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nWhen we talk about movies that capture an era, we’re talkingnabout those movies that instantly catapult you back to that time and place theyntake place in. Some movies of this nature recreate an era, while others capturenit as it unfolds. For example, Grease (1978)nis a film that was made in the 70’s but was trying to re-capture the rock andnroll era of the 50’s while films like Beat Street for example, they capture anmoment in time as it was happening, in its purest form, no fakeness involved.nThe problem with films that try and recreate an era is that sometimes they endnup exaggerating everything to the point where the representation becomes nothingnmore than a cartoon version of the real thing. Beat Street and Krush Groove where two filmsnthat captured that time and place in which hip-hop and rap where just gettingnstarted, and breakin’ was the newest dance in town.
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nI was lucky enough to have lived in The Bronx during the midn80’s, a cool time to be living there if there ever was any. This was thenbirthplace of hip-hop and breakin’. I got to see firsthand b-boys and b-girlsndancing on the streets of the Bronx, breakin’ their days away. This was thentime when hip hoppers carried their boom boxes on their shoulders, and worennothing but Adidas or Pumas. I’d walk up to the corner store to buy some candyn(I was just a kid) and sure enough, there would be a b-boy breakin’ on ancardboard box right there on the side walk. As a kid, I was amazed by all ofnit, because these dance moves were really difficult to pull off! If you didn’tndo them just right, chances are you could break your neck! Still, I lovednseeing those dance battles happening in the school yard! I remember as a kidntrying to spin like a b-boy in my living room floor, hoping to maybe one daynbecome as good as them, I never did, but hey, I had my day in the sun! I remember Breakin’ was all about the attitude,nyet, it was all friendly. Dance teams defied each other, but it was always inngood fun. As one of the characters in Beat Street says “There are far worsenthings these boys could be doing then dancing!”
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nNow, because of this Breakin’ craze that took over New Yorknand the world, well, of course, Hollywood had to take a bite out of it. Suddenlynthere was this race to make a movie, to cash in on the whole thing. The thingnabout fad movies is that sometimes in order to come out before the fad fadesnaway, they are made in a hurry and sadly they end up not being very good. I cannmention many examples, Lambada (1990) and The Forbidden Dance (1990) both ofnwhich were made to cash in on the whole Lambada craze of the late 80’s and 90’s.nThat’s another thing about fad movies, they always come in two’s and sometimesnin three’s, because there’s always more than one studio looking to cash in onnthe craze. This is why we have Breakin’ (1984), Beat Street (1984), KrushnGroove (1985) and Rappin’ (1985). A prime example of a bad fad movie is Breakin’n2: Electric Boogaloo (1984), which while fun to watch (because it is so bad) thenfilm is a joke of the era that it’s trying to represent, a Hollywood renditionnof what they thought Breakin’ and b-boying was all about. Hell, this rush job of a sequel was filmed, edited and put in theaters in less then seven months after the first one hit theaters! Boy did this movie get itnwrong! It lacked that street cred that Beat Street had in spades.
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nThat’s what I enjoy about Beat Street, it just feels songenuine. We follow a group of kids who are all struggling to survive in thenstreets of The Bronx. One of them is ‘Double K’ a D.J. who’s looking to becomena ‘superstar’ with his rhymes and his music. He is big brother to ‘Lee’ thenyoungest of the group, who also happens to be an extremely talented b-boy. Mindnyou, Lee is not a ‘break dancer’, because the term break dancer or break dancingnis an offense to b-boys and girls of the world, it is a term that Hollywood andnthe media came up with to commercialize the whole thing. To those who like tonBreak, you are a b-boy or a b-girl, never a break dancer, you don’t break dance,nyou break. Then we have ‘Ramon’ a.k.a. ‘Ramo’, a Puerto Rican graffiti artistnwho likes to plaster his art on the trains of New York City, he was ancontinuing battle with his father, who tells Ramo to get a real job and stopnbeing a delinquent. Ramo thinks otherwise, to him his train graffiti is art,nand art is not a crime. Ramo is also struggling with finding a place for his girl and his baby, problem is he doesn’t have a job! Beat Street effectively mixes the world of Breakin’ and Graffiti art with the struggles ofnthe less fortunate. Some of the characters in the film are squatters, living innabandoned buildings, some dance on the streets for money. But they all dream big. As Lee and Double K’s mother says to them at one point “you can keep yourndreams gentlemen, but you gotta have something to fall back on”.
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nHighly recommend you guys watch a documentary called StylenWars (1983), which follows a group of graffiti artists through New York City asnthey paint their graffiti on the walls and trains of New York. The documentarynshows the emotion these kids felt when they saw a train passing by and their art was traveling down the rails withnit. It’s an awesome documentary; highly recommend it because it truly capturednthe essence of what it meant to be a graffiti artist in New York, during thenlate 70’s early 80’s. In some ways, Beat Street is a film version of thatndocumentary; the influence of Style Wars on Beat Street is strongly felt. Graffiti had to be a part of a film like BeatnStreet because at the time, Graffiti, Breakin’, Hip Hop and New York were allnlaced together. Breakin’ and graffiti went hand in hand with each other, theynwere part of the same world. If you were a b-boy, chances are you also did somengraffiti.
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nThe film showcases some truly talented b-boys doing theirnthing, there’s this whole scene that takes place inside of a New York dancenclub called ‘The Roxy’ that’s simply amazing, the dance moves these kids pullednoff! You gotta see it to believe it, made me wish I was right there at that momentnin time. You can tell this is the real deal here, these are true b-boys doingntheir thing, and the filmmakers were lucky enough that they got these streetnkids to do the real thing for them. Thennthere’s the music, which was awesome. Many of these films (especially KrushnGroove) had entire scenes devoted to a musical act. Basically, the film stopsnand the band that’s playing on stage takes over the movie. In this case we getnKool Moe Dee, Afrika Bambataa, boy, Afrika Bambataa really stirs up a partynwhen they get up on stage! Awesome scene!
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nA theme that runs through both of these movies is the themenof “making it”, following your dream and becoming a super star by doing whatnyou love. While Beat Street was all about graffiti and breakin’, Krush Groovenwas more about the music world itself, the side of the performer, the producernand the distributors. Krush Groove is unique in that way, because this filmntakes place in a time before I-Tunes and digital downloads. This was a timenwhen if you wanted to hear an album, you had to actually physically buy it. I’vennever stopped buying albums myself, I have to admit, I enjoy actually owning ancd as opposed to simply downloading a song onto my computer. There’s some upnand downs to that, for example, you can download a song, but if you don’t makena physical copy of it and your computer breaks down, then you lose that album,nor you whole record collection. This is something that doesn’t happen if you physicallynown your albums. Then of course, there’s the coolness of album art and lyricsnwhich usually come with a sleeve. Maybe I’m a dinasour here and I haven’tnadapted well to technical advancements, but I guess I’m old fashioned that way.nI like to own my albums and my books.
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nKrush Groove is a fictionalized account of the early days ofn‘Def Jam Records’, and what’s cool for me about Krush Groove is hownmany of the musical groups of the 80’s hip-hop scene made it into the film. Ofncourse, the main stars of the show are Run DMC. This is basically their storynbut also featured prominently are Sheila E., Kurtis Blow and The Fat Boys. Inlove Run DMC and all they did for hip-hop and rap, but I’ll be honest, me andnmy brothers where huge fans of The Fat Boys, we loved those guys, their songsnwere fun, and the trio themselves were also funny. They even ended up makingnone more film, a comedy called Disorderlies (1987). Re-watching Krush Groovenand seeing The Fat Boys again was like going back in time to when I was aboutnten years old! In retrospect, I think it was not such a good idea for The FatnBoys to take pride in being overweight. There is this scene in the movie wherenThe Fat Boys are depressed because they lose in a singing contest, so to cheernthemselves up, they go to a Pizzeria and basically eat their hearts out. They stuffntheir mouths with pizza and pasta as they sing their song “All you can eat”.nGotta be honest, that scene comes off as gross now, it portrays an unhealthynfixation on food, the word “gluttony” came to mind. It feltnwrong for these guys to promote the idea of pigging out on food like there’s nontomorrow. I enjoy food as much as the next guy, but there’s an unhealthy dangernin over indulging the way these guys did. I know they are called ‘The Fat Boys’nbut the whole scene, and the message they transmitted with it, just felt wrong.nI did a search on The Fat Boys for this article, I was sad to discover that onenof them, Darren Robinson, a.k.a. “The Human Beat Box” died of a heart attack inn1995. Also, Mark Morales, the Puerto Rican Fat Boy, well, he’s lost some weightnand aint all that fat anymore!
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nBeasty Boys in the house
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nAside from these groups that I mentioned, LL COOL J alsonmakes his feature film debut in Krush Groove. Apparently he wasn’t all that bignyet, but they gave him a five minute spotlight where they let him do his thing;nwhich made me think that this film is filled with lots of groups who werenhungry to get into the spotlight and everybody wanted to get on board! In thatnway, this film also reminded me of films like Purple Rain (1984) and Fame (1980),nfilms about talented people who know they got what it takes and want the worldnto know it! Even The Beasty Boys also make a brief appearance! It was funny tonhear some people “booing” them when they went on stage, I guess the idea ofnwhite rappers wasn’t all that popular yet. The thing about Krush Groove is thatnit might not be the best acted film, but it has a lot of heart, a lot ofntalented people involved and it also captures that time, the mid 80’s whennmusical acts took pride in being eccentric, loud and bombastic. This isnsomething I miss in today’s music and films for that matter. Highly recommendnchecking out both of these movies, they captured the 80’s in a spray can!
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nRating Beat Street: 4 out of 5
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nRating Krush Groove: 3 ½ out of 5
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