Wild Style, directed by Charlie Ahearn Essays - 558 Words

Wild Style (1983) was a film that documented the real world of hip hop before most people even knew what hip hop was. This movie brings about the four crucial elements of hip hop - emceeing, graffiti, break-dancing, and deejaying. These features are the backdrop to the story of a graffiti artist named Raymond who lives in the South Bronx that goes by the name â€Å"Zoro†, who is played by well-known New York graffiti artist Lee Quinones. The movie goes through the tribulations of his life and relationship with Rose, while showing some of the historical aspects of hip hop. This movie took place after graffiti had been so staunchly looked down upon. Craig Castleman supports this in his article â€Å"The Politics of Graffiti†, when he goes through†¦show more content†¦It exhibits many famous DJs and groups from that time. Freestyle MCing is shown with rare footage of one of the godfathers of hip-hop, Grandmaster Flash, pulling off an awesome scratch-mix set. During this time it was not uncommon for scenes such as the ones in the movie to occur in black discos. Robert Ford, Jr. presents this idea in â€Å"Jive Talking N.Y. DJs Rapping Away in Black Discos†, by saying that â€Å"rapping DJs reminiscent of early rb radio jocks †¦ are making an impressive comeback here – not in radio but in black discos where a jivey rap commands as much attention as the hottest new disk† (43). This film also slightly expresses some of the racial segregation in hip hop that goes on during the time period between African Americans and Puerto Ricans. Juan Flores shows this in â€Å"Puerto Rocks: Rap, Roots, and Amnesia† when he describes the struggles that Charlie Chase, a member of the Cold Crush Brothers, goes through due to the fact that he is of Puerto Rican decent when the rest of the members are all African American (71-78). In the movie, this can be seen when the members of the Cold Crush Brothers have a street battle with Fantastic Freaks. In this scene one can tell that there is only one member who is Puerto Rican in both groups and they never speak a Spanish word in the battle or throughout the movie itself. Flores explains this in â€Å"Puerto Rocks† when he says that: By the early 1990s, hip-hop had finally