Murder on Lenox Avenue (1941)

Starring:

• Mamie Smith 
• Alec Lovejoy 
• Norman Astwood
• Augustus Smith 
• Alberta Perkins 
• Edna Mae Harris 
• Sidney Easton 
• Dene Larry

 
Storyline
The crowded rooms of Harlem tenement buildings become crucibles of populist politics and powerful passions. Crooked businessman Leon Marshall runs the local Better Business League as his personal fiefdom, enriching himself at the expense of the poor. He faces a challenge from Pa Williams, a respected patriarch in the community. Marshall and his hunchback henchman Lomax are determined to end Williams' political life - not with ballots, but with bullets.

Swing! (1938)

Starring:

• Cora Green
• Larry Seymour
• Hazel Diaz
• Alec Lovejoy 
• Amanda Randolph 
• Trixie Smith 
• Carman Newsome 
• Dorothy Van Engle 

Storyline
When Mandy Jenkins catches her husband Cornell out on a date with Eloise Jackson in a small cabaret in Birmingham, Alabama, she and Jackson have a fight. Months later, Eloise is living in Harlem and about to star in a musical, produced and directed by Ted Gregory, who hopes to be the first black producer to put on a show on Broadway. Mandy, meanwhile, has also moved to Harlem, and is hired by Gregory as wardrobe mistress at the suggestion of his secretary, Lena, with whom Gregory has fallen in love. But Gregory has problems getting backing for the show, and is unhappy that Eloise often comes drunk and late to the rehearsals. And things look hopeless when Eloise breaks her leg falling down a stairway while in a drunken stupor.

Available at archive.org

State Property (2002)

Starring:

• Beanie Sigel
• Omillio Sparks
• Memphis Bleek

IMDB.com
Frustrated with being broke, Beans (Sigel) decides that the only way to grasp the American Dream is to take it. The film follows Beans and his crew, the ABM, as they take over the city, creating mayhem as their empire builds. Beans now struggles to maintain his family life while bumping heads with opposing gangsters and police. It all comes to a head when he cannot surpass the city's most notorious crew, run by Untouchable J (Jay-Z) and Dame (Dash). The moves Beans and the ABM decide to make come with severe consequences.

Streets Is Watching (1998)

 

Starring:

• Jay-Z
• Damon Dash
• Pain in da Ass

IMDB.com
This film showed close to how S. Carter, one of the greatest lyricist of all time came up right before he made a name for himself not only in the Streets, but also in the rap game. With the informative videos and nice story lines to go with the videos, Streets is Watching is a great way of understanding what the jiggaman went through on his way to the top. Director Abdul Malik Abbott (State Property), did an excellent job in capturing not only the situations Jay gone through but the different scenes and views of Brooklyn were great. Overall I gave this movie a ten, and would recommend it to even the hardest critique alive. I also can not forget to mention all the nice looking dancers in the film.