Hip Hop Movie Club - Wild Style - Hip Hop Movie Club

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Rapper

Yo! Bring it! C'mon!

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DynoWright

Welcome to Hip Hop Movie Club, where three old heads put their old heads together, to vibe on some of the most memorable or forgettable hip hop themed movies of all time. And here's HHMC, with your HH emcees Boogie. JB and DynoWright. (Bring it! C'mon!)

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JB

Season one, Episode number two. Wild Style.

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DynoWright

Wild Style was released in: 1983

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JB

ever hip hop movie. Filmed in: 1981

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JB

The film is full of some of the earliest emcees spitting raw lyrics, as well as fresh breakdancing and of course, graffiti.

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DynoWright

Let's see. What did you like about the movie?

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Boogie

All right. So what I liked about this movie is that it's a classic. It gives you all of the elements early hip hop. It breaks it down. It puts you to raw and unfiltered. You see the emcees. There's element of breakdancing, b-boying, obviously, there's the graffiti, which is a very prominent element of hip hop. And you have the deejay.

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Boogie

You have a couple of classic deejays there spinning. It gives you a nice, nice picture of what it's like to be in the South Bronx in the late seventies and early eighties. And you see how the street life is there and everyone is trying to make a way, and it just gives you a nice picture of what it looks like.

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Boogie

And I think that's probably one of the things I like the most about it.

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JB

Yeah, I can dig it. What I really like myself really was obviously the introduction of Fab Five Freddy as Phade. I grew to love him on Yo! MTV Raps. That was my go-to show to learn all about new hip hop artists. You know, back in the late eighties, early nineties, I grew up watching that so many Gen Xers would probably, probably embrace hip hop genre.

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JB

The music and culture from from Fab Five Freddy and the other Dr. Dre. The film itself, I think, was just pure. It was raw. The rapping itself, Busy Bee, Cold Crush, Double Trouble. Very original. And they were trailblazers for that time. And there were some iconic scenes. You alluded to it. A Grandmaster Flash scratching records in his kitchen you know, that juxtaposed against the painting of the mural from Raymond, played by Lee Quinones, as well as all the breakdancing was really great.

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JB

See, I like when they were actually showing Lee Raymond's character actually doing the painting. Whereas some other movies, you see some sleight of hand. You don't really see the artist at work. And I saw that some of that in like Beat Street, where it was like, you just see the shaking, the cans, and all of a sudden you see this actually show him doing doing some of his great work.

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JB

He's one of the originals and legendary in the in the artistic stylings of graffiti. I liked also the confluence of basketball and rap and the one scene with Double Trouble. A little cheesy at times where they kind of got a rap. But I liked it. I mean, basketball and hip hop have been intertwined to this day, so I love that.

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JB

And also it shows you not just the glamor but the scary scene with Ray and then the journalist Virginia being held at gunpoint. So it's like, wow, this this is this is real. It went.

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Boogie

South Bronx.

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JB

I read somewhere that those are real stickup artists like these were kind of guys on the edge that they hire for that scene and Phade diffuses the situation at the end. They had a remix of the Good Times song, and that was pretty unique. Remixes get getting his birds a little bit as well. So, I mean, know, like those are some of the highlights for me.

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DynoWright

That rap battles slash basketball scene was one of my favorites.

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Boogie

It's classic.

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DynoWright

It almost felt like an early version of chess boxing. Like there was two things going on at once, but the music kind of fused them together. And I enjoyed that very much. There were some other funny parts, the scene where after he wins the battle, one of them wins the rap battle in the beginning and has the champagne.

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Boogie

Busy Bee

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JB

Busy Bee

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DynoWright

Busy Bee. Right. So Busy Bee wins the rap battle. And they go to this hotel.

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(Laughing)

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DynoWright

Is it there they say, I want to know what Zodiac sign is getting the most money.

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Boogie

Yeah.

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DynoWright

That's in that. That's in the hotel room right?

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Boogie

Yep.

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DynoWright

So I thought that was really funny. And then another sort of just almost a throwaway scene is when the journalist breaks down and she's looking for the graffiti artist and the kids all come up to her and she says he's looking for the graffiti artist. And all the kids are like, we're all graffiti artists. And then they push the car to where she's going.

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DynoWright

s, this is like: 1981

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Boogie

But yeah, some of the rap battles in the rap scenes in the movie were pretty good. Like they were at the Dixie Club, he was rapping, and you see everybody dancing and partying. That was real, real cool. That's how it was. It was almost like a precursor to that Burning Spear type layout that was in Beat Street, very low level not quite a house party because it was in an establishment, but like a step above a house party, one step below, like a Burning Spear, like nightclubs.

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Boogie

And when Busy Bee came with a champagne bottle and they all jumped in the limo. You know, one of the first people I recognized was Lisa Lee in the limousine with them. And I thought, oh, shoot, Lisa Lee, one of the Us Girls from Beat Street of course, that's right over there. I'm glad they got to show her, you know, give a little bit of her lyrics in there, not a whole rhyme, but just give her a little bit of a highlight, you know, like she's not just a random random girl that they popped into the movie, but acknowledging the fact that she was actually an established emcee at that time.

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Boogie

Yeah. like that basketball scene's iconic. I remember I remember seeing that scene before I ever saw the movie. That scene was everywhere. And I said, wow, this is great. I can't wait to see this movie. Then I finally got to see the movie. It's a classic you're going to find some cheesy stuff in it. You're going to find some some stuff in there that's a little outdated, of course, but it's relevant to the culture.

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Boogie

And I think it's important that people would take a time out to at least glance at it and recognize what's going on in the movie.

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JB

Yeah, it was revolutionary. First time, the content of the lyrics, it's a lot of braggadocio. It's a lot of trying to get the girls. And it's still to this day, I mean, you see the videos and whatnot, the scene with Double Trouble on the stoop, the stoop rap. Do yourself a favor, listeners and kind of look up stoop rap from Wild Style. It's a legendary scene.

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JB

It's been sampled. I think the Roots may have sampled it. And literally there's been a lot of rappers to this day that have been influenced by Wild Style. Samples aplenty out there. Beastie Boys sampled some lyrics from some of the dialog, actually, and some of the music, Nas, Missy Elliott, Gangstarr, A Tribe Called Quest, Cypress Hill. If you're fans of any any of those legendary artists, you will hear some clips from this movie.

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JB

So they had a great influence on a lot of the culture.

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Boogie

I mean, I think it was good to to see not just like Busy Bee with the Cold Crush Brothers as well. They're like unsung heroes in hip hop. I mean, you know, Jay-Z gave a slight plug to them. You know, he mentioned, you know, I'm raising the status quo up. I'm overcharging these labels for what they did to the Cold Crush, just acknowledging the fact that they were there at the beginning of hip hop, but they never got to reap the benefits of being hip hop artists.

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Boogie

You know, they never had a major record deal, large scale distribution like, say, the Sugarhill Gang or Run-D.M.C. that came out after them or, you know, Doug E. Fresh, any of those guys. They they were there in the beginning, but they just never never got that deal in a wide scale distribution. So it was good to see them highlighted in the film as well, just recognizing that they were there and they're pioneers to the game.

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JB

There was a quote that I saw from Freddie Brathwaite, also known as Fab 5 Freddy saying, I wanted to show that for a culture to be complete it should combine music, dance and visual art. I thought there were elements around that that could be pulled together and made to look like one thing and that a movie would help.

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JB

And Grandmaster Flash added that's the way the culture started. So like you had said Boogie, all the elements were there, and that's makes a solid movie and like you said, it's like a history lesson for a lot of folks as to how the hip hop culture began. Anything else you like DynoWright.

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DynoWright

There was one throwaway reference about styling and profiling, and that's something that has lived on. So I thought that was a really cool thing to see in the movie. And speaking of basketball references, the Rick Barry and Dr. J. - I'm all about it. Dr. J. My favorite basketball player of all time, and I'm down with any reference to Julius Erving.

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JB

Oh yeah, I'm with you, Philly in the house. So there's some things, however, you know, that either I disliked or I questioned and we always want to touch on those as well. So for me, honestly, my first time seeing the film, I've heard a lot about it, but I'm picturing a true film with all the elements: rising action, falling action, climax, all the stuff.

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JB

You're not going to see a lot of that. Again, like we said, it's really raw. It's just like, follow these crews around but it worked. So the plot itself is super thin. If you're looking for plot, you're not going to find much of it. That being said, there's very little character development. We don't really know much about the backstories of the characters like we do in some other films.

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JB

Another thing that was of shock value to me was the Double Trouble duo at the band shell bringing out their AK-47s on stage in front of the huge festival type crowd. I was taken aback by that because obviously that still happens, but I cringe at it because you don't want to glamorize guns and possible violence, there have been too many of those incidents over the years.

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JB

So that one was like, wow, that that wouldn't fly today. Obviously, but hey, that, that that was the style back then.

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Boogie

Right, right, right.

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JB

Anything else you guys either disliked or questioned about the film.

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Boogie

Yeah, I think you touched on it. Definitely the lack of character development. I think I was pulled into the movie just because I recognize the character who played Raymond. I recognize him from real life, so it was kind of like I was following him around instead of the actual character. But that's only because I kind of knew of him,

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Boogie

Lee, outside of the movie. But if I was just watching the character from the movie, it wouldn't really given me to much hold on to, I think that was one thing. Like you said, the guns on the stage was a little overboard. I don't even, like I'm guessing those were supposed to be real guns. It was, you know, bad imagery that you know, you don't want to you don't want to have guns out on stage putting around people or anything like that.

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Boogie

But so I think that was, those two elements were probably the ones that really stuck out for me the most. But other than that, I think it was all right.

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DynoWright

Yeah. I trouble following along with what they call a loosely scripted story. Loosely scripted was rather generous but I don't know what the point of the journalist was. I don't really understand what the point of Rose was at the end or near the end. Rose is I guess his girlfriend gives him the idea that we don't see any payoff to.

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DynoWright

And her idea was that they're not going to care about the graffiti. They're here to see the wrappers. Like, what was the point of having the Lee Quinones in this movie then? So that was left a little wanting. But this movie is so iconic and the parts in between the story that drags down the entire movie, the scenes with the rap battles and the rapping and the breakdancing.

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DynoWright

I mean, these are these are historical gems to look at and enjoy. I can give the story a pass.

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Boogie

Yeah. I think that's a lot of it, too, was that those weren't actors at all. They were just. Yeah, people like Lee was a graffiti artist. He was no actor. And then, like, even Rose, she was an artist. She's not an actress. So he kind of left a little bit to be desired in that aspect. I do know as the part we were mentioned about the conversation of Rose and Zoro at the end, I remember he was trying to, he had his layout of what he wanted to do in the amphitheater, and he had the hands up and he was trying to draw a figure in the center, and he was struggling with the

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Boogie

figure in the center. And that's where I think she was saying that don't focus on, they're not here to see you. I mean, it was worded really weird, but she was saying, they're not going to care about you. And then they ended up with the was that the star in the center? And I'm like, OK.

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Boogie

All right.

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JB

It was more more or less those hands were repurposed as just kind of like clap your hands to the rappers. Maybe that's kind of how I interpret it.

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Boogie

Yeah, yeah.

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JB

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. But Lee Quinones, you know, I would I would implore listeners to look up his work as well. Legendary artist. You had a book as a kid. Spray spray can art right?

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Boogie

Yeah. I remember back in like first it was either first grade or second grade. Probably first grade. We used to have Scholastic book fairs. I remember going and sort of scholastic books, and it was just it was a book. And I remember looking at this book and I saw a picture on the front and I used to draw and actually do a lot of graffiti and stuff.

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Boogie

But I never did any walls or anything like that. I would keep all my art to paper. But this the cover of the book, it stood out to me. So I remember purchasing a book and one of the artists that was featured in the book was Lee. So there's Lee artwork throughout the whole book. There's a few other, few other artists as well.

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Boogie

And yeah, the book, unfortunately over the years it's kind of fell apart. But I was, you know, certainly on Amazon and I can buy the book now for 16 bucks. But now that's one of my first encounters with Lee way back then. So to actually see him doing some of the work, the painting that he was doing in the beginning of the movie, the Zoro character is actually in the book, so it was cool to see that connection being made as well.

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Boogie

But he's a well-established artist, though. Well-known, well-known, a legend.

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JB

I think if you look at this film with the lens of a documentary rather than a story, a full blown story, you would appreciate it much more, still kind of take it for what it's worth. That's what my advice would be for you.

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Rapper

Two, two, two.

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JB

Do we enjoy the music? I did. I enjoyed the raw lyrics, very clever lyrics and the deejaying. Grandmaster Flash which was phenomenal. So you got Busy Bee, Cold Crush, Double Trouble. Really, really trailblazers. For sure. Anything else to add on this?

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DynoWright

I mean, the music is legendary. It is classic. I would have bought the soundtrack.

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Boogie

It definitely make you dance, that's for sure. It would definitely make you move. I never had the soundtrack. I don't I'm not even sure if they had the soundtrack out back then. I'm pretty sure you can get it now. But I don't remember the soundtrack for me and when I was a kid though. But now I'm pretty sure I can get it now.

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Boogie

But if it was out, if I remembered, I would definitely have it. Like some of the songs they were playing. I have some songs that sound very similar to those, and it was basically just a took a song and just, just let it play instrumentals. Let it play. It was no hardcore sample. I mean, like there is now, it was just like, OK, we like this song.

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Boogie

We're going to take that beat and rhyme over it and we're going to scratch and then bring it back again.

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Boogie

You know? Good stuff, though.

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DynoWright

Yeah. Having not seen the movie before, I was really entertained by the, the rapping and the songs in it and like these are great lyrics, and I watched it with the subtitles on so I could see the words as they're rapping them. And I was like, Wow, these are really good rhymes.

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Boogie

Yeah. Subtitles is a must. I watched with subtitles as well.

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JB

I did watch it with subtitles as well because you missed the rapping fast and I was technology back that wasn't great. So you get some muffled sounds and stuff like that. So I recommend that as well.

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Rapper

Yeah, Three, three, three, three, three, three.

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JB

What we think the overall rating, we always like to do this thing called either bring that funky flip back or leave it in the vault. So we'll go around the room here. I was a little bit on the fence here, but due to its historical significance, I'm going to say bring that funky flick back. What do you say, Boogie?

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Boogie

Bring funky flick back. It's one of those relevant films to the culture, can't overlook its importance no matter how undeveloped some parts are. It's very relevant. So I'm always going to bring that funky flick back for this one.

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JB

How about you, DynoWright?

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DynoWright

Right. Yeah, I was on the fence too, but it is culturally significant. And just the parts beyond the story are worth seeing. It really probably should have been made as a documentary, but those parts that we did see that were basically unscripted were just tremendous glances into hip hop culture back then. You really saw it unfiltered. Yeah. Bring that funky flick back.

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JB

Right on.

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DynoWright

So do you think this film could be made today?

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JB

I mean, I don't think so because for me it's historical and it was for that time. So it's not something that I think could be easily remade since there's a lack of like a real story. It's just like something that is like an artifact that can be treasured.

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Boogie

Yeah, I think they could try to do it. I don't think they would get the same effect, though. It would, it would lack that rawness to it. I think it would be too polished and it would be too commercialized. Beat Street, you could bring that back. You can make Beat Street. It was a polished film that had everything there, so you can easily duplicate the template. For Wild

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Boogie

Style, I think that because of the way that it was made, in the way that it was shot, it's hard to duplicate that. So I say they could try it, but I don't think it would, I don't think it would come out well.

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DynoWright

Yeah, if you would try to remake this, it's a different movie if you actually had a story. That's right. Real parts to it. Yeah, I probably would leave it remade. It would take probably a lot to reboot this film.

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Boogie

Often imitated. Never duplicated.

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DynoWright

You know, it.

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Rapper

Bring it! C'mon!

00;19;58;13 - 00;20;19;18

DynoWright

All right. Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your HH emcees JB Boogie and DynoWright. Theme Music by Boogie. Special thanks to Susan Berger, Towanda Edwards and Alice Seneres. Hit us up at hiphopmovieclub@gmail.com or on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @hiphopmovieclub. You can also check us out at HipHopMovieClub.com.

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DynoWright

The next episode of Hip Hop Movie Club Podcast drops in two weeks. Subscribe today on your favorite podcast app and you won't miss it. Shout out to you listeners.

00;20;29;29 - 00;20;31;14

JB

And remember, don't hate. Appreciate.

00;20;31;23 - 00;20;39;18

Rapper

Bring it! C'mon!

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