'Hip-Hop Evolution': How Three Canadians Made the Emmy-Winning, Definitive Docuseries on Rap

Host Shad, director Darby Wheeler, and writer Rodrigo Bascuñán chat with Complex Canada about making their award-winning series.

Hip-Hop Evolution may just be the best running docuseries on the history of rap, featuring candid interviews with the architects, innovators, and icons of the genre. It also happens to be made by a group of Canadians. Rapper/broadcaster Shad, director Darby Wheeler, and writer Rodrigo Bascuñán have had quite a wild few years, snagging a Peabody Award, an International Emmy Award, and two Canadian Screen Awards for their expansive Netflix series. Season 4, which just dropped, features Master P, Three 6 Mafia, and T.I.

Complex Canada's Alex Narvaez sat down with Shad, Wheeler, and Bascuñán to chat about the genesis of the series, their most memorable moments making it, and the experience of telling hip-hop's very American origin story as Canadians.

Latest in Music