ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary series to commemorate the network's 30th anniversary.

Cube is putting the finishing touches on the documentary highlighting the Raiders' influence on California culture and their paramount move from Oakland to L.A. in the 80s titled, “Straight Outta L.A.”

Cube reflected on how the success of his solo career and success with legendary gangster rap group, N.W.A., brought the Raiders to the forefront of popularity in a statement from ESPN saying:

"The music, lyrics and images that I created with N.W.A, as a solo artist and as an actor helped turn the Raiders into something more than a football team. It's been 21 years since we released Straight Outta Compton, but to this day, kids all over the world buy Raiders gear, imitate the "Gangster Rap" style and try to connect with the South Central L.A. vibe that we brought to the masses."

There is no set date for the premiere of “Straight Outta of L.A.” as of yet. Other directors chosen for the series include Peter Berg, Reggie Rock Blythewood, John Singleton, Morgan Freeman and Steve James.

Previously announced directors for the series include Peter Berg, Reggie Rock Blythewood, John Singleton, Morgan Freeman and director of the cult classic documentary, “Hoop Dreams,” Steve James. The other stories will include Singleton's documentary on Marion Jones' fall from glory, a story on the South African rugby team and Olympic Speed Skater Johann Olav Koss.

Cube also recently made sports headlines lending his hit “Today Was A Good Day” to a Nike SB commercial. In the commercial skater Paul “P Rod” Rodriguez is shown skating through L.A. on a skateboard with Cube's song playing in the background. Cube makes a cameo at the end of the commercial running over Rodriguez's skateboard in his low-rider.

Set to be directed by John Singleton, a man known more for his gritty urban semi-biopics than exploring the intricacies of modern folklore and action tales, the sure fire action flick will offer movie goers an opportunity to see a hero that had been a major part of Marvel's comic universe but a minor player in the collective psyche of the mainstream. To say that expectations are high would be a gross understatement; even so, one man feels that he has what it takes to meet and exceed all benchmarks set for the film. That man is none other than for Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.

Better know to the masses as the infamous Simon Adebisi of "Oz" lore, Akinnuoye-Agbaje seeks to bring one of Marvel's most realistic characters to life by playing “T'Challa,” the man behind the Panther's mask. Created by the legendary Stan Lee, “The Black Panther” ventured to New York City from the fictional nation of Wakanda, which is well over 1,000 miles from San Diego, the city that most recently played host the national comic book convention know as Comic-Con.

Speaking to press, the versatile actor spoke of excitement about the role. "He's from a fictional village in Africa and the timing is so right for that kind of character to come through," he told. "And while I'm in my prime, this is the time. We've got Obama, now we need something on screen to represent, so... 'Panther,' man."

Before capturing a spot in what is sure to be next Summer's biggest hit, Adewale can be seen in one of this Summer's most anticipated big screen offerings. Stepehn Sommer's "G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra" is sure to portray the veteran actor in a light that he has yet to be shown, a testosterone laden butt-kicker. Set to play Joe favorite "Heavy Duty" in the 2009 blockbuster, Akinnuoye-Agbaje is poised to change the game by challenging the long running stigma that is associated with Black superheroes, one movie role at a time.