A film about the unexpected connections between hip-hop stars and the music they sample is coming to Newcastle on Friday 6 November 2026. Street $mart, a feature documentary by British filmmaker Nick Donnelly, will screen at Full Circle Brew Co in Hoults Yard, offering a rare chance to see a film that is not available to stream or watch online.
Table Of Content
The screening is part of a wider programme organised by Urban Kingdom, taking the documentary to venues around the world. Newcastle joins a planned itinerary stretching from London, Manchester and Liverpool to cities including New York’s Bronx, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles and Sydney. Rather than relying on the familiar story of hip-hop’s biggest stars, Donnelly follows the music beyond the records themselves, meeting people whose contributions travelled much further than they might ever have expected.
Wu-Tang Clan, Jay-Z and the stories behind the samples
Street $mart began as a decade-long project for Donnelly, a former music video director. An early turning point came when he gained behind-the-scenes access while the living members of the Wu-Tang Clan were together in the UK — an occasion described by the filmmakers as their only such gathering in more than twenty years. The film includes interviews with Method Man and Ghostface Killah, but its scope reaches beyond the performers on stage.
Among its subjects is a British music teacher whose work was sampled by Jay-Z on the title track of his 2017 album 4:44. Another story centres on a reclusive Danish musician whose song was sampled by Kendrick Lamar on ‘Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe’. Donnelly’s film explores what happens when a musical idea from one life, place or generation finds a completely different audience through hip-hop.
Conversations across hip-hop, R&B and jazz
Additional interviews include rapper Talib Kweli, reflecting on how hip-hop was changing in its fiftieth year; R&B singer Jon B, speaking about working with 2Pac, Nas and Jay-Z; and jazz musician Lonnie Liston Smith, whose music was sampled on Jay-Z’s ‘Dead Presidents II’.
The film also draws on archive footage Donnelly recorded during his first visit to New York City in 2011. That includes Freddie Gibbs on the set of a music video produced by Urban Kingdom and footage from Ruff Ryders’ studio, where Donnelly directed a video. Together these conversations and recordings trace a personal route through more than a decade of hip-hop culture and musical collaboration.
For Newcastle music fans, the appeal is in those less-heard stories: the route from an original recording to a world-famous sample, the people behind the sounds and the encounters that connected them. Street $mart offers the opportunity to explore that history in a room with other listeners, rather than waiting for an online release that has not been announced.
Street $mart at Full Circle Brew Co, Newcastle
Date: Friday 6 November 2026
Venue: Full Circle Brew Co, Hoults Yard, Newcastle upon Tyne
Film: Street $mart, directed by Nick Donnelly
Organiser: Urban Kingdom
The screening has been announced directly to SoundBite through an invitation from the organisers. A public ticket link, admission price and start time have not yet been supplied or independently confirmed. Those planning to attend should check directly with the organiser or Full Circle Brew Co for attendance arrangements.
Event information is based on the invitation supplied by Urban Kingdom. Screening details may be updated by the organiser.
