Mixtapes have an out-sized role in the emergence of hip hop around the world. Before radio play, the internet, and social media, there were mixtapes. No matter where you lived, you could pop a cassette into a tape deck, and be transported to a party halfway around the world. DJs were taste makers, trendsetters and creators of the sound that became the biggest musical genre on the planet. A meteoric rise for an art form not yet 50 years old. The importance of mixtapes goes well beyond the tapes themselves. Mixtapes were a form of currency. A signifier that you were In-The-Know and had your ear to the streets. A skeleton key to the underground. The culture was too strong to be stopped, and the artists were too talented to be ignored – so they turned the sub-culture into the mainstream, and made hip hop what it is today.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, skateboarding and hip-hop culture collide in downtown Manhattan. Archival footage from the era showcases the fusion of these two forms of expression.

“Adam Goldstein was friend to many in the ’90s L.A. party scene, where he threw himself into a newfound life as DJ AM. Overcoming several obstacles, including a troubled familial relationship and various addictions, DJ AM quickly rose to the top of the music industry. A pioneer of the mashup movement, he became one of the most recognizable DJs in the world. However, he remained haunted by the demons of his past. After cheating death in a plane crash, a subsequent overdose lead to his untimely death.

Exploring the social impact of what The Source Magazine in 1998 voted, “The Best Hip Hop Radio Show Of All-Time.” The documentary film is the story of quirky friends who became unlikely legends by engaging their listeners and breaking the biggest rap artists ever.