Omar Ben Hassan

Poetic Justice

Last Poets

Still grieving after the murder of her boyfriend, hairdresser Justice writes poetry to deal with the pain of her loss. Unable to get to Oakland to attend a convention because of her broken-down car, Justice gets a lift with her friend, Iesha, and Iesha's postal worker boyfriend, Chicago. Along for the ride is Chicago's co-worker, Lucky, to whom Justice grows close after some initial problems. But is she ready to open her heart again?

Hustlers Convention

Self

The story of Sport and Spoon - two young hustlers who attend the eponymous convention, only to get tangled up in a financial disagreement that leads to a shootout, police chase and finishes with Sport on death row, weighing up what it all means. Taking its title from the album, the film blends archive photos with interviews and uses unique animated sequences set to the album. It portrays Hustlers Convention in its wider social context and Jalal's personal story as one of rap's undisputed pioneers.

Scared of Revolution

Umar Bin Hassan hasn’t even hit 70 yet, but he walks with difficulty and there’s sadness and fatigue in his eyes. As a member of The Last Poets, a group of performance poets who expressed the progressive spirit of the times starting in the late 1960s, he was a major influence on later hip-hop artists. In one of his best-known pieces, Ni****s are Scared of Revolution, he criticizes his black brothers’ destructive, macho behavior. Scared of Revolution concentrates on Hassan’s personal life, in which he still fights his demons. He grew up poor with a violent, unpredictable father, which in turn left him with an inferiority complex. In the course of his adult life, he has had a string of bad relationships and left children without a father figure. In his darkest hour, he also battled a crack addiction.