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Beat Street
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- "Beat Street" may also refer to Orange Street in Kingston, Jamaica.
Beat Street is a 1984 mainstream hip hop dramatic feature film, and the third following Wild Style and Breakin'. It is set in New York City during the rise of hip hop culture in the early 1980s.
The movie was the East Coast answer to the Los Angeles-set Breakin', displaying break dancing, DJing, and graffiti with a mild social undertone. Some of the plot line was based on the graffiti documentary Style Wars. Most visibly, the antagonist Spit in Beat Street was lifted from the real-life graffiti artist CAP MPC, who was portrayed in Style Wars.
Notable performances include a song by Grandmaster Melle Mel & the Furious Five, breakdancing battles between the New York City Breakers and the Rock Steady Crew, and cameos by Doug E. Fresh, Richard Lee Sisco, and the Treacherous Three. As a member of the Treacherous Three, emcee Kool Moe Dee also appeared in the film. It stands as one of the few media appearances he has ever made without his trademark sunglasses (a style he had not yet adopted at the time).
Synopsis
The film begins with the main characters, Kenny, Ramo, and Lee, who are preparing for a local house party. Kenny is the featured DJ at the party.
Background
The project began when journalist Steven Hager began writing visiting the South Bronx to document break dancing, graffiti art and hip hop music in the early 1980s. Hager sold his script to Harry Belafonte.
Production
Many of the internal dance sequences were filmed at the popular New York City nightclub the Roxy located at 515 West 18th Street in the Chelsea section of Manhattan.
Most of the graffiti art that was displayed all throughout the film was not done by real graffiti artists—it was airbrushed by set decorators.
Cast
Kadeem Hardison wass credited as High School Student in the film. However, his scenes were all cut from the final theatrical version.
Singer Brenda K. Starr has a small cameo in the film as a young singer auditioning at an open call audition.
Contrary to popular (internet legend) belief, The RZA of Wu-Tang Clan was not actually in the movie. Some rumors have floated around the net stating that he is the guy in the black hat rhyming during the Roxy auditions scene. However, The RZA has gone on the record stating he was not in the film. In fact, he would have only been 15 at the time Beat Street was filmed, and clearly the gentleman in the black hat is much older than 15.
The two young breakdancers auditioning during the Roxy try outs were known as the Fantastic Duo. The younger, shorter one is known as Young God (Robert Steele), whose name is in reference to the Nation of Gods and Earths. The older kid is known as Loose Joints (Jamel Brown).
The final performer at the audition, who most believed was not an actual performer, was known as Andy B Bad. The song he performed was actually released on vinyl.
Soundtrack
This was the first American film to feature more than one soundtrack album. Originally, Atlantic Records, which released the soundtrack albums, had three volumes planned, but only two of these were released. The second volume was never released on compact disc.
The trailer includes an alternate version of the title song performed by Kool Moe Dee, a version that was not featured in the movie or on the original soundtrack albums.
Volume 1 (Atlantic Records 80154)
- Beat Street Breakdown - Grandmaster Melle Mel
- Baptize the Beat - The System
- Strangers in a Strange World - Jenny Burton & Patrick Jude
- Frantic Situation - Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force
- Beat Street Strut - Juicy
- Us Girls - Sha Rock, Lisa Lee, Debbie D
- This Could be the Night - Cindy Mizelle
- Breaker's Revenge - Arthur Baker
- Tu Carino/Carmen's Theme - Rubén Blades
Volume 2 (Atlantic Records 80158)
- Son of Beat Street - Jazzy Jay
- Give Me All - Juicy
- Nothin's Gonna Come Easy - Tina B
- Santas' Rap - The Treacherous Three
- It's All Right by Me - Jenny Burton
- Battle Cry - Rocker's Revenge
- Phony 4 MCs - Ralph Rolle
- Into the Night - La La
Impact
- The film is mentioned in episode 12 of The Boondocks while Robert "Granddad" Freeman discusses Riley's graffiti masterpiece.
- Emcee the Notorious B.I.G in his song "Suicidal Thoughts" said, "Should I die on the train tracks like Ramo in Beat Street/People at my funeral frontin' like they miss me."
- Rapper Ras Kass in his song "Won't Catch Me Runnin'" said, "When my voice hits the mike, I electrocute Spit like Beat Street."
- Lines from the film were mentioned in Lost Prophets song "Five is a Four-Letter Word."
- 1200 Techniques sampled lines from the film in the song "Battlemaster."
- 50 Cent from G-unit references Spit and Ramo in "Hustlers Ambition."
- Portions of the Beat Street Breakdown scene can be downloaded from the video-sharing sites YouTube and MySpace.
Beat Street’s impact was felt internationally as well as throughout the United States. In Germany, for example, movies such as Beat Street and Wild Style are credited with introducing the hip hop movement to the country. Because movies are so easily distributed over borders, part of the importance of this movie lay in its ability to influence both East and West Germany, which at the time were still divided. Beat Street was of particular importance in the East, where it is said to illustrate for young people the evils of capitalism. Because the film focused so heavily on the visual aspects of hip hop, such as breaking and graffiti, these aspects had the heaviest influence on the emerging German hip hop scene. It was precisely these visual aspects that helped bring hip hop culture to Germany, rather than simply a genre of music. Beat Street appeared in the Democratic Republic at almost the same time as in the West. Dresden, the center of the Beat Street scene was geographically out of media range, making it a perfect center to explore this genre of music. The hip hop scene for the entire public would meet at breakdancing competitions, emceeing competitions, and graffiti spraying. Puerto Rican and African American breakdancing, hip hop and Latin freestyle dance sounds, and inner-city American graffiti made up what Germans knew as hip hop culture. The aftermath of Beat Street propelled events such as competitions in emceeing, break dancing, and graffiti spraying throughout Germany .
External links
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