FILM

Described as “a conspiracy of ritual, street theatre, soul music and cinema”, Right On! is a pioneering concert film, a compelling record of radical Black sentiment in 1960s America, and a precursor of the hip-hop revolution in musical culture. Shot guerilla-style on the streets and rooftops of lower Manhattan, it features the original Last Poets performing 28 numbers adapted from their legendary ‘Concept-East Poetry’ appearance at New York’s Paperback Theatre in 1969. Opening almost simultaneously with Melvin Van Peebles’s Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, Right On! was described by its producer as “the first totally black film”, making “no concession in language and symbolism to white audiences”.