Wild Style
Starring: Grandmaster Flash, The Cold Crush Brothers,
Fab 5 Freddy, and Busy Bee
Director: Charlie Ahearn
Filmed entirely on location in the South Bronx, Wild Style is a time capsule of the true origins of
the Old School and the amazing break-out of the hip-hop culture.
The year 1982 was a unique time in New York City, and director Charlie Ahearn was there to document it.
A creative explosion was taking place both in the uptown hip-hop scene and the lively downtown art scene.
It was only a matter of time before the two scenes collided, creating a fusion of hip-hop, break dancing, graffiti,
filmmaking, and art. Fab 5 Freddy brought Afrika Bambaataa downtown to jam at Keith Haring's graffiti art show "Beyond Words".
Art critic/poet Rene Ricard and I, an underground movie star, made it uptown to the 2nd Annual Sugarhill Rap Convention.
Charlie Ahearn shot so much video at the South Bronx club the Dixie that his uptown name was "Charlie Video". Break-dancers
Rock Steady Crew and Lady Pink broke out in Soho, and graffiti kings Lee, Futura, Zephyr, and Dondi astounded the art world
at the Lower East Side's "Fun Gallery".
"There will never be another movie to match the legendary Wild Style. Cold Crush Bros., Grand Master Caz, Fantastic
Freaks, Busy Bee, and Double Trouble on the mike and Grandmaster Flash cutting up in his kitchen are the real Old School. The beats
on this soundtrack capture the energy and passion of the true heart of hip-hop."
-Patti Astor (Los Angeles, July 1997).
"At a point in the late 70's it struck me like lightening. 'This rapping, break dancing, and graffiti scene is not happening anywhere
else in the world!' So, I got together with Charlie Ahearn and the end result was Wild Style. It was simple. Let's get the
originators of hip-hop culture; give them roles close to what they're already doing; keep it raw and independent; and maybe if we're lucky
it'd play on 42nd Street in Times Square for about a year. Those were our original intentions. We never expected anything like
what happened in the 15 years or so since it was made. Hip-hop is an international movement and the only legitimate youth driven
culture since rock 'n' roll. Block parties, park jams, and hole-in-the-wall clubs in the metropolitan area have given way to platnum-selling
albums, sold-out concert arenas, hit TV shows, and major motion picture stars. Hip-hop, the voice of the ghetto, is now the voice
of a generation. The voice of an era. And Wild Style's the earliest record of this culture on film. Yes, yes, y'all and you don't stop!
-Fred Brathwaite aka Fab 5 Freddy
Price: $11.99 [VHS] $19.99 [DVD]
