( CNN ) -- In 1988 , the West Coast hip-hop group N.W.A released a provocative song called `` F**k tha Police , '' which stirred controversy and marked it as one of the most high-profile examples of tension between the black community in Los Angeles and authorities . A few years later tensions erupted into rioting and violence in that city following the acquittal of Los Angeles police officers in the videotaped beating of motorist Rodney King . Those two incidents , and whether the former helped spark the latter , is just one of the topics explored in the documentary `` Uprising : Hip Hop and the L.A . Riots , '' which airs at 9 ET Tuesday night on VH1 . The project was the brainchild of director Mark Ford and executive producer Brad Abramson , both of whose professional credits include stints at CNN . The pair told CNN earlier this year at the South by Southwest music , film and technology festival that the documentary was an idea they had long thought of bringing to the small screen . `` We had worked together on a documentary about N.W.A . a few years ago , '' Ford said . `` That was always in my mind , the song ' F**K Tha Police ' and how powerful it was , and was there a connection between that song and what happened years later ? '' Abramson added , `` We have the Roc Doc franchise at VH1 , and I always look for film and subjects that transcend music and that impact social and cultural ways of living , and this felt like one of those . It was a huge moment in time for America , and there was a music angle that no one had ever looked into . '' Now 20 years after the riots , the rapper Snoop Dogg narrates the documentary , which includes appearances and commentary from other rap stars , including KRS One , Ice T and Nas . In the film , KRS One notes that `` Rodney King was the confirmation of everything we had been rapping about since the early '70s . '' `` Boyz N the Hood '' director John Singleton , who is featured in the documentary , told CNN , `` It was almost as if the riot legitimized everything we were trying to do as artists and show the world what was happening in our neighborhoods . '' The filmmakers gained access to several people connected to the riots , including Henry Keith Watson , who participated in the beating of white truck driver Reginald Denny following police officers ' acquittal in the King case . Watson has long maintained his silence , but Ford and Abramson were able to get him to open up on film in a moment that shows him shrugging when asked if he regrets his part in the assault on Denny . `` ( Watson ) pretty much tells it like it is , '' Ford said . `` That was a very interesting thing to explore , that 20 years later even people who participated in the looting , Snoop Dogg being one of them , are n't incredibly repentant or apologetic about it , '' he added . `` They look at it as something that happened ; it was a moment in time that was a frenzied and mob feeling . '' Former talk-show host Arsenio Hall appears in `` Uprising '' and attended a recent screening and panel discussion about the film . As the 20th anniversary of the riots is marked , Hall said the country must never forget . `` Here we are 20 years later , but it 's almost like the battle against AIDS , '' Hall said . `` If we stop talking about it , people get careless , and they stop remembering that we 're on a mission . '' Ford and Abramson said they are aware some may take offense at the title `` Uprising , '' viewing the events as more of a crime than a revolution . But Ford said he hopes viewers come away from the documentary with a different message . `` It shows how powerful music can be , what it can do and what it means to people , '' he said . `` I hope what people really take away from it is for us to pay attention to the suffering going on in our society . It just so happened at that time , hip-hop was about the only place you could hear the messages being told . '' CNN 's Denise Quan and Jennifer Wolfe contributed to this report .
`` Uprising : Hip Hop and the L.A . Riots '' examines the connection between music and 1992 riots . The documentary features rap stars as well as those who participated in the rioting . It also explores how hip-hop has been used to protest police brutality, racial inequality, poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. The documentary airs at 9 p.m . ET Tuesday on VH1 .