'The Show' documentary opens theatrically

Why it matters

The Show opened theatrically August 15, 1995. Brian Robbins directed it. The film is a documentary built around behind-the-scenes footage of the 1994-95 hip-hop scene, with extended sequences featuring Notorious B.I.G., Wu-Tang Clan, Russell Simmons, Slick Rick, Snoop Dogg, Run-DMC, and others. Russell Simmons produced. This is one of the earliest documentary features about hip-hop to get major theatrical distribution. Style Wars (1983) had been on PBS; Wild Style (1983) was a docu-narrative hybrid; everything else had basically been TV. The Show puts the genre on big screens at the peak of mid-90s commercial dominance, with Biggie at the center of the New York footage and Snoop and Dre at the center of the West Coast material. The film is uneven (some of the interviews are more interesting than others) but the historical document is valuable; you cannot get most of the footage anywhere else in this condition. You should watch it if you can find a copy. The shot of the Wu in the back of a tour van is worth the rental.