The film seeks to address the cross section of music, specifically hip-hop, and the 1992 riots in Los Angeles. A Huffington Post article writes how the film shows that hip-hop music of the 1980s was bringing attention to poverty and police brutality in South Central Los Angeles long before mainstream media got involved in these issues through the riots heard throughout the country. "Uprising" takes us through archival footage of the 1992 riots and interviews with residents of South Central LA who lived through the riots and can testify on the power of music throughout this time in LA's history. Ford, seeks to highlight, however, that violence in these neighborhoods of LA was nothing new when the riots started. Police brutality was there long before mainstream media and hip-hop culture was and has always been on a mission to expose these societal and institutionalized issues.