Runtime: 82 minutes
Directed by: Charlie Ahearn
Starring: Many hip-hop and graffiti legends
From: First Run Features
Watching the first hip-hop movie on the 50th anniversary of hip-hop was only natural. August 11, 1973 is seen as the day that this phenomenon was born when DJ Kool Herc spun his two turntables and played breaks nonstop until the break of dawn at his younger sister’s back to school party in a Bronx apartment rec room. Friday had all sorts of celebration for this momentous day; while modern rap is just as rotten as modern music is in general, the classics are still great, even from the first few years rap was formed. The Criterion Channel has a collection called Hip Hop which has this and several other pictures from the 80’s through 2013.
The key note for this production: it was amateur in nature, given that the performers are actual people in the NYC hip-hop scene at the time, whether they be DJ’s, rappers, breakdancers or graffiti artists. All of those roles were important in that scene, at least at the time. We follow a graffiti artist named Raymond (Lee Quinones) who has a Zoro alter ego; he has issues with his fellow tagger girlfriend Rose (Lady Pink) & eventually strengthens his relationship w/ Phade (Fab 5 Freddy), which is beneficial for him. Yeah, the action, staging, direction, the plot construction and other technical aspects often aren’t great, to be charitable.
On the other side of the coin, the movie feeling so raw and authentic can also be seen as an asset. What is most important for those that even have a passing interest in the subject: all the legitimate art, dancing, and raps. It was great getting to see all those people from that scene perform: there’s also tagger Zephyr along with a panoply of musicians: Busy Bee, the Fly Girls, Union Crew, Grandmaster Flash (literally spinning in his kitchen), Fantastic Freaks, Double Trouble, the Rock Steady Crew, and others. Someone who also contributed to the soundtrack: Chris Stein. No surprise then that there are two Blondie songs.
For all its faults, Wild Style is an invaluable artifact to a specific time in a movement that was still seen by most as a fad at the time, years before it took over the world. Even those who have an interest in seeing the Bad New York City of Old… yikes did The Bronx look awful; technically, I’m referring to the South Bronx. If you’ve seen films like Fort Apache, The Bronx or Wolfen, there are entire blocks leveled, burned/abandoned buildings, and it just looked bad.
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