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With its academic interviewees and mini-histories, J.M. Harper’s directorial debut “As We Speak,” about the weaponizing of rap lyrics in the courts, has the trappings of rigor. But not unlike its subject, the documentary’s power, beauty and complexity lie in Harper’s use of rhetoric and lyricism. The film editor of the Emmy-nominated series “Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy” has made a willfully creative work that mimics the ways rap can be intimately observational, seemingly confessional even, but is also a feat of artistic expression.

The hip-hop artist and Bronx native Kemba acts as a guide and a character for “As We Speak,” which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. Utilizing Erik Nielson and Andrea Dennis’s book “Rap on Trial: Race, Lyrics and Guilt in America,” the film follows Kemba as he crisscrosses the nation to speak with fellow artists and then leaps the Atlantic to the U.

At the outset of PBS’ docuseries Fight the Power: How Hip-Hop Changed the World, Chuck D asserts, “[In 2020], the Black Lives Matter protests wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for hip-hop.” It’s a lofty statement, as anti-establishment organizing and revolt have existed since Black people were brought to America. Hip-hop has augmented social movements since its 1973 founding; as Lupe Fiasco notes in the finale of the four-part series, ”Hip-hop is gonna supply you the theme song for the moment.”

Fight the Power does a strong job of chronicling...