Todd Boyd


Todd Boyd, aka "Notorious Ph.D.", is the Katherine and Frank Price Endowed Chair for the Study of Race & Popular Culture and Professor of Cinema and Media Studies in the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Boyd is a media commentator, author, producer, consultant and scholar. He is considered an expert on American popular culture and is known for his pioneering work on cinema, media, hip hop culture, fashion, art, and sports. Boyd received his PhD in Communication Studies from the University of Iowa in 1991 and began his professorial career at USC in the fall of 1992.

Documentary appearances

Since the late 1990s, Boyd has appeared in numerous documentary features and docuseries, including appearances in the award-winning The Last Dance, winner of the 2020 Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series, and 20 Feet From Stardom, winner of the 2014 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Music Film.  
Boyd has also appeared in We Want the Funk, The Crossover: 50 Years of Sports and Hip Hop, Goliath , Say Hey, Willie Mays!, Ken Burns' Muhammad Ali, Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James ''Blood Brothers, The Movies, Sammy Davis Jr.: I Gotta Be Me, The Nineties and The 2000s'' among numerous other titles.

Video Essays

Boyd’s video essay Basquiat: Bebop 2 Hip Hop ''featuring Dr. Todd Boyd'' is part of The Broad museum series, “Time Decorated: The Musical Influences of Jean-Michel Basquiat.” His video essay “Dr. Todd Boyd on David Hammons” is a part of The Broad’s series “Up Close.”

Books, articles and essays

Boyd is the author/editor of eight books and over 100 articles, essays, reviews, and other forms of commentary.
His books include Rapper’s Deluxe: How Hip Hop Made the World, The Notorious Ph.D’s Guide to the Super Fly 70s, Young Black Rich and Famous: The Rise of the NBA, the Hip Hop Invasion, and the Transformation of American Culture, The New H.N.I.C: The Death of Civil Rights and the Reign of Hip Hop and Am I Black Enough for You? Public Culture from the ‘Hood and Beyond. He is also the editor of African Americans and Popular Culture Vol. 1–3, Basketball Jones: America Above the Rim and Out of Bounds: Sports, Media and the Politics of Identity.  
His written work has also appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Guardian, ESPN, and The Root''.

Cinema

Boyd was the executive producer for the Netflix documentary, At All Costs. He was writer/producer on the Paramount Pictures cult classic film The Wood.
He has also provided voice-over commentary on the DVD edition of the films Stormy Weather, Cabin in the Sky, Super Fly, and Uptown Saturday Night.

Publications

  • Rapper’s Deluxe: How Hip Hop Made the World:
  • African Americans and Popular Culture, Vol 1–3:
  • The Notorious PhD's Guide to the Super Fly 70s:
  • Young Black Rich and Famous: The Rise of the NBA, the Hip Hop Invasion, and the Transformation of American Culture:
  • The New H.N.I.C: The Death of Civil Rights and the Reign of Hip Hop:
  • Basketball Jones: America Above the Rim:
  • Out of Bounds: Sports, Media and the Politics of Identity:
  • Am I Black Enough For You? : Popular Culture from the 'Hood and Beyond:

    Additional filmography

  • We Want the Funk
  • I Am Joe Frazier
  • Black Comedy in America
  • Bad Boy: The Decade that Defined Diddy
  • TV on the Edge: Moments That Shaped Our Culture
  • Evolution of the Black Quarterback
  • The Crossover: 50 Years of Sports and Hip Hop
  • Goliath
  • Black Pop: Celebrating the Power of Black Culture
  • Say Hey, Willie Mays!
  • Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers
  • Right To Offend: The Black Comedy Revolution
  • The Great Debate with Charles Barkley
  • We Need to Talk About Cosby
  • Ken Burns’ Muhammad Ali
  • Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James
  • Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali
  • Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson,
  • Fear of a Black Quarterback
  • Mike Tyson: The Knockout
  • The Story of Late Night
  • The March on Washington: Keepers of the Dream
  • Tuskegee Airmen: Legacy of Courage
  • Biography: I Want My MTV
  • Blackballed
  • The Last Dance
  • Vick
  • You Ain't Got These
  • Dave Parker: The Cobra in Twilight
  • College Football 150: The American Game
  • NFL 360: DeSean Jackson's Bond with Nipsey Hussle
  • A Complicated Man: The Shaft Legacy
  • Dennis Rodman: For Better or Worse
  • I Am Richard Pryor
  • Sammy Davis Jr.: I Gotta Be Me
  • American Style
  • The Super Bowl That Wasn't
  • Shut Up and Dribble
  • The 2000s
  • "Ed Gordon Presents: Am I Black Enough?" feature documentary
  • Death Row Chronicles
  • The History of Comedy
  • The Nineties
  • American Race
  • The LA Riots: 25 Years Later
  • Soundtracks: Songs That Defined History
  • Soundbreaking: Stories from the Cutting Edge of Recorded Music
  • At All Costs: Life Inside the World of AAU Basketball
  • Jim Brown: A Football Life
  • Ali: Birth of the Greatest
  • Streets of Compton
  • The Drew: No Excuse, Just Produce
  • Fresh Dressed
  • Trojan Wars
  • Richard Pryor: Icon
  • 20 Feet From Stardom
  • Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp
  • The Godfather Legacy
  • Scarface: The Inside Story
  • Uprising: Hip Hop and the L.A. Riots
  • Planet Rock: The Story of Hip and the Crack Generation
  • Runnin' Rebels of UNLV
  • Straight Outta L.A.
  • Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy
  • Crips and Bloods: Made in America
  • N.W.A.: The World's Most Dangerous Group
  • Notorious B.I.G.: Bigger Than Life
  • Dare Not Walk Alone
  • Perfect Upset: 1985 Georgetown vs. Villanova NCAA Championship
  • The O.J. Verdict
  • The N Word
  • O.J. Simpson: A Study in Black and White
  • Bill Russell: My Life, My Way
  • ''The Harlem Globetrotters''