Hip hop is a cultural movement which is evidenced in ‘break dancing, graffiti writing, Disk Joking and eMCeeing’. On the other hand, hip hop is a type of music that emerged as part of the hip hop culture; which is characterized by crucial stylistic elements including ‘emceeing, sampling, scratching, Disk Joking and beat boxing’. In this case, hip hop originated from South Bronx in the New York City. Importantly, the earliest known utilization of the word hip hop was in 1974 by MC in the ‘Love Bug’.
In this case, the key purpose of hip hop was to substitute ghetto aggression with community schooling and dancing. It should further be noted that, hip hop films are action cinemas which show the artistic and traditions of hip hop; which basically use hip hop as the melodic sound back and hip hop performers as the key characters. Further, all elements of hip hop were pooled into cinemas first in 1982. According to hip hoppers, this type of film is typical not only because of the represented elements; but also it sets its origin. Based on this, there are different kinds of hip hop movies which include the Wild style, Beat Street, Style Wars and Breakin (Flores 109-122).
It can further be argued that, Wild Style film was released histrionically in 1983 as the first cinema by the ‘First run Features which was directed by Charlie Ahearn. Importantly, the wild style film is exceptional since a lot of actors’ roles are presented to express their real-life characters. In addition, wild style film is an important hip hop film because it portrays famous information from the ancient hip hop culture.
In this case, this film takes on in activities such as ‘Emceeing, phonographing, graffiti and breakdancing’. Based on this, the ‘VH1 Hip Hop Honors’ in 2007 paid respect to the wild style in appreciation of its control upon the hip hop culture in New York. It can further be argued that, due to the wild style film influence on the hip hop culture; it has gained itself a large cult following so a period of time right from the time it was first released (Ahearn 56-112).
It should also be noted that, wild style film documents certain actions, implausible sound tracks and entertainingly awful acting. As indicated earlier, wild style integrated moderately incomprehensible music, break dancing and graffiti pictures which are the basis of the hip hop culture. In this case, wild style is a quasi-fictionalized story of ‘zoro’ a strange ‘tagger’ whose rise to celebrity amongst the position of the Bronx’s graffiti performers lands him a performance pictures the stage for a rapper’s meeting.
Importantly in terms of sound tracks, the wild style is unequaled as the first performance of the early documents of the East Coast hip-hop sight presented in and around the New York City. On the other hand, the film’s sound track featured cuts from the ‘Cold Crush Brothers, double Trouble and unbelievable Freaks (Ahearn 56-112).
On the other hand, the other hip hop related film is Style Wars which was recorded by Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant in 1983 in New York. In this case, this film documents the hip hop culture emphasizing on graffiti; and at the same time covering breakdancing and rapping to a smaller extent. It should be noted that, style Wars film was first aired on PBS television in 1983 and latter shown in numerous film festivals.
It can be further argued that, this film represents young performers in the effort of articulating themselves through their performance, and their point of view concerning the subject of graffiti. From this it can be argued that, Style Wars provides an outlook into the graffiti subculture. In addition, it records the phases of the New York City hip hop, by indicating that its members were of a racially and culturally varied group of imaginative young performers. It should be noted that, the Style Wars film was awarded the Grand Prize for Documentaries in 1983. In this case, this film is regarded as the indispensable document of the ‘New York Street’ culture of the early 1980s. In addition, the Style Wars is a filmic document of a fair age of young originality that blasted into the globe from a city in disaster.
Based on this, Style Wars has turned out to be a symbol of the unique acceptance spirit of hip hop; as it gets across the world from subversive tunnels, fashionable streets, clubs and recreational areas. According to ‘The Onion’ by Nathan Rabin, “style Wars emanates joy from both sides of the camera”; also he said that, “Style Wars film vibrates the energy, poetry and color of an art form rising up from the streets”. On the other hand according to Ethan LaCroix in ‘Time Out New York’, “Style Wars captures this vibrant street culture with one of the most revelatory documents of the times”.
From this it can be argued that, Style Wars film has influenced the hip hop culture in the New York City. Further, the style Wars film discloses hip hop in its unpolluted state; recording it prior to its part of pop culture and a source of fund for major business bodies. From the DVD highlights, this film portrays the blamelessness of the young modernizers who are viewed as forefathers of a group larger than they can envisage. It can further be argued that, this film shows the connection between the diverse elements; exhibiting how art, melody and bop are compatible and uphold a close representative association (Flores 109-122).
In addition, the other hip hop related film is Beat Street which was produced by Harry Belafonte and recorded in 1984; as a drama following the Wild Style in featuring the hip hop culture in New York. In this case, this film includes ‘break bopping, Djing and graffiti’. It should further be noted that, the several presentations in this film were recognized from the ancient hip hop collections ‘Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five’.
Further, the Beat Street film attains a well skilled and steady narrative. In this case, the general arrangement, story, writing, characters, performance quality and the amalgamation of melody; art and bopping, result to a good hip hop film. It is of importance to note that, the Beat Street was the first American film to attribute more than one disc album. Further, the Beat Street is an incredible social record of a moment in time, a time prior to the break cocaine penetrated American city and hip hop become a trade (George 123-178).
On the other hand, Breakin’ was another film related to the hip hop culture; which was referred to as the break dancing. It should also be noted that, this film was directed by Joel Silberg after being stimulated by a German record called ‘Breakin and Entertin’ set in the Las Angles multi-cultural hip hop association. In this case, most of the performers like Boogaloo Shrimp moved away from the ‘Breakin and Entertin’ to start performing in the Breakin’.
Further, the soundtrack of the Breakin’ was made public by Mercury Records in the year 1984. In this case, the album contained the first presentation on a folder of rapper Ice-T. It should also be noted that, this film consists of less breakdancing as while dancing the break dancers would result in real injuries. In this case it can be argued that, Breakin’ film involves dance fighting and gymnastic practices.
From the Breakin’ film it can be said that, the main actors are mainly cast for their bop capabilities and when dancing they are entirely incredible. Further, much of the movie is spent trying to pawn the killer album which perhaps more fashionable than the movie with Ice-T was giving out of his early work. Importantly, Breakin’ is a serious attempt at a feel-good breakdancing performance that it ends up being accidentally humorous most of the time. Based on this it can be argued that, the lively of bopping in this low budget movie beats the high budget movie; as the dancers are extremely gifted. On the other hand, this film has a relatively weakness in acting even though the performers are pretty much able to be themselves (Bynum 233-304).
To wind up, it is well indicated that hip hop related films helps in describing and illustrating the hip hop culture in the New York City. From the entire above discussed hip hop related films, it can be deduced that they portray a theme related to the hip hop culture; music or hip hop performers in the cast.
Works cited
Ahearn, Charlie. “Wild Style: The Sampler”. New York: PowerHouse Books Publishers. (2007): P. 56-112.
Bynum, Yvonne. “Encyclopedia of Rap and Hip Hop Culture”. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishers. (2005): P. 233-304.
Flores, Juan. “From Bomba to Hip-Hop: Puerto Rican Culture and Latino Identity”. Columbia: Columbia University Press. (2000): P. 109-122.
George, Nelson. “Hip Hop America”. London: Penguin Publishers. (1999): P. 123-178.