Movies like Slam

If you like "Slam" you are looking for independent film, hood and psychological movies about / with prison, gang, hip hop, profanity, art, urban and bittersweet themes of Drama genre shot in USA.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps: 1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below). 2. Look for them in the presented list.
Slam (1998)
 7.0
 3K
Slam (1998)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: Slam tells the story of Ray Joshua, an original, gifted young MC trapped in a war-zone housing project known as Dodge City. Unable to find a job, Ray copes with the despair and poverty of his neighborhood by using his wits and verbal talent. Written by Offline Publicist Young Ray Joshua lives in the Washington, DC, district known as Dodge City, which is dominated by gang wars. One day he is arrested when his drug dealer is gunned down while talking to him. He is put to prison where two rival gangs, Thug Life and the Union, want to recruit him as a member.
Style: independent film, hood, psychological, talky, uplifting, tense, sincere, bleak, serious, realistic ...
Plot: prison, gang, hip hop, profanity, art, urban, bittersweet, ghetto, african american, poet, hip hop culture, discrimination, african, coming of age, black, blaxploitation, badass, murder, human spirit, life is a bitch, prison life, injustice, fighting the system, drug dealing, false accusation ...
Time: year 1998, 90s, 20th century
Place: washington d.c., usa, africa, california

Movie in categories

prison movies
4472
gang movies
5339
hip hop movies
1370
profanity movies
5809
art movies
Art
2962
hood movies
959

Most similar movies to Slam

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out serious, realistic, hood and rough films with plots about life is a bitch, society, black, gang, gangster, urban and ghetto mostly in Drama, Crime and Action genres. Some movies like Slam: First Time Felon (1997), Strapped (1993), American History X (1998), Snow on tha Bluff (2011), The Shawshank Redemption (1994). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
First Time Felon (1997)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min.
Story: Inspired by the true story of Greg Yance. In the film, Yance (Epps) is a hood who goes to jail for possession of drugs. He is given a choice: 5 years in jail or a couple of months in boot camp. He chooses boot camp and finds out it is tougher than ...
Style: hood, inspirational, serious, realistic, tense ...
Plot: black, urban, blaxploitation, boot camp, thug life, ghetto, prison, prison life, black history, thug, black man, drug dealing ...
Time: 90s
Similarity:
100%
 6.4
 1K
Strapped (1993)
Genre: Action, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min.
Story: Ex-con attempting to go straight runs across serious problems. His girlfriend gets arrested for dealing crack to an undercover police officer. In a desperate attempt to get the charges dropped against his woman, he strikes deal with weapons cop to ...
Style: hood, grim, crime drama, realistic, serious ...
Plot: urban, ghetto, hip hop, gang, arms dealing, black, kids in trouble, african american, police, poverty, troubled youth, rap ...
Time: 90s
Place: new york, usa
Similarity:
100%
American History X (1998)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min.
Story: Derek Vineyard is paroled after serving 3 years in prison for killing two thugs who tried to break into/steal his truck. Through his brother, Danny Vineyard's narration, we learn that before going to prison, Derek was a skinhead and the leader ...
Style: cerebral, rough, serious, clever, disturbing ...
Audience: boys' night, date night, teens, teen drama
Plot: gang, skinhead, racism, prison, neo nazism, neo nazi, character change, nazism, juvenile delinquency, murder, politics, african american ...
Time: 20th century, year 1998, 90s
Place: los angeles, usa, california, america, north america ...
Similarity:
100%
Snow on tha Bluff (2011)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 79 min.
Story: When Curtis Snow steals a video camera from some college kids during a dope deal, he gives the camera to his best friend, Pancho, and they start documenting their lives. At first its business as usual for Curtis. He robs dope boys, he runs from the ...
Style: realistic, serious, hood, captivating, rough ...
Plot: found footage, filmmaking, dealer, introspection, life is a bitch, single parent, urban, down on your luck, rivalry, danger, underworld, propaganda ...
Time: 21st century
Place: atlanta georgia
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
talky movies
6398
urban movies
14273
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 142 min.
Story: Framed in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, ...
Style: clever, uplifting, inspirational, touching, twist ending ...
Audience: date night, chick flick, teens, kids, family friendly ...
Plot: prison, prison escape, freedom, friendship between men, hopes, friendship, corruption, human spirit, justice, prison life, life, stephen king ...
Time: 1940s, 1950s, 90s, year 1994, 2010s ...
Place: usa, maine, columbus ohio, persia, iran ...
Similarity:
100%
 8.1
 857K
Gran Torino (2008)
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 116 min.
Story: Walt Kowalski is a widower who holds onto his prejudices despite the changes in his Michigan neighborhood and the world around him. Kowalski is a grumpy, tough-minded, unhappy old man who can't get along with either his kids or his neighbors. ...
Style: serious, touching, emotional, suspense, harsh ...
Audience: chick flick, manly, teen drama, adult
Plot: gang, friendship, veteran, revenge, racism, old man, elderly, prejudice, car, war veteran, gangster, gunfight ...
Time: 2000s, year 2008, 21st century
Place: detroit, usa, michigan, italy, north america
Similarity:
100%
 7.2
 136K
Friday (1995)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story: Craig and Smokey are two guys in Los Angeles hanging out on their porch on a Friday afternoon, smoking and drinking, looking for something to do.
Style: hood, funny, independent film, feel good, light ...
Plot: african american, ghetto, hip hop, weed, marijuana, friendship, drug, rap, friends, rapper, friendship between men, drug dealer ...
Time: 90s, 20th century, year 1995
Place: los angeles, south central los angeles, california, usa, new jersey
Similarity:
100%
Thicker Than Water (1999)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story: In Los Angeles, two rival gang leaders are also trying to be music producers. When DJ's equipment shorts out and Lonzo is cut out of the action by a record producer, the two join forces, which also requires a tentative peace between gangs. With ...
Style: hood, independent film, cynical, realistic, serious ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: hip hop, urban, ghetto, rapper, black, discrimination, hip hop culture, gang, drug dealing, partner, gangster, friends ...
Time: 90s
Place: south america, los angeles, new orleans, california, usa ...
Similarity:
35%
Movie in collections
 6.2
 3K
Lockdown (2000)
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story: Avery (Jones) returns to college as a competitive swimmer after getting his life back on track. But his life takes another unexpected turn when he and his two friends (Bonds, Casseus) are wrongly accused of murder and end up in prison.
Style: disturbing, realistic, serious, hood, crime drama ...
Plot: prison life, gang, prison riot, life is a bitch, family life, vengeance, dishonesty, false accusation, ghetto, wrongful conviction, murder, criminal heroes ...
Similarity:
29%
Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (2004)
Genre: Drama, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story: Redemption tells the story of Stan "Tookie" Williams, founder of the Crips L.A. street gang. Story follows his fall into gang-banging, his prison term, and his work writing children's novels encouraging peace and anti-violence ...
Style: realistic, serious, emotional, bleak, crime drama ...
Plot: redemption, death row, prison, gang, gangster, brutality, justice, adaptation, human spirit, hopes, journalism, life is a bitch ...
Time: 20th century, future, 80s
Place: california, usa, los angeles
Similarity:
29%
Imperial Dreams (2014)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min.
Story: A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
Style: touching, serious, hood, crime drama, feel good ...
Plot: hopes, going straight, family relations, parents and children, street kid, society, urban ghetto life, black lives matter, gang, blaxploitation, urban, black ...
Time: 21st century
Place: los angeles, indiana, usa
Similarity:
28%
 6.2
 418
Riot (1996)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story: In April 1992, following the notorious Rodney King verdict, the streets of Los Angeles became a battlefield, the backdrop to four personal intertwined stories.
Style: independent film, anthology, serious, realistic, tense ...
Plot: racism, die hard, black lives matter, discrimination, hip hop culture, hip hop, nypd, civil rights, drug addiction, rebellion, violent content, chaos and mayhem ...
Time: 20th century, 90s
Place: south central los angeles, america, los angeles, usa
Similarity:
26%
 6.4
 297
The Visit (2000)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min.
Story: A young man dying in prison brings his family together for a fateful visit, and proceeds to put his life back together.
Style: touching, emotional, serious, realistic, independent film ...
Plot: prison, prison life, redemption, destiny, society, rehabilitation, life is a bitch, hopes, family life, parents and children, black, blaxploitation ...
Time: 90s
Similarity:
26%
 5.5
 582
Five Star (2014)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min.
Story: After John’s absent father is struck by a stray bullet, Primo takes it upon himself to verse the young boy in the code of the streets—one founded on respect and upheld by fear. A member of the Bloods since the age of twelve—both in the film ...
Style: realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, sexy ...
Plot: gang, juvenile delinquency, urban ghetto life, haunted by the past, adolescence vs adulthood, society, coming of age, teaching the ways of the world, ghetto, gangster, violent content, drug dealing ...
Time: 21st century
Place: new york, usa
Similarity:
26%
 4.8
 377
I'm Bout It (1997)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min.
Story: I'm Bout It is a 1997 film by rapper Master P. The plot details his life in a New Orleans uptown ghetto. Master P wrote, directed and acted in the film.
Style: hood, independent film, serious, realistic, tense ...
Plot: hip hop, urban, ghetto, hip hop culture, discrimination, rapper, profanity, urban ghetto, friends, social misfits, life is a bitch, criminal heroes ...
Time: 90s
Place: new orleans, louisiana, usa
Similarity:
26%
Middle of Nowhere (2012)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min.
Story: When her husband is sentenced to eight years in prison, Ruby drops out of medical school in order to focus on her husband's well-being while he's incarcerated - leading her on a journey of self-discovery in the process.
Style: captivating, sincere, serious, emotional, social ...
Plot: prison, self discovery, family problems, introspection, human nature, supportive spouse, black, family in crisis, medical school, urban, blaxploitation, women of color ...
Time: 21st century
Place: indiana, usa, los angeles, africa
Similarity:
25%
All Day and a Night (2020)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min.
Story: While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
Style: hood, serious, realistic, tense, rough
Plot: gang, profanity, prison, danger, rivalry, crime boss, gang leader, criminal's revenge, evidence, police, merciless, corpse ...
Similarity:
24%
A Lesson Before Dying (1999)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story: In the 1940's South, an African-American man is wrongly accused of the killing a a white store owner. In his defense, his white attorney equates him with a lowly hog, to indicate that he didn't have the sense to know what he was doing. ...
Style: powerful, uplifting, thought provoking, serious, realistic ...
Plot: racism, black, politics, passion, aunt, blaxploitation, racial discrimination, stage play, false accusation, interracial relations, urban ghetto life, wrongfully committed ...
Time: 1940s
Place: usa
Similarity:
24%
Movie in collections
 6.2
 18K
Poetic Justice (1993)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story: In this film, we see the world through the eyes of main character Justice, a young African-American poet. A mail carrier invites a few friends along for a long overnight delivery run.
Style: road movie, hood, realistic, touching, serious ...
Audience: date night, teens
Plot: road trip, african american, gang, hip hop, black, ghetto, friendship, writers, urban, on the road, starting over, self discovery ...
Time: year 1993, 90s, 80s
Place: los angeles, usa, chicago, south central los angeles, new jersey
Similarity:
24%
Straight Out of Brooklyn (1991)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story: A Special Jury Award winner at the Sundance Film Festival, this drama stars a then-19-year-old Matty Rich (who also wrote and directed it). Rich plays Larry, a troubled teen living in the rough Red Hook section of Brooklyn who decides he wants out ...
Style: hood, independent film, serious, realistic, bleak ...
Audience: teens
Plot: urban, gang, black, hip hop, african american, black gangster, blaxploitation, downbeat ending, hip hop culture, thug life, villain, thug ...
Time: year 1991, 90s
Place: new york, usa, brooklyn new york city
Similarity:
23%
State Property (2002)
Genre: Drama, Crime, Action
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min.
Story: Frustrated with being broke, Beans decides that the only way to grasp the American Dream is to take it.
Style: hood, serious, rough, suspenseful, bleak ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: urban ghetto life, gang, urban, gangster, drug dealing, family life, ghetto, buddies, juvenile delinquency, friendship, social decay, chaos and mayhem ...
Time: year 2002
Place: usa, memphis, philadelphia
Similarity:
23%
Doing Hard Time (2004)
Genre: Action, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story: A father's eight year old son is murdered in a gangland shooting. The father (Boris Kodjoe) gets himself thrown into prison to avenge his son's death.
Style: realistic, serious, suspenseful, rough, hood ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: prison, murder, vigilantism, vengeance, criminal heroes, prison life, redemption, dishonesty, police investigation, life is a bitch, law enforcement, confined ...
Similarity:
23%
The River Niger (1976)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story: An intimate look at life in the ghetto: Johnny Williams is a house painter who moonlights as a poet, struggling to financially and emotionally support his cancer-ridden wife Mattie. But times are tough and the poverty-troubled streets are even ...
Style: crime drama, independent film, realistic, serious, touching ...
Plot: black, blaxploitation, african, swing, racial issues, african american, performer's life, family relations, urban ghetto, society, lifestyle, love and romance ...
Time: year 1976, 70s
Place: africa
Similarity:
22%
Movie in collections
black movies
2201
year 1998 movies
359
badass movies
1167
 5.8
 453
Jailbait (2004)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story: Randy commits a crime that would normally get him probation and a hefty fine, but in the "three-strikes" world of justice, he finds himself locked up for 25 years. His cellmate Jake is a congenial yet remorseless lifer who casually informs ...
Style: psychological, serious, realistic
Plot: homosexual rape, gay, power relations, life is a bitch, criminal heroes, prison life, going straight, confined, fighting the system, murder, false accusation, dishonesty ...
Similarity:
22%
 6.9
 25K
Clockers (1995)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min.
Story: Strike is a young city drug pusher under the tutelage of drug lord Rodney Little. When a night manager at a fast-food restaurant is found with four bullets in his body, Strike's older brother turns himself in as the killer. Det. Rocco Klein ...
Style: hood, grim, neo noir, realistic, controversial ...
Plot: ghetto, hip hop, urban, organized crime, drug, violence, blaxploitation, black, gangster, murder, gang, profanity ...
Time: 90s, year 1995
Place: new york, brooklyn new york city, usa, new jersey, california ...
Similarity:
22%
American Violet (2008)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min.
Story: A young single mother of four living in a small Texas town. Arrested during a drug raid and accused of a crime she didn't commit, Dee goes against the wishes of her mother, Alma, and rejects the plea-bargain that would free her from jail, but ...
Style: serious, sentimental, rough, realistic, sincere ...
Audience: girls' night
Plot: african american, false accusation, racism, injustice, testimony, courtroom drama, black, urban ghetto, fighting the system, life is a bitch, dedicated lawyer, legal ...
Time: year 2008, 21st century
Place: texas, austin texas, usa, africa
Similarity:
21%
Sucker Free City (2004)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min.
Story: The film follows three young men as they are drawn into lives of crime. Nick (Crowley) uses his entry-level corporate job to commit credit card fraud and deals drugs on the side. K-Luv (Mackie) is a member of the "V-Dubs", an ...
Style: rough, realistic, serious, bleak, tense ...
Plot: urban ghetto life, gangster, juvenile delinquency, racism, social decay, dishonesty, city life, dysfunctional family, police investigation, interracial relations, drug dealing, law enforcement ...
Place: usa, san francisco
Similarity:
21%
 3.7
 314
Boricua's Bond (2000)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story: Tommy, a talented Puerto Rican painter living in the South Bronx, befriends Allen, a white kid who's faced constant harassment since moving to the neighborhood with his single mother, Susan.
Style: rough, serious, disturbing, realistic, crime drama ...
Plot: kids in trouble, lifestyle, gang, friendship, urban ghetto life, life is a bitch, prodigy, redemption, drug dealing, vengeance, police corruption, human nature ...
Time: 90s
Place: south america, new york, usa
Similarity:
21%
 6.5
 3K
Bullet Boy (2004)
Genre: Action, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 89 min.
Story: Ricky is just out of a young offenders institute, heading home to Hackney and determined to go straight. Instead, he heads straight for trouble when he becomes involved in a street confrontation, siding with his best friend Wisdom against a local ...
Style: realistic, psychological, serious, rough, hood ...
Plot: urban ghetto life, youth, gang, juvenile delinquency, urban, kids in trouble, going straight, life is a bitch, social decay, friendship, family problems, orphan ...
Place: england, africa, london, europe
Similarity:
20%
 6.2
 14K
Belly (1998)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story: Tommy Brown and Sincere are best friends as well as infamous and ruthless criminals and shot-callers in the hood. Respected by many but feared by all. As the police are closing in on them and new players are looking for a come up, will their reign ...
Style: hood, independent film, stylized, crime drama, realistic ...
Audience: teens
Plot: gangster, hip hop, african american, urban, urban ghetto life, ghetto, drug dealer, black, drug, violence, gangsta, gang ...
Time: year 1998, 90s
Place: jamaica, new york, usa, new jersey
Similarity:
20%