| Fear of a Black Hat | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Rusty Cundieff |
| Written by | Rusty Cundieff |
| Produced by | Darin Scott |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | John Demps Jr. |
| Edited by | Karen Horn |
| Music by | Jim Manzie Larry Robinson N.W.H. |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | The Samuel Goldwyn Company |
Release dates |
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Running time | 89 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1 million[1] |
| Box office | $233,824[2] |
Fear of a Black Hat is a 1993 American mockumentary film on the evolution and state of American hip hop music. Written and directed by Rusty Cundieff in his directorial debut, the film stars Cundieff, Larry B. Scott and Mark Christopher Lawrence. Fear of a Black Hat is similar in format to the satirical film about early 1980s heavy metal, This is Spinal Tap. It is told from the point of view of a graduate student who is documenting the hip hop group N.W.H. (which stands for "Niggaz With Hats", a reference to N.W.A.) for a year as part of her thesis.
The title is derived from the 1990 Public Enemy album Fear of a Black Planet. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 1993, and was later theatrically released on June 3, 1994. While critically acclaimed, it was a box office bomb. Its stature has grown in the years since its release and the film has acquired a cult following.