A documentary on New York hip hop, by the director of Grimes’ “Oblivion”, surely this must be a joke. If it debuts at Sundance though, it is no joke. Spit Gold Under An Empire is a new feature length documentary profiling New York hip hop via Angel Haze, Kirk Knight, Mykki Blanco, The Underachievers, and CJ Fly from director Emily Kai Bock.

While initially it’d seem a Canadian director of Grimes videos is an odd choice to document rising NY rappers, the camera work an editing on display in this short promises an experience that at the very least, will look beautiful. Homegirl’s panning game is very serious. Maybe her outsider status actually helps her as a director, it’s good to see she’s not using all of the same old visual cliches of rap cinema—you know, shots of graffiti, trains and all that. Excited to see this when it drops.

- raythedestroyer