“Wild Style”/“Style Wars” (1983)
Consistently recognized as first hip hop film, 1983’s “Wild Style” portrayed the cultural holy trinity of the genre: rap, breakdancing, and graffiti. And depiction and reality are close neighbors here, with artist and first-time director Charlie Ahearn researching the scene, finding many collaborators —from musicians like Fred ‘Fab Five Freddy’ Brathwaite and Grandmaster Flash to above-ground graffiti legends like Lady Pink, Lee Quinones, and ZEPHYR— and deciding to film a scripted version of the research itself. Prepare yourself for the flimsiest of narrative backbones and a handful of cringeworthy performances, but it’s more about the atmosphere, which is energetic, infectious and inviting, despite startling sights like a dilapidated early-‘80s Bronx; subway trains covered inside and out with graffiti; and Patti Astor smiling off an attempted mugging before going to a Manhattan art show. The film also has a companion piece released the same year, Tony Silver’s documentary “Style Wars”, which you’d almost swear captures the moments that Ahearn observed while preparing for his project (Fab Five Freddy even based his “Wild Style” character Phade off a main subject in “Style Wars”). Silver takes more of a landscape perspective, interviewing both the writers who are tagging the city and the politicians who are fighting to bring them down. Insightful, playful, and shot through with an affectionate nostalgia, both films would make up a perfect double feature and feel like they were co-stars on the same block, two simultaneous productions with different approaches toward the same cultural sea change that lay just around the corner.
Honorable Mentions:
14 entries can only scratch the surface of the various narratives and documentaries covering the ways in which hip hop fragmented and reformed (a new scene has likely cropped up as you read this sentence). That said, “Breakin” is a classic blend of Turbo, Ozone and Chaka Khan that almost found a way onto the list. “Fear Of A Black Hat” is a mockumentary that explored the same angle as “CB4”, with some similarly tired gags but some inspired scenes. “Menace II Society” is pretty crucial, but we mentioned it above in brief. MTV’s “Carmen: A Hip Hopera” definitely feels like a made-for-TV movie, but chances are if you’ve seen the film, you remember two things: Beyonce’s stunning red dress and the soundtrack. Sabrina Lee’s “Where You From” takes a fascinating look at rap battles in Humboldt County, California —a rural, West Coast “8 Mile,” if you will. Menhaj Huda’s “Kidulthood” sourced a great deal of its cast and soundtrack from UK hip hop heavyweights including Roots Manuva, Wiley and Plan B. And as an example of how hip hop can be grafted onto any rags-to-riches narrative, the exercise in unnecessary decadence that is Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby” almost qualifies as a hip hop film, as soundtrack curator Jay-Z points out the shocking similarities between Kanye West’s “Power,” among others, and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic tale of hubris and excess. Feel free to shout out your own favorites below before dropping the mic and peacing out.
— Charlie Schmidlin, Nicholas Laskin, Oli Lyttelton
