Wild Style (1983)

Director:

Charlie Ahearn

Writer:

Charlie Ahearn (writer)

Genre:

Documentary | Drama | Music

Tagline:

Break Dancing Graffiti Rap

Plot:

Legendary New York graffiti artist Lee Quinones plays the part of Zoro, the city's hottest and most elusive graffiti writer...

Plot Keywords:

Hip Hop | Graffiti | Breakdance | Independent Film

Cast

Easy A.D.	...	Cold Crush Brothers
A.J.	...	Himself (as DJ AJ)
Almighty K.G.	...	Cold Crush Brothers
Patti Astor	...	Virginia
Busy Bee	...	Himself
Grandmaster Caz	...	Cold Crush Brothers
Lil' Rodney Cee	...	Double Trouble
Charlie Chase	...	Cold Crush Brothers
Ruby Dee	...	Fantastic Freaks
Dot-a-Rock	...	Fantastic Freaks
Grand Mixer DXT	...	Himself (as Grandmixer D.St)
Fab 5 Freddy	...	Fab Five Freddy
Sandra Fabara	...	Rose
Grandmaster Flash	...	Himself
Frosty Freeze	...	Rock Steady Crew
Mr. Freeze	...	Rock Steady Crew
J.D.L.	...	Cold Crush Brothers
Kevie Kev	...	Fantastic Freaks
Lisa Lee	...	Herself
Crazy Legs	...	Rock Steady Crew
Carlos Morales	...	Raymond's brother
Glenn O'Brien	...	Museum Curator
'Lee' George Quinones	...	Raymond 'Zoro'
Rammellzee	...	Himself
Master Rob	...	Fantastic Freaks
K.K. Rockwell	...	Double Trouble
Prince Ken Swift	...	Rock Steady Crew
Grand Wizard Theodore	...	Fantastic Freaks
Tony Tone	...	Cold Crush Brothers
Prince Whipper Whip	...	Fantastic Freaks
Dondi White	...	Himself
Andrew Witten	...	Zroc (as Andrew 'Zephyr' Witten)

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | USA:R | UK:15

Company:

Wild Style

Trivia:

The graffiti-style logo featured in the film's advertising was a massive mural painted on a wall in the Bronx by Zephyr, Revolt, and Sharp and is still displayed where it was drawn originally.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme (2000)

Soundtrack:

South Bronx Subway Rap

Great film for Hip-Hop Historians.

This film does not have a very good plot or actors, but it is a must see for fans of Hip-Hop. This film shows us what Hip-Hop started out as and what it was meant to be, before it was corrupted by the mainstream media. Hip-Hop in the mid seventies was a form of free expression for the young people living in the boogie down bronx. D.J.'s started looping breaks just like the Selectas in Jamaica, except they were using Disco and Funk singles instead of Reggae and Ska, and the crowds responded to this by doing crazy acrobatic or robotic dance moves. The D.J.'s called these people breakers, breakdancers or b-boys/girls. The kids started forming D.J. and breaker crews and they would tag the names of their crews on the subway trains and alleyways in the Bronx using spraypaint. D.J.'s used to shout out the names of the breakers and crews by saying, "Yo crazy legs is in the house.", they would also brag about themselves on the mic by making up rhymes about themselves. But as the break looping became more artistic and complex to keep the b-boys/girls breaking the D.J.'s had to get someone else to do the rhyming. Thus giving us the emcees or M.C.'s or Master of Ceremonies.