Hip Hop Movie Club - Beat Street

Speaker: 00:00:00

Yo!

Speaker: 00:00:00

(hip hop beat)

Speaker: 00:00:03

(Bring it! C'mon!)

DynoWright: : 00:00:06

Welcome to Hip Hop Movie  Club, where three old heads put their

DynoWright: : 00:00:09

old heads together to vibe on some  of the most memorable or forgettable

DynoWright: : 00:00:14

hip hop themed movies of  all time (Bring it! C'mon!)

DynoWright: : 00:00:17

and here's HHMC with your HHMCs Boogie,  JB and DynoWright. (Bring it! C'mon!)

me to season one, episode one: 00:00:33

Beat Street.

JB: 00:00:39

Beat Street released in 1984 is a  quintessential 80s east coast hip hop film,

JB: 00:00:46

contains all the elements of early hip-hop  culture: the music, the breakdancing,

JB: 00:00:52

the artwork in the form of graffiti, the entire  b-boy lifestyle was introduced there. The movie

JB: 00:00:58

itself features a young man Kenny and his younger  brother Lee and their friends Ramon and Chollie

JB: 00:01:03

as they hoped to make a name for themselves in the  South Bronx of New York during the infancy of hip

JB: 00:01:08

hop as we know it today. Wrought with beat boxes,  spray paint cans, house parties, the club scene,

JB: 00:01:15

breakdancing and legendary cameo hip hop artist  appearances, Beat Street's like stepping into a

JB: 00:01:22

museum of early east coast hip hop culture. It  should be required watching for people of all

JB: 00:01:28

ages that consider themselves fans of the hip hop  genre. It's a definition of the b-boy era in a

JB: 00:01:34

coming-of-age story about the young crew. Keep in  mind this is 1984 and this is an instant classic.

JB: 00:01:47

So what did we like about this  film? Want to kick us off, Boogie?

Boogie: 00:01:51

Okay so this is one of my favorite  movies growing up. I cannot tell you how

Boogie: 00:01:56

many times I've watched this movie. I love  that it incorporated the four elements of hip

Boogie: 00:02:00

hop and it came across as really authentic.  Start with the main character Kenny he was

Boogie: 00:02:05

a DJ and he was also dubbed as one of the  early versions of an MC, hyping the crowd.

Boogie: 00:02:10

There were also other DJs featured throughout  the film you also have various stages of the MC,

Boogie: 00:02:16

including those who ran at the local  clubs and also to the well-established

Boogie: 00:02:20

Roxy night club. And you had your local girl  group that performed at the house parties.

Boogie: 00:02:25

The breaking was top-notch you know what the  Magnificent Force, the New York City Breakers

Boogie: 00:02:30

and the Rock Steady Crew all make cameos in  this film. All classics. And then you have Ramon

Boogie: 00:02:37

who was just a local graffiti artist but he  put his burners on the subway cars and walls

Boogie: 00:02:42

and even the jealousy element you have the guy  Spit who came across and defaces the artwork. You

Boogie: 00:02:46

have all four elements of hip hop you got the MC,  your DJ, your MC, you had your breakdances, your

Boogie: 00:02:52

B-Boys and you also had your graffiti artists.  That was one of the main things I liked about it.

JB: 00:02:56

Nice, Boogie. Yeah, I agree. I  mean it had everything that that you'd

JB: 00:03:01

want to see and that was a lifestyle  back then, that's what kids would do

JB: 00:03:06

and like I said I like that it's like a coming  of age story, you know. These young guys,

JB: 00:03:12

they're trying to make a name for themselves.  It's not a glamorous life, it's tough.

JB: 00:03:18

It's tough out there on the streets but you see  Ramon who had fathered a child with his girlfriend

JB: 00:03:25

and he's learning the way the ways of the  world in terms of he's finally getting

JB: 00:03:33

to the point where he he's becoming a man and  trying to be responsible and he ends up getting

JB: 00:03:38

a job and not only just doing his artwork. But  he becomes a man and unfortunately tragedy hits

JB: 00:03:45

towards the end and they lose him but you see that  community all come together and support. It's a

JB: 00:03:53

brotherhood, it's a whole family and that whole  culture was all about that. I really enjoyed it.

DynoWright: 00:03:59

I enjoyed it too and having never  seen it before which is crazy because it's a

DynoWright: 00:04:04

classic and I missed out on it. But it was really  cool to see all these early hip hop legends, it

DynoWright: 00:04:09

was a lot of famous rappers I've listened to for a  long time but never really seen on screen and all

DynoWright: 00:04:14

of that. I did have to watch the credits again to  see who was who because there were so many of them

DynoWright: 00:04:19

but it was really fun to see. And  we can talk about this later but

DynoWright: 00:04:22

we see Kool Moe Dee without his sunglasses,  like I didn't recognize him without it.

DynoWright: 00:04:27

I didn't recognize him without his  sunglasses. So it was a lot of fun stuff i

DynoWright: 00:04:31

really liked in this movie, early hip  hop who's who, at least the rappers.

JB: 00:04:36

Yeah for sure. So Boogie you can expand upon  this a little bit more. There's Doug E. Fresh

JB: 00:04:42

who was he is the best beat boxer ever, he  was there. And then the Treacherous Three

JB: 00:04:47

is where Kool Moe Dee got started, so you  want to go through who those artists were?

Boogie: 00:04:51

a quick rundown of some of  the cameos, you got Afrika Bambaataa,

Boogie: 00:04:55

the Soulsonic Force, you had DJ Jazzy  Jay, you got the Us Girls who consist of

Boogie: 00:05:01

Lisa Lee, Debbie D and Sha-Rock. Sha-Rock  originally from the Funky Four Plus One,

Boogie: 00:05:07

original mother of hip hop. Kool Herc one of the  fathers of hip hop, if you don't know who Herc is,

Boogie: 00:05:14

Google is your friend. The Treacherous Three,  Kool Moe Dee, Special K and L.A. Sunshine. Of

Boogie: 00:05:20

course we mentioned Doug E. Fresh. We have  Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five,

Boogie: 00:05:24

Grandmaster Flash and then you have Brenda K.  Starr, Wanda Dee and The System. You don't know

Boogie: 00:05:30

who The System are, look them up as well,  Google is also your friend. Theme song

Boogie: 00:05:34

to "Coming to America", "Don't Disturb This  Groove" they put some nice classics out, yes.

DynoWright: 00:05:39

Yeah "Don't Disturb This  Groove" is one of the best songs ever.

Boogie: 00:05:42

Yeah from the opening riff  that guitar, yeah. (Laughing.)

JB: 00:05:47

Yeah with DJ Kool Herc, he was featured  prominently in the Netflix show "Hip Hop

JB: 00:05:53

Evolution" and he's pretty much brought  the sound systems and the house parties.

JB: 00:05:58

He was hustling before anybody else and  bringing hip hop to the masses in New York and

JB: 00:06:05

people call him sometimes the Godfather  of Hip Hop, you know you may not

JB: 00:06:09

know his name as much as you know some  of the original hip hop groups you know

JB: 00:06:15

like the Sugar Hill Gang and Run D.M.C. but  DJ Kool Herc deserves just as much credit.

JB: 00:06:22

That was awesome that he was he played a role in  there at the Burning Spear nightclub where Kenny

JB: 00:06:28

really got his big break in front of the talent  agent. The music was great. I love also that

JB: 00:06:37

the music is not just you know about the beats and  scratches but there's a lot of strength and power,

JB: 00:06:46

political commentary in the lyrics. I like at  the very end as very uplifting I think it was

JB: 00:06:55

Grand... was it Grandmaster Melle Mel you  know they they had we're talking about

JB: 00:07:00

yeah talking about you know they talk about Iwo  Jima, they talk about Vietnam, they talk about

JB: 00:07:08

all these wars, right? And then they talk about  egomaniacs controlling the self-righteous,

JB: 00:07:13

learning from the past, working for the future.  And then they're inspiring the children in

JB: 00:07:17

the audience, the young folks saying listen,  you're the future so uh grab it by the horns.

DynoWright: 00:07:22

There was a reference to being a slave  to a computer which is funny because it's in 1984.

Boogie: 00:07:27

Just took the words right out of my  mouth, don't be a slave to your computer, yep!

DynoWright: 00:07:31

And now look at  us doing this on computers.

DynoWright: 00:07:35

Everyone has a computer in their pocket.  If they only had known back then.

JB: 00:07:41

Yeah it's uh well 1984, right that's when that

JB: 00:07:47

epic ad came out from Apple based on Orson  Welles' 1984 right? and yeah saying you know so

JB: 00:07:54

the future was you know they were  foretelling the future there for sure.

DynoWright: 00:07:59

People should remember 1984 isn't  that far from the end of the Vietnam War

DynoWright: 00:08:07

so, something on people's minds back

DynoWright: 00:08:11

that then, that Melle Mel is still  talking about it. It was a relevant thing.

Boogie: 00:08:14

Yeah.

JB: 00:08:15

Yeah, also you know that there were incidents  in within the movie that super poignant again

JB: 00:08:24

today. If you you see what's happening  where Lee gets uh you know arrested along

JB: 00:08:32

with some other folks with just really dance  fighting, right? And it was literally like a

JB: 00:08:40

racial profiling of these folks and they just  get locked up. His mother has to come bail him

JB: 00:08:45

out. They were doing no harm to anybody and  you know this obviously still happens today.

JB: 00:08:51

It's revealed that by Kenny and Lee's mother  at the breakfast scene I believe. And it also

JB: 00:08:57

later on when when Kenny is courting  Tracy that he lost an older brother

JB: 00:09:03

Franklin when he got caught up in the gang  scene and the cops came in and his his words

JB: 00:09:08

you know "folks got wasted and my brother  was one of those' so very relevant to today.

Boogie: 00:09:16

Yeah there were there were a lot of  little easter eggs planted throughout the movie

Boogie: 00:09:20

too. There was another scene that that always  sticks out with me and every time I hear it

Boogie: 00:09:24

it kind of resonates with me because I know some  of the history of what was going on in the Bronx

Boogie: 00:09:28

at the time. One of them was as you mentioned  with the scene with Franklin being wasted by

Boogie: 00:09:34

with the gang violence and there  was another one when they first

Boogie: 00:09:38

were having a house party and and Henry was  downstairs banging on the pipes and they went

Boogie: 00:09:43

downstairs see where the noise was coming from  and he was telling him that he was looking for

Boogie: 00:09:47

for his friend that he served in the military with  and they were standing you know there was a fire

Boogie: 00:09:53

and you know immediate response was he was in  a fire and he said no the building was on fire

Boogie: 00:09:57

the landlord set the building on fire five times.  And you know that was very prevalent in that time

Boogie: 00:10:04

frame and you know there was always the phrase  "The Bronx is burning" - you know, the landlords

Boogie: 00:10:09

were setting their buildings on fire to commit  basically insurance fraud you know they were they

Boogie: 00:10:15

were getting payouts and they were skipping out  and you had all of these abandoned buildings some

Boogie: 00:10:20

of them were still standing some of them were in  ruin but you get this layout as if there's a war

Boogie: 00:10:28

torn country in the middle of New York,  in the Bronx because these buildings

Boogie: 00:10:34

were getting burned down so these landlords  could collect money. And that's the little

Boogie: 00:10:38

small easter egg that they planted in there but  every time I hear it it always resonates with me

Boogie: 00:10:44

because it took a long time for the Bronx to  recover and i mean even Brooklyn same thing.

JB: 00:10:49

Yeah way to drop the knowledge there,  Boogie, that's that's good knowledge.

DynoWright: 00:10:53

Shout out to BX! Boogie: X!

DynoWright: 00:10:55

(Laughing) JB:

DynoWright: 00:10:57

I was wondering you know we try  to analyze these movies and like

DynoWright: 00:11:00

I said a lot of stuff is still on point and  relevant but you know I do have to mention

DynoWright: 00:11:06

there was one scene that was I guess was a little  bit cringe-worthy with a homophobic aspect of it

DynoWright: 00:11:14

with the Santa Claus scene where they did a rap.  It was hilarious in terms of the concept, in terms

DynoWright: 00:11:21

of jingle jangle for the poor, you know. They're  talking about Santa not coming through and giving

DynoWright: 00:11:27

them a G.I. Joe, a G.I. Joe toy but, you know,  if they had to redo it, i'm sure they would have

DynoWright: 00:11:32

reworded it. You know there was a part where he  inferred that the G.I. Joe figure was gay and then

DynoWright: 00:11:39

it was inferred that his his sexuality  was questioned, things like that.

DynoWright: 00:11:42

But remember it was back –not that it's  ever acceptable– back then it was a lot

DynoWright: 00:11:47

more commonplace but obviously if they had to do  it again they would remove that scene overall.

DynoWright: 00:11:53

1984 is close to  the beginning of the AIDS crisis

DynoWright: 00:11:59

which affected a lot of gay men, not that it  was an excuse to have those comments in there,

DynoWright: 00:12:04

but a lot of people weren't aware of gay culture  and so that's what it was like back then.

DynoWright: 00:12:12

There was a lot of this  homophobic stuff going around.

Boogie: 00:12:15

Yeah. A lot of  uncertainty, a lot of stereotypes.

JB: 00:12:19

Yep.

Boogie: 00:12:19

A lot of stigmas.

DynoWright: 00:12:21

Right.

JB: 00:12:23

But overall if you go back to the Santa, it  was it was funny they're calling him a drunk,

JB: 00:12:29

they're cursing, they're dropping the f-bomb at  him and I was like that's pretty pretty funny

JB: 00:12:33

and uh well before the uh the Bad Santa  movies with Billy Bob Thornton and stuff

JB: 00:12:39

like that so kind of, uh cutting edge in terms  of the, the concept. No one badmouthed Santa.

Boogie: 00:12:45

That's one of my favorite scenes though  because just out of the pure concept of them,

Boogie: 00:12:51

you know taking shots at Santa Claus for for  not getting what they wanted like so so much

Boogie: 00:12:57

so much so that i actually have a t-shirt  with that scene on the front of it (laughing).

DynoWright: 00:13:00

Is that right? JB: That's right.

Boogie: 00:13:02

I almost, I forgot  to put it on today but um

Boogie: 00:13:05

yeah I'll pass it around one time for one of  the other episodes you can get a glance at it.

DynoWright: 00:13:10

You should send us a picture  of that, put it in our Instagram Stories.

JB: 00:13:12

Yeah, yeah that that's a great idea. Yeah  I mean there was some there were some humorous

JB: 00:13:18

things throughout the film which which made me  crack a smile. Obviously the fashion back then

JB: 00:13:25

we always laugh at now. What we were wearing in  the 80s, right, we laugh at our old pictures back

JB: 00:13:30

in the 80s. But the fashions that the Us Girls  were wearing and some of the other folks. However,

JB: 00:13:35

you know this set the stage for kids are still  wearing these, there's Kangol hats, there was um

JB: 00:13:40

you know sideways caps, the loose fitting  pants, parachute pants and things like that.

JB: 00:13:46

You know, Puma sneakers and whatnot. I also  thought some of the dialogue was was just

JB: 00:13:51

really funny to break things up. There was  a scene with Kenny was jawing with with

JB: 00:13:59

Ramon and then Chollie actually I think it was  Chollie that was jawing with Ramon and Kenny

JB: 00:14:05

breaks it up by pretending to be a newscaster  and just laughing his way through it, right?

Boogie: 00:14:09

(laughing)

JB: 00:14:09

Providing humor and uh yeah that was  good and I like Kenny and Lee's mother uh

JB: 00:14:15

rapping at the breakfast table a  little bit too, telling him hey

JB: 00:14:18

eat your eggs before I break your legs, so little  little things like that were cracking me up.

Boogie: 00:14:22

Yeah the one who played his  mother, Mary Alice, she's a gem.

Boogie: 00:14:27

She's played a mother in a  bunch of movies that I've seen

Boogie: 00:14:30

and it's always good to see her on screen. She's  always brings a little bit of wit to her role.

JB: 00:14:36

Yeah. Yeah that's great so while we get into a  little bit of that as well is some of these actors

JB: 00:14:43

and actresses, right? You may have recognized  them from other things or maybe you didn't know

JB: 00:14:50

about them but uh Guy Davis who plays Kenny was  the son of activists, writers, prominent figures

JB: 00:14:59

in African American culture Ossie Davis and  Ruby Dee. I mean that that's just remarkable.

Boogie: 00:15:04

Yeah.

DynoWright: 00:15:05

He's an accomplished blues guitar  player, which I should have known, being a

DynoWright: 00:15:09

guitar player. But I didn't know (yeah) he's an  actual musician in the movie and in real life.

Boogie: 00:15:15

Yeah my mom told me that.

Boogie: 00:15:18

She actually came across him on  something, might have been Facebook

Boogie: 00:15:22

and um I think she used to communicate with him  on there as well, yeah. He's an actual musician.

JB: 00:15:30

Yeah and as Boogie mentioned the breakdancing  crews were famous crews at the battle at the Roxy,

JB: 00:15:36

New York City Breakers and the Rock Steady Crew  and uh that was an epic scene at the Roxy for

JB: 00:15:41

sure. There were a few different dance scenes that  it you got to check them out even if you just pull

JB: 00:15:47

up the clip on YouTube put in Beat Street break  dancing at the Roxy that is well worth your time.

Boogie: 00:15:53

Yeah that that's probably one of the most  iconic breakdancing battles ever caught on film,

Boogie: 00:16:01

in a movie. Just amazing amazing footwork. Of  course it had to be the battle ending with the

Boogie: 00:16:08

iconic Crazy Legs removing the sneakers and going  into a crab walk that was amazing (laughing).

JB: 00:16:14

And that was like the  mic drop moment right there.

Boogie: 00:16:16

Basically yeah that was  the mic drop right there (laughing)

JB: 00:16:20

But also co-produced, the movie was  co-produced by Harry Belafonte which we

JB: 00:16:26

were talking about and we didn't realize that  or maybe we had forgotten it to the recesses of

JB: 00:16:30

our mind. But the legendary Harry Belafonte  ,you know he put this, he put this on film.

JB: 00:16:35

And he wanted to portray –he's from that  area– the South Bronx and he wanted to just

JB: 00:16:40

say, this is the culture and put it out there  on film. And help to inspire a lot of folks.

Boogie: 00:16:46

Yeah. Directed by Stan Lathan. You know,  coincidentally a few hours ago I was upstairs

Boogie: 00:16:53

watching a comedy special and who of course  produced it was Stan Lathan. He produced uh

Boogie: 00:16:59

all these iconic comedy shows, Def Comedy  Jams. This one I happened to be watching

Boogie: 00:17:04

was uh was Earthquake. You got Chappelle and  and you know Chris Rock, all these iconic

Boogie: 00:17:11

performances, he's been a producer for those. And  also you know father of Sanaa Lathan (laughing).

JB: 00:17:19

Yeah well Dave Chappelle's  Real Husbands of Hollywood,

JB: 00:17:22

I saw. If you look up his history  he's done a lot of great work.

Boogie: 00:17:27

He has an impressive track record, yeah.

JB: 00:17:30

And father of Sanaa, right?

Boogie: 00:17:33

Yep, future father-in-law.

Boogie: 00:17:35

(Laughing)

JB: : 00:17:38

JB: : 00:17:39

Actress Sanaa Lathan and who's quite the looker  and uh yeah she's quite accomplished herself.

JB: : 00:17:49

Another fun fact the role of Robert who was  Tracy's boss at the –I'm going to call it–

JB: : 00:17:55

the community center for the arts, right, it  was played by Duane Jones who was was Ben,

JB: : 00:18:02

prominent figure in "Night of Living Dead"  that was interesting fact that I discovered.

Boogie: 00:18:07

Yeah. And of course we got Tracy.

JB: 00:18:12

Yeah yeah you want to talk about Tracy?

Boogie: 00:18:14

Yeah Tracy, who's played by Rae Dawn Chong  who is the the daughter of the iconic comedian

Boogie: 00:18:21

and partner of Cheech and Chong, Mr. Tommy Chong.  Like she's been in a bunch of movies as well um

Boogie: 00:18:27

in the 80s and um some some good roles so um  yeah it's always good to see her on screen. You

Boogie: 00:18:33

know this is probably one of probably one of her  earlier roles but she had a very important role

Boogie: 00:18:38

as well because she was one of the people  who kind of brought hope to the crew. You

Boogie: 00:18:43

know they were all looking to make their way  and just by pure coincidence and being in the

Boogie: 00:18:49

right place at the right time and crossing paths  with Lee. She started off a little bumpy but she

Boogie: 00:18:56

actually ended up providing some hope and gave  Kenny some assistance in making his envision

Boogie: 00:19:02

making his vision on how to memorialize  and commemorate the life of Ramon, helped

Boogie: 00:19:08

him bring that to fruition. So she played a very  important role in the movie from my perspective.

JB: 00:19:12

Yeah for sure they realized they  have a lot in common because she was a

JB: 00:19:16

composer, she was a choreographer and she was  looking at the music musical aspect of it well

JB: 00:19:24

they were able to collaborate because uh Kenny  was DJ as well. Towards the end when you know

JB: 00:19:29

Melle Mel does the iconic Beat Street song  and the tribute to Ramon and following that

JB: 00:19:35

you see a minister come out on the stage and  tell the kids to believe it, right? And that

JB: 00:19:41

minister is played by Bernard Fowler who if you  don't know has a long history with the Rolling

JB: 00:19:46

Stones as a backup singer he's quite accomplished  as well. Very star-studded cast overall.

JB: 00:19:56

In another musical tidbit  for the younger generation,

JB: 00:20:02

Biggie...Notorious B.I.G. had a song called  "Suicidal Thoughts" and he actually has a

JB: 00:20:07

line in his song that references Beat  Street, says "should I die on the train

JB: 00:20:13

tracks like around my own Beat Street people  at the funeral front and like to miss me"

JB: 00:20:16

so there's been a couple other songs that  reference Beat Street and it holds up to this day.

Boogie: 00:20:22

Absolutely.

Boogie: 00:20:28

(Music)

JB: : 00:20:30

JB: : 00:20:31

So I also wanted to ask you guys, Boogie and  DynoWright, do you think this movie could be

JB: : 00:20:38

made again today? If so, how?

Boogie: 00:20:42

I think that it could because I think in  this day right now there's a big, I mean there's

Boogie: 00:20:52

this there's a lot of a thirst for retro programs  and the retro look and just everybody wants the

Boogie: 00:21:00

retro everything. And even you look at some  of the shows and the movies that are coming

Boogie: 00:21:05

out now they're all like remakes or revisiting  old iconic shows and movies that we grew up on,

Boogie: 00:21:12

things like that. There was a show that was  on Netflix, unfortunately it was canceled,

Boogie: 00:21:19

it was called The Get Down. If you ever  get a chance to check that out, if you

Boogie: 00:21:22

haven't that's a great show. It actually it's  fiction but it takes place in the Bronx as well

Boogie: 00:21:28

and it kind of starts off with the beginning of  how hip hop started with these actual the parties

Boogie: 00:21:38

and they actually references Kool Herc and  a couple of other guys, prominent figures

Boogie: 00:21:41

from that time throwing these parties and who's  going to go to these parties. And it also talks

Boogie: 00:21:46

about the the night that the Great Blackout of New  York where there was a lot of looting and everyone

Boogie: 00:21:52

became DJs because they were able to get their  hands on some good equipment (laughing) but...

JB: 00:21:58

I remember seeing (sorry about that).

Boogie: 00:22:00

Yeah but that show it was so great, it was  such a great show. I think because of that show

Boogie: 00:22:06

becoming so iconic and having such a strong  following that I mean if you were to even imagine

Boogie: 00:22:13

you know mention putting Beat Street out there  I think that you know the world will gobble it

Boogie: 00:22:18

up. I mean you don't even have to call it  Beat Street you can call it something else

Boogie: 00:22:21

but it would have the same premise but  yeah I think, I think it would hold up.

JB: 00:22:26

I totally agree and in fact I know how it  could work if we pitch this or someone pitches

JB: 00:22:34

this to Lin-Manuel Miranda, right? Because I  love the confluence of the cultures you have

JB: 00:22:39

Ramon who who's of Puerto Rican descent, you  have the young African American kids, and you see

JB: 00:22:44

even some Spanish songs, right? I know Lin-Manuel  Miranda was influenced by old school hip hop. You

JB: 00:22:50

see it obviously throughout Hamilton which is all  hip-hop which was just a brilliant idea and just

JB: 00:22:57

to this day is just super successful, made a ton  of money and got a lot of more people into hip

JB: 00:23:03

hop and American history. You know Beat Street  is all about a huge part of American history

JB: 00:23:08

with the B-boy era in the early hip hop and so  like I think it could be done just like this,

JB: 00:23:15

and I think people would love it. He  could just enhance upon some of the songs

JB: 00:23:20

and I mean great I mean if you think about it  Steven Spielberg just remade West Side Story.

Boogie: 00:23:26

Right.

JB: 00:23:27

Which if i'm not mistaken set like in  the 50s and he didn't modernize it which

JB: 00:23:31

I love. It was not like you know we're  going to do a different twist on it and

JB: 00:23:35

stuff like that. He had it like exactly  so we can preserve this and just add it

JB: 00:23:41

what if we put it into like 4K you know  and have these personalities and have

JB: 00:23:46

cameos from from these same legends that made  their appearances that would be incredible.

Boogie: 00:23:51

Yeah i think it would work.

JB: 00:23:53

Yeah.

Boogie: 00:23:55

I think you want to get  Steven on the phone (laughing)

JB: 00:23:57

(Laughing) Exactly.

DynoWright: 00:24:00

I think the movie could be remade. I  think you can remake this movie but I don't think

DynoWright: 00:24:06

you can make this movie as a new film today. The  culture is not new anymore it's like 40 plus years

DynoWright: 00:24:12

old now. This movie was like a clarion call like  here's this new culture and here's this new thing

DynoWright: 00:24:19

that people don't know about and it's  going to become bigger and bigger

DynoWright: 00:24:24

so for that reason, I think. I don't know  what's going on underground right now that

DynoWright: 00:24:30

would become as big as hip hop and could  make a movie similar to Beat Street on that.

Boogie: 00:24:37

Right.

DynoWright: 00:24:38

Newer filmmaking techniques you  know maybe not modernizing it like Spielberg

DynoWright: 00:24:43

did with West Side Story you know? This is like  16 years before like bullet time in The Matrix.

DynoWright: 00:24:49

It'd be interesting to see how they would remake  this film with modern filmmaking techniques.

DynoWright: 00:24:55

I'm not sure how you would make a film as a brand  new statement about an emerging culture right now.

Boogie: 00:25:02

Right.

DynoWright: 00:25:03

You could say that hip  hop is the last great big American

DynoWright: 00:25:08

cultural export of this scale since jazz.

Boogie: 00:25:12

Yeah.

JB: 00:25:13

It's funny you mentioned exports. I was  reading how this film specifically had a big

JB: 00:25:18

influence on German culture, the youth in  Germany as the Berlin Wall, you know in the

JB: 00:25:24

tensions between East and West Germany and this  is something that really united the youth and gave

JB: 00:25:30

them something to to embrace back then so that  that really brought hip hop over in the dancing,

JB: 00:25:36

breakdancing to that part of Europe for sure. So  yeah I'm glad you used that term export there.

JB: 00:25:42

So Boogie is the DJ of our crew here literally  he has a DJ business, doing it for years. Did

JB: 00:25:48

you own the soundtrack for Beat Street  and if not would you, would you buy it?

Boogie: 00:25:54

I absolutely owned it and I was trying to  look, I don't have it in my stack over there it's

Boogie: 00:26:01

actually sitting in my mom my mom's house. I have  a collection that that I keep at my mom's house

Boogie: 00:26:06

but if you look at the picture (oops) get it there  (oops) that's not it where is, it at I just had it

Boogie: 00:26:14

where is it? I just had it there we go.

DynoWright: 00:26:17

Levi's showing it to us on his phone.

JB: 00:26:19

Yeah. yeah.

DynoWright: 00:26:20

He's got the vinyl!

Boogie: 00:26:21

That's volume one.

DynoWright: 00:26:25

You have volume two too?!

Boogie: 00:26:27

Volume two!

DynoWright: 00:26:28

Wow I read that this was the  first movie that had a two volume soundtrack.

Boogie: 00:26:34

Yeah, it probably was  because I know a lot of my other

Boogie: 00:26:38

soundtracks it was just like one  one right one record or it would

Boogie: 00:26:42

it might have a double album but  it would all be in one one sleeve.

DynoWright: 00:26:45

Right.

Boogie: 00:26:46

Yeah I had two two separate sleeves  I've owned those albums since the movie came

Boogie: 00:26:53

out (laughing) and they stay still play maybe a  little bump in the road here and there but they're

Boogie: 00:26:58

still pretty good in pretty good condition  so yeah by all means that's the soundtrack.

DynoWright: 00:27:03

We'll put that  in our Instagram Stories.

JB: 00:27:05

Yeah I love the nostalgia.  Was there anything that you guys

JB: 00:27:10

didn't like or or felt was lacking in the film?

Boogie: 00:27:15

You know what there was a little hokiness  in it occasionally but I think that's just as I

Boogie: 00:27:21

watch it as an adult. I mean as a child it  was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Boogie: 00:27:28

I didn't see much humor in it, it was more so  this movie is great oh my god my mind is blown.

Boogie: 00:27:35

Mid-40s now I watch it now and of course  I could see some of the funny stuff in it

Boogie: 00:27:39

that wasn't intentional but if you watch any 80s  film in your mid-40s you're going to find some

Boogie: 00:27:44

things in it that are humorous even though they  weren't meant to be so but that's probably about

Boogie: 00:27:49

it. Yeah that's probably about it with me but  even those little little nuances aren't enough

Boogie: 00:27:55

to detract away from the classic status  that I have with Beat Street (laughing).

JB: 00:27:59

Yeah I mean the only thing I mentioned before  is you know the the unfortunate the homophobic...

Boogie: 00:28:04

Oh yeah.

JB: 00:28:05

slur which I know is important and uh but  again we've progressed so much as a culture

JB: 00:28:10

we're so as a whole we're open-minded  obviously there's very large pockets

JB: 00:28:15

of folks that are not open-minded right  and not embracing all walks of life all

JB: 00:28:20

sexual orientations and et cetera but that one  obviously they they need a mulligan for that one.

JB: 00:28:28

I really enjoyed it so much that the only thing  that I thought was lacking was that I wish there

JB: 00:28:33

was like an epilogue or where are they now because  there was while there was uh two parts to the

JB: 00:28:39

soundtrack, there was not a sequel to Beat  Street, right? So I would love to know,

JB: 00:28:43

did Kenny and Tracy's romance flourish? Did they  eventually get married? Did they open up a school

JB: 00:28:49

and studio to inspire young dancers and hip hop  artists? That would be awesome. Did Lee go on

JB: 00:28:54

to dance for like a Broadway show or something?  Did he take his break dancing act on the road?

JB: 00:29:01

Chollie you know promoting everybody et  cetera. I'd love to see a follow-up on that.

Boogie: 00:29:06

Yeah, like did Chollie  eventually own the Roxy nightclub?

Boogie: 00:29:11

(Laughing)

JB: 00:29:13

He had moxie to walk into the Roxy like that

DynoWright: 00:29:17

(laughing)

JB: 00:29:18

And just kind of lay it down I'm  in charge here. He was convincing.

Boogie: 00:29:22

Yeah.

DynoWright: 00:29:23

The thing i didn't like about the  movie aside from the homophobia was there was

DynoWright: 00:29:28

some character development that –and i'm not a  professional film critic so listeners hit us up–

DynoWright: 00:29:33

but we mentioned Spit who was the rival graffiti  artist that would deface other people's burners

DynoWright: 00:29:37

and murals and those things. He plays a pivotal  role in the movie but we don't really know

DynoWright: 00:29:43

about him, we don't really find out much  about him. Maybe he was just supposed to

DynoWright: 00:29:47

be part of the environment that they're supposed  to deal with. He's based on a real person if we

DynoWright: 00:29:52

go through Style Wars, that documentary about  graffiti, you see is based on a character in

DynoWright: 00:29:56

that film. But if you haven't watched Style  Wars then you wouldn't know this so I felt

DynoWright: 00:30:00

like i needed more meaning behind Ramon dying  because he was fighting with Spit in the subway.

DynoWright: 00:30:05

And for that matter Robert, you know, Tracy's  boss - I was confused by the relationship

DynoWright: 00:30:10

I think I see them kissing in one scene or she  kissed him and it made Kenny jealous, so I felt

DynoWright: 00:30:15

like something that it wasn't developed much, the  sort of love triangle going on there and so I was

DynoWright: 00:30:21

confused by it a little bit. Maybe the listeners,  maybe you can explain it to me (laughing).

JB: 00:30:26

That's true. Yeah I didn't, I caught that

JB: 00:30:30

relationship. I didn't know it was a hug or a  kiss but it was something that was kind of like

JB: 00:30:35

maybe more accepted back in the day you know with  this you know you know 70s for sure and maybe

JB: 00:30:42

early 80s or secretaries yeah I understand that  lacked a little bit of storyline for sure, yeah.

DynoWright: 00:30:51

Maybe it was cut for time but

DynoWright: 00:30:53

those two things I would have  liked some more on on those.

Boogie: 00:30:56

Yeah yeah I think Ramon he just he dropped  a quick hint about Spit. They said he he said

Boogie: 00:31:05

something along the lines that he used to create  artwork out there and nobody really liked it.

DynoWright: 00:31:09

Ah.

Boogie: 00:31:09

And so that point, from that point on he'd  just go around writing his name on other people

Boogie: 00:31:15

stuff but yeah but it didn't, it wasn't much I  think it was maybe like a couple of lines and that

Boogie: 00:31:19

was it so I do agree that we probably could you  know give them a little more character development

Boogie: 00:31:24

so we kind of get a little bit more about you know  what he was doing but they were definitely, I've

Boogie: 00:31:30

definitely seen instances of that happen in my own  neighborhood uh with people putting up you know

Boogie: 00:31:36

burners and people coming along and just writing  their name across it and um yeah (laughing)

DynoWright: 00:31:41

(Laughing) It's  hard out here in the streets.

JB: 00:31:43

Yeah.

JB: 00:31:53

(Music)

JB: 00:31:54

So guys what do we think the overall rating  and I think what we'll do for the ratings for

odcast is we have two choices: 00:31:58

bring that  funky flick back (bring that funky flick back)

odcast is we have two choices: 00:32:05

or leave it in the vault (leave it in the vault)  so Boogie what would you say for this one?

Boogie: 00:32:13

Ha ha, bring that  funky flick back! (Laughing)

JB: 00:32:17

DynoWright, whaddaya you got?

DynoWright: 00:32:19

Bring it back!

JB: 00:32:21

yeah I'm with you, bring that funky  flick back, bring that funky flick back!

JB: 00:32:26

So yeah we we all like this and we think this  as I mentioned in the beginning this should be

JB: 00:32:30

required viewing Hip Hop 101 for those that love  the genre for those that want to learn about it.

JB: 00:32:36

(Theme music)

JB: 00:32:38

There you have it.

DynoWright: 00:32:40

We did it guys! We did it.

JB: 00:32:41

Yep.

DynoWright: : 00:32:46

DynoWright: : 00:32:47

Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your HHMCs  JB, Boogie and DynoWright. Music by Boogie.

DynoWright: : 00:32:55

Thanks to Liv and Rose from  the Highs and Lows with Liv

DynoWright: : 00:32:57

and Rose podcast. Go check them  out and subscribe to their show.

DynoWright: : 00:33:01

Special thanks to Susan Berger,  Towanda Edwards and Alice Seneres.

DynoWright: : 00:33:07

Hit us up at hiphopmovieclub@gmail.com or on  Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @hiphopmovieclub.

DynoWright: : 00:33:14

You can also check us out at hiphopmovieclub.com.  The next episode of Hip Hop Movie Club podcast

DynoWright: : 00:33:20

drops in two weeks. Subscribe today in your  favorite podcast app so you won't miss it.

DynoWright: : 00:33:26

Please do share this with a friend. Shout out  to you listeners. Don't hate, congratulate!