Various Artists - Wild Style

Here’s a little story that must be told…

Back in 1982, Charlie Ahearn’s Wild Style burst onto cinema screens in an explosion of vibrant spray-paint colours, staying there long enough to make sure every New York B-boy, MC, DJ and graffiti artist had seen it several times. Twenty-five years on and even brighter, it tells the story of graf artist Zoro, who struggles to reconcile his devotion to his art with his relationship with his girlfriend and the wider hip-hop community. Crucially, it’s not a self-indulgent piece of existential musing, but a celebration of the then-nearly-10-years-old hip-hop culture, as birthed in the Bronx. With the likes of Busy Bee and Cold Crush Brothers, legendary graf artists Lee Quinones (Zoro) and Fab 5 Freddy, and a host of breakdancers and DJs (including a stunning turn from Grandmaster Flash), Wild Style helped send hip-hop overground. It knew it, too, as a white female journalist character charts the scene, bringing Zoro to the highbrow art community as the ‘new thing’. Extras such as homemade interviews with the key players add to its grass roots charm. Pacy and eye-opening, it’s to early hip-hop what Boyz N The Hood was to gangsta rap. With hip-hop’s four elements in place, watch this and you have Bambaataa’s fifth: knowledge.

Metrodome | MTD 5329

Reviewed by Jason Draper
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