Speaker:

Yo!

Speaker:

(hip hop beat)

Speaker:

(Bring it! C'mon!)

DynoWright::

Welcome to Hip Hop Movie  Club, where three old heads put their

DynoWright::

old heads together to vibe on some  of the most memorable or forgettable

DynoWright::

hip hop themed movies of  all time (Bring it! C'mon!)

DynoWright::

and here's HHMC with your HHMCs Boogie,  JB and DynoWright. (Bring it! C'mon!)

Welcome to season one, episode one 00:00:33

Beat Street.

JB:

Beat Street released in 1984 is a  quintessential 80s east coast hip hop film,

JB:

contains all the elements of early hip-hop  culture: the music, the breakdancing,

JB:

the artwork in the form of graffiti, the entire  b-boy lifestyle was introduced there. The movie

JB:

itself features a young man Kenny and his younger  brother Lee and their friends Ramon and Chollie

JB:

as they hoped to make a name for themselves in the  South Bronx of New York during the infancy of hip

JB:

hop as we know it today. Wrought with beat boxes,  spray paint cans, house parties, the club scene,

JB:

breakdancing and legendary cameo hip hop artist  appearances, Beat Street's like stepping into a

JB:

museum of early east coast hip hop culture. It  should be required watching for people of all

JB:

ages that consider themselves fans of the hip hop  genre. It's a definition of the b-boy era in a

JB:

coming-of-age story about the young crew. Keep in  mind this is 1984 and this is an instant classic.

JB:

So what did we like about this  film? Want to kick us off, Boogie?

Boogie:

Okay so this is one of my favorite  movies growing up. I cannot tell you how

Boogie:

many times I've watched this movie. I love  that it incorporated the four elements of hip

Boogie:

hop and it came across as really authentic.  Start with the main character Kenny he was

Boogie:

a DJ and he was also dubbed as one of the  early versions of an MC, hyping the crowd.

Boogie:

There were also other DJs featured throughout  the film you also have various stages of the MC,

Boogie:

including those who ran at the local  clubs and also to the well-established

Boogie:

Roxy night club. And you had your local girl  group that performed at the house parties.

Boogie:

The breaking was top-notch you know what the  Magnificent Force, the New York City Breakers

Boogie:

and the Rock Steady Crew all make cameos in  this film. All classics. And then you have Ramon

Boogie:

who was just a local graffiti artist but he  put his burners on the subway cars and walls

Boogie:

and even the jealousy element you have the guy  Spit who came across and defaces the artwork. You

Boogie:

have all four elements of hip hop you got the MC,  your DJ, your MC, you had your breakdances, your

Boogie:

B-Boys and you also had your graffiti artists.  That was one of the main things I liked about it.

JB:

Nice, Boogie. Yeah, I agree. I  mean it had everything that that you'd

JB:

want to see and that was a lifestyle  back then, that's what kids would do

JB:

and like I said I like that it's like a coming  of age story, you know. These young guys,

JB:

they're trying to make a name for themselves.  It's not a glamorous life, it's tough.

JB:

It's tough out there on the streets but you see  Ramon who had fathered a child with his girlfriend

JB:

and he's learning the way the ways of the  world in terms of he's finally getting

JB:

to the point where he he's becoming a man and  trying to be responsible and he ends up getting

JB:

a job and not only just doing his artwork. But  he becomes a man and unfortunately tragedy hits

JB:

towards the end and they lose him but you see that  community all come together and support. It's a

JB:

brotherhood, it's a whole family and that whole  culture was all about that. I really enjoyed it.

DynoWright:

I enjoyed it too and having never  seen it before which is crazy because it's a

DynoWright:

classic and I missed out on it. But it was really  cool to see all these early hip hop legends, it

DynoWright:

was a lot of famous rappers I've listened to for a  long time but never really seen on screen and all

DynoWright:

of that. I did have to watch the credits again to  see who was who because there were so many of them

DynoWright:

but it was really fun to see. And  we can talk about this later but

DynoWright:

we see Kool Moe Dee without his sunglasses,  like I didn't recognize him without it.

DynoWright:

I didn't recognize him without his  sunglasses. So it was a lot of fun stuff i

DynoWright:

really liked in this movie, early hip  hop who's who, at least the rappers.

JB:

Yeah for sure. So Boogie you can expand upon  this a little bit more. There's Doug E. Fresh

JB:

who was he is the best beat boxer ever, he  was there. And then the Treacherous Three

JB:

is where Kool Moe Dee got started, so you  want to go through who those artists were?

Boogie:

a quick rundown of some of  the cameos, you got Afrika Bambaataa,

Boogie:

the Soulsonic Force, you had DJ Jazzy  Jay, you got the Us Girls who consist of

Boogie:

Lisa Lee, Debbie D and Sha-Rock. Sha-Rock  originally from the Funky Four Plus One,

Boogie:

original mother of hip hop. Kool Herc one of the  fathers of hip hop, if you don't know who Herc is,

Boogie:

Google is your friend. The Treacherous Three,  Kool Moe Dee, Special K and L.A. Sunshine. Of

Boogie:

course we mentioned Doug E. Fresh. We have  Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five,

Boogie:

Grandmaster Flash and then you have Brenda K.  Starr, Wanda Dee and The System. You don't know

Boogie:

who The System are, look them up as well,  Google is also your friend. Theme song

Boogie:

to "Coming to America", "Don't Disturb This  Groove" they put some nice classics out, yes.

DynoWright:

Yeah "Don't Disturb This  Groove" is one of the best songs ever.

Boogie:

Yeah from the opening riff  that guitar, yeah. (Laughing.)

JB:

Yeah with DJ Kool Herc, he was featured  prominently in the Netflix show "Hip Hop

JB:

Evolution" and he's pretty much brought  the sound systems and the house parties.

JB:

He was hustling before anybody else and  bringing hip hop to the masses in New York and

JB:

people call him sometimes the Godfather  of Hip Hop, you know you may not

JB:

know his name as much as you know some  of the original hip hop groups you know

JB:

like the Sugar Hill Gang and Run D.M.C. but  DJ Kool Herc deserves just as much credit.

JB:

That was awesome that he was he played a role in  there at the Burning Spear nightclub where Kenny

JB:

really got his big break in front of the talent  agent. The music was great. I love also that

JB:

the music is not just you know about the beats and  scratches but there's a lot of strength and power,

JB:

political commentary in the lyrics. I like at  the very end as very uplifting I think it was

JB:

Grand... was it Grandmaster Melle Mel you  know they they had we're talking about

JB:

yeah talking about you know they talk about Iwo  Jima, they talk about Vietnam, they talk about

JB:

all these wars, right? And then they talk about  egomaniacs controlling the self-righteous,

JB:

learning from the past, working for the future.  And then they're inspiring the children in

JB:

the audience, the young folks saying listen,  you're the future so uh grab it by the horns.

DynoWright:

There was a reference to being a slave  to a computer which is funny because it's in 1984.

Boogie:

Just took the words right out of my  mouth, don't be a slave to your computer, yep!

DynoWright:

And now look at  us doing this on computers.

DynoWright:

Everyone has a computer in their pocket.  If they only had known back then.

JB:

Yeah it's uh well 1984, right that's when that

JB:

epic ad came out from Apple based on Orson  Welles' 1984 right? and yeah saying you know so

JB:

the future was you know they were  foretelling the future there for sure.

DynoWright:

People should remember 1984 isn't  that far from the end of the Vietnam War

DynoWright:

so, something on people's minds back

DynoWright:

that then, that Melle Mel is still  talking about it. It was a relevant thing.

Boogie:

Yeah.

JB:

Yeah, also you know that there were incidents  in within the movie that super poignant again

JB:

today. If you you see what's happening  where Lee gets uh you know arrested along

JB:

with some other folks with just really dance  fighting, right? And it was literally like a

JB:

racial profiling of these folks and they just  get locked up. His mother has to come bail him

JB:

out. They were doing no harm to anybody and  you know this obviously still happens today.

JB:

It's revealed that by Kenny and Lee's mother  at the breakfast scene I believe. And it also

JB:

later on when when Kenny is courting  Tracy that he lost an older brother

JB:

Franklin when he got caught up in the gang  scene and the cops came in and his his words

JB:

you know "folks got wasted and my brother  was one of those' so very relevant to today.

Boogie:

Yeah there were there were a lot of  little easter eggs planted throughout the movie

Boogie:

too. There was another scene that that always  sticks out with me and every time I hear it

Boogie:

it kind of resonates with me because I know some  of the history of what was going on in the Bronx

Boogie:

at the time. One of them was as you mentioned  with the scene with Franklin being wasted by

Boogie:

with the gang violence and there  was another one when they first

Boogie:

were having a house party and and Henry was  downstairs banging on the pipes and they went

Boogie:

downstairs see where the noise was coming from  and he was telling him that he was looking for

Boogie:

for his friend that he served in the military with  and they were standing you know there was a fire

Boogie:

and you know immediate response was he was in  a fire and he said no the building was on fire

Boogie:

the landlord set the building on fire five times.  And you know that was very prevalent in that time

Boogie:

frame and you know there was always the phrase  "The Bronx is burning" - you know, the landlords

Boogie:

were setting their buildings on fire to commit  basically insurance fraud you know they were they

Boogie:

were getting payouts and they were skipping out  and you had all of these abandoned buildings some

Boogie:

of them were still standing some of them were in  ruin but you get this layout as if there's a war

Boogie:

torn country in the middle of New York,  in the Bronx because these buildings

Boogie:

were getting burned down so these landlords  could collect money. And that's the little

Boogie:

small easter egg that they planted in there but  every time I hear it it always resonates with me

Boogie:

because it took a long time for the Bronx to  recover and i mean even Brooklyn same thing.

JB:

Yeah way to drop the knowledge there,  Boogie, that's that's good knowledge.

DynoWright:

Shout out to BX! Boogie: X!

DynoWright:

(Laughing) JB:

DynoWright:

I was wondering you know we try  to analyze these movies and like

DynoWright:

I said a lot of stuff is still on point and  relevant but you know I do have to mention

DynoWright:

there was one scene that was I guess was a little  bit cringe-worthy with a homophobic aspect of it

DynoWright:

with the Santa Claus scene where they did a rap.  It was hilarious in terms of the concept, in terms

DynoWright:

of jingle jangle for the poor, you know. They're  talking about Santa not coming through and giving

DynoWright:

them a G.I. Joe, a G.I. Joe toy but, you know,  if they had to redo it, i'm sure they would have

DynoWright:

reworded it. You know there was a part where he  inferred that the G.I. Joe figure was gay and then

DynoWright:

it was inferred that his his sexuality  was questioned, things like that.

DynoWright:

But remember it was back –not that it's  ever acceptable– back then it was a lot

DynoWright:

more commonplace but obviously if they had to do  it again they would remove that scene overall.

DynoWright:

1984 is close to  the beginning of the AIDS crisis

DynoWright:

which affected a lot of gay men, not that it  was an excuse to have those comments in there,

DynoWright:

but a lot of people weren't aware of gay culture  and so that's what it was like back then.

DynoWright:

There was a lot of this  homophobic stuff going around.

Boogie:

Yeah. A lot of  uncertainty, a lot of stereotypes.

JB:

Yep.

Boogie:

A lot of stigmas.

DynoWright:

Right.

JB:

But overall if you go back to the Santa, it  was it was funny they're calling him a drunk,

JB:

they're cursing, they're dropping the f-bomb at  him and I was like that's pretty pretty funny

JB:

and uh well before the uh the Bad Santa  movies with Billy Bob Thornton and stuff

JB:

like that so kind of, uh cutting edge in terms  of the, the concept. No one badmouthed Santa.

Boogie:

That's one of my favorite scenes though  because just out of the pure concept of them,

Boogie:

you know taking shots at Santa Claus for for  not getting what they wanted like so so much

Boogie:

so much so that i actually have a t-shirt  with that scene on the front of it (laughing).

DynoWright:

Is that right? JB: That's right.

Boogie:

I almost, I forgot  to put it on today but um

Boogie:

yeah I'll pass it around one time for one of  the other episodes you can get a glance at it.

DynoWright:

You should send us a picture  of that, put it in our Instagram Stories.

JB:

Yeah, yeah that that's a great idea. Yeah  I mean there was some there were some humorous

JB:

things throughout the film which which made me  crack a smile. Obviously the fashion back then

JB:

we always laugh at now. What we were wearing in  the 80s, right, we laugh at our old pictures back

JB:

in the 80s. But the fashions that the Us Girls  were wearing and some of the other folks. However,

JB:

you know this set the stage for kids are still  wearing these, there's Kangol hats, there was um

JB:

you know sideways caps, the loose fitting  pants, parachute pants and things like that.

JB:

You know, Puma sneakers and whatnot. I also  thought some of the dialogue was was just

JB:

really funny to break things up. There was  a scene with Kenny was jawing with with

JB:

Ramon and then Chollie actually I think it was  Chollie that was jawing with Ramon and Kenny

JB:

breaks it up by pretending to be a newscaster  and just laughing his way through it, right?

Boogie:

(laughing)

JB:

Providing humor and uh yeah that was  good and I like Kenny and Lee's mother uh

JB:

rapping at the breakfast table a  little bit too, telling him hey

JB:

eat your eggs before I break your legs, so little  little things like that were cracking me up.

Boogie:

Yeah the one who played his  mother, Mary Alice, she's a gem.

Boogie:

She's played a mother in a  bunch of movies that I've seen

Boogie:

and it's always good to see her on screen. She's  always brings a little bit of wit to her role.

JB:

Yeah. Yeah that's great so while we get into a  little bit of that as well is some of these actors

JB:

and actresses, right? You may have recognized  them from other things or maybe you didn't know

JB:

about them but uh Guy Davis who plays Kenny was  the son of activists, writers, prominent figures

JB:

in African American culture Ossie Davis and  Ruby Dee. I mean that that's just remarkable.

Boogie:

Yeah.

DynoWright:

He's an accomplished blues guitar  player, which I should have known, being a

DynoWright:

guitar player. But I didn't know (yeah) he's an  actual musician in the movie and in real life.

Boogie:

Yeah my mom told me that.

Boogie:

She actually came across him on  something, might have been Facebook

Boogie:

and um I think she used to communicate with him  on there as well, yeah. He's an actual musician.

JB:

Yeah and as Boogie mentioned the breakdancing  crews were famous crews at the battle at the Roxy,

JB:

New York City Breakers and the Rock Steady Crew  and uh that was an epic scene at the Roxy for

JB:

sure. There were a few different dance scenes that  it you got to check them out even if you just pull

JB:

up the clip on YouTube put in Beat Street break  dancing at the Roxy that is well worth your time.

Boogie:

Yeah that that's probably one of the most  iconic breakdancing battles ever caught on film,

Boogie:

in a movie. Just amazing amazing footwork. Of  course it had to be the battle ending with the

Boogie:

iconic Crazy Legs removing the sneakers and going  into a crab walk that was amazing (laughing).

JB:

And that was like the  mic drop moment right there.

Boogie:

Basically yeah that was  the mic drop right there (laughing)

JB:

But also co-produced, the movie was  co-produced by Harry Belafonte which we

JB:

were talking about and we didn't realize that  or maybe we had forgotten it to the recesses of

JB:

our mind. But the legendary Harry Belafonte  ,you know he put this, he put this on film.

JB:

And he wanted to portray –he's from that  area– the South Bronx and he wanted to just

JB:

say, this is the culture and put it out there  on film. And help to inspire a lot of folks.

Boogie:

Yeah. Directed by Stan Lathan. You know,  coincidentally a few hours ago I was upstairs

Boogie:

watching a comedy special and who of course  produced it was Stan Lathan. He produced uh

Boogie:

all these iconic comedy shows, Def Comedy  Jams. This one I happened to be watching

Boogie:

was uh was Earthquake. You got Chappelle and  and you know Chris Rock, all these iconic

Boogie:

performances, he's been a producer for those. And  also you know father of Sanaa Lathan (laughing).

JB:

Yeah well Dave Chappelle's  Real Husbands of Hollywood,

JB:

I saw. If you look up his history  he's done a lot of great work.

Boogie:

He has an impressive track record, yeah.

JB:

And father of Sanaa, right?

Boogie:

Yep, future father-in-law.

Boogie:

(Laughing)

JB::

JB::

Actress Sanaa Lathan and who's quite the looker  and uh yeah she's quite accomplished herself.

JB::

Another fun fact the role of Robert who was  Tracy's boss at the –I'm going to call it–

JB::

the community center for the arts, right, it  was played by Duane Jones who was was Ben,

JB::

prominent figure in "Night of Living Dead"  that was interesting fact that I discovered.

Boogie:

Yeah. And of course we got Tracy.

JB:

Yeah yeah you want to talk about Tracy?

Boogie:

Yeah Tracy, who's played by Rae Dawn Chong  who is the the daughter of the iconic comedian

Boogie:

and partner of Cheech and Chong, Mr. Tommy Chong.  Like she's been in a bunch of movies as well um

Boogie:

in the 80s and um some some good roles so um  yeah it's always good to see her on screen. You

Boogie:

know this is probably one of probably one of her  earlier roles but she had a very important role

Boogie:

as well because she was one of the people  who kind of brought hope to the crew. You

Boogie:

know they were all looking to make their way  and just by pure coincidence and being in the

Boogie:

right place at the right time and crossing paths  with Lee. She started off a little bumpy but she

Boogie:

actually ended up providing some hope and gave  Kenny some assistance in making his envision

Boogie:

making his vision on how to memorialize  and commemorate the life of Ramon, helped

Boogie:

him bring that to fruition. So she played a very  important role in the movie from my perspective.

JB:

Yeah for sure they realized they  have a lot in common because she was a

JB:

composer, she was a choreographer and she was  looking at the music musical aspect of it well

JB:

they were able to collaborate because uh Kenny  was DJ as well. Towards the end when you know

JB:

Melle Mel does the iconic Beat Street song  and the tribute to Ramon and following that

JB:

you see a minister come out on the stage and  tell the kids to believe it, right? And that

JB:

minister is played by Bernard Fowler who if you  don't know has a long history with the Rolling

JB:

Stones as a backup singer he's quite accomplished  as well. Very star-studded cast overall.

JB:

In another musical tidbit  for the younger generation,

JB:

Biggie...Notorious B.I.G. had a song called  "Suicidal Thoughts" and he actually has a

JB:

line in his song that references Beat  Street, says "should I die on the train

JB:

tracks like around my own Beat Street people  at the funeral front and like to miss me"

JB:

so there's been a couple other songs that  reference Beat Street and it holds up to this day.

Boogie:

Absolutely.

Boogie:

(Music)

JB::

JB::

So I also wanted to ask you guys, Boogie and  DynoWright, do you think this movie could be

JB::

made again today? If so, how?

Boogie:

I think that it could because I think in  this day right now there's a big, I mean there's

Boogie:

this there's a lot of a thirst for retro programs  and the retro look and just everybody wants the

Boogie:

retro everything. And even you look at some  of the shows and the movies that are coming

Boogie:

out now they're all like remakes or revisiting  old iconic shows and movies that we grew up on,

Boogie:

things like that. There was a show that was  on Netflix, unfortunately it was canceled,

Boogie:

it was called The Get Down. If you ever  get a chance to check that out, if you

Boogie:

haven't that's a great show. It actually it's  fiction but it takes place in the Bronx as well

Boogie:

and it kind of starts off with the beginning of  how hip hop started with these actual the parties

Boogie:

and they actually references Kool Herc and  a couple of other guys, prominent figures

Boogie:

from that time throwing these parties and who's  going to go to these parties. And it also talks

Boogie:

about the the night that the Great Blackout of New  York where there was a lot of looting and everyone

Boogie:

became DJs because they were able to get their  hands on some good equipment (laughing) but...

JB:

I remember seeing (sorry about that).

Boogie:

Yeah but that show it was so great, it was  such a great show. I think because of that show

Boogie:

becoming so iconic and having such a strong  following that I mean if you were to even imagine

Boogie:

you know mention putting Beat Street out there  I think that you know the world will gobble it

Boogie:

up. I mean you don't even have to call it  Beat Street you can call it something else

Boogie:

but it would have the same premise but  yeah I think, I think it would hold up.

JB:

I totally agree and in fact I know how it  could work if we pitch this or someone pitches

JB:

this to Lin-Manuel Miranda, right? Because I  love the confluence of the cultures you have

JB:

Ramon who who's of Puerto Rican descent, you  have the young African American kids, and you see

JB:

even some Spanish songs, right? I know Lin-Manuel  Miranda was influenced by old school hip hop. You

JB:

see it obviously throughout Hamilton which is all  hip-hop which was just a brilliant idea and just

JB:

to this day is just super successful, made a ton  of money and got a lot of more people into hip

JB:

hop and American history. You know Beat Street  is all about a huge part of American history

JB:

with the B-boy era in the early hip hop and so  like I think it could be done just like this,

JB:

and I think people would love it. He  could just enhance upon some of the songs

JB:

and I mean great I mean if you think about it  Steven Spielberg just remade West Side Story.

Boogie:

Right.

JB:

Which if i'm not mistaken set like in  the 50s and he didn't modernize it which

JB:

I love. It was not like you know we're  going to do a different twist on it and

JB:

stuff like that. He had it like exactly  so we can preserve this and just add it

JB:

what if we put it into like 4K you know  and have these personalities and have

JB:

cameos from from these same legends that made  their appearances that would be incredible.

Boogie:

Yeah i think it would work.

JB:

Yeah.

Boogie:

I think you want to get  Steven on the phone (laughing)

JB:

(Laughing) Exactly.

DynoWright:

I think the movie could be remade. I  think you can remake this movie but I don't think

DynoWright:

you can make this movie as a new film today. The  culture is not new anymore it's like 40 plus years

DynoWright:

old now. This movie was like a clarion call like  here's this new culture and here's this new thing

DynoWright:

that people don't know about and it's  going to become bigger and bigger

DynoWright:

so for that reason, I think. I don't know  what's going on underground right now that

DynoWright:

would become as big as hip hop and could  make a movie similar to Beat Street on that.

Boogie:

Right.

DynoWright:

Newer filmmaking techniques you  know maybe not modernizing it like Spielberg

DynoWright:

did with West Side Story you know? This is like  16 years before like bullet time in The Matrix.

DynoWright:

It'd be interesting to see how they would remake  this film with modern filmmaking techniques.

DynoWright:

I'm not sure how you would make a film as a brand  new statement about an emerging culture right now.

Boogie:

Right.

DynoWright:

You could say that hip  hop is the last great big American

DynoWright:

cultural export of this scale since jazz.

Boogie:

Yeah.

JB:

It's funny you mentioned exports. I was  reading how this film specifically had a big

JB:

influence on German culture, the youth in  Germany as the Berlin Wall, you know in the

JB:

tensions between East and West Germany and this  is something that really united the youth and gave

JB:

them something to to embrace back then so that  that really brought hip hop over in the dancing,

JB:

breakdancing to that part of Europe for sure. So  yeah I'm glad you used that term export there.

JB:

So Boogie is the DJ of our crew here literally  he has a DJ business, doing it for years. Did

JB:

you own the soundtrack for Beat Street  and if not would you, would you buy it?

Boogie:

I absolutely owned it and I was trying to  look, I don't have it in my stack over there it's

Boogie:

actually sitting in my mom my mom's house. I have  a collection that that I keep at my mom's house

Boogie:

but if you look at the picture (oops) get it there  (oops) that's not it where is, it at I just had it

Boogie:

where is it? I just had it there we go.

DynoWright:

Levi's showing it to us on his phone.

JB:

Yeah. yeah.

DynoWright:

He's got the vinyl!

Boogie:

That's volume one.

DynoWright:

You have volume two too?!

Boogie:

Volume two!

DynoWright:

Wow I read that this was the  first movie that had a two volume soundtrack.

Boogie:

Yeah, it probably was  because I know a lot of my other

Boogie:

soundtracks it was just like one  one right one record or it would

Boogie:

it might have a double album but  it would all be in one one sleeve.

DynoWright:

Right.

Boogie:

Yeah I had two two separate sleeves  I've owned those albums since the movie came

Boogie:

out (laughing) and they stay still play maybe a  little bump in the road here and there but they're

Boogie:

still pretty good in pretty good condition  so yeah by all means that's the soundtrack.

DynoWright:

We'll put that  in our Instagram Stories.

JB:

Yeah I love the nostalgia.  Was there anything that you guys

JB:

didn't like or or felt was lacking in the film?

Boogie:

You know what there was a little hokiness  in it occasionally but I think that's just as I

Boogie:

watch it as an adult. I mean as a child it  was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Boogie:

I didn't see much humor in it, it was more so  this movie is great oh my god my mind is blown.

Boogie:

Mid-40s now I watch it now and of course  I could see some of the funny stuff in it

Boogie:

that wasn't intentional but if you watch any 80s  film in your mid-40s you're going to find some

Boogie:

things in it that are humorous even though they  weren't meant to be so but that's probably about

Boogie:

it. Yeah that's probably about it with me but  even those little little nuances aren't enough

Boogie:

to detract away from the classic status  that I have with Beat Street (laughing).

JB:

Yeah I mean the only thing I mentioned before  is you know the the unfortunate the homophobic...

Boogie:

Oh yeah.

JB:

slur which I know is important and uh but  again we've progressed so much as a culture

JB:

we're so as a whole we're open-minded  obviously there's very large pockets

JB:

of folks that are not open-minded right  and not embracing all walks of life all

JB:

sexual orientations and et cetera but that one  obviously they they need a mulligan for that one.

JB:

I really enjoyed it so much that the only thing  that I thought was lacking was that I wish there

JB:

was like an epilogue or where are they now because  there was while there was uh two parts to the

JB:

soundtrack, there was not a sequel to Beat  Street, right? So I would love to know,

JB:

did Kenny and Tracy's romance flourish? Did they  eventually get married? Did they open up a school

JB:

and studio to inspire young dancers and hip hop  artists? That would be awesome. Did Lee go on

JB:

to dance for like a Broadway show or something?  Did he take his break dancing act on the road?

JB:

Chollie you know promoting everybody et  cetera. I'd love to see a follow-up on that.

Boogie:

Yeah, like did Chollie  eventually own the Roxy nightclub?

Boogie:

(Laughing)

JB:

He had moxie to walk into the Roxy like that

DynoWright:

(laughing)

JB:

And just kind of lay it down I'm  in charge here. He was convincing.

Boogie:

Yeah.

DynoWright:

The thing i didn't like about the  movie aside from the homophobia was there was

DynoWright:

some character development that –and i'm not a  professional film critic so listeners hit us up–

DynoWright:

but we mentioned Spit who was the rival graffiti  artist that would deface other people's burners

DynoWright:

and murals and those things. He plays a pivotal  role in the movie but we don't really know

DynoWright:

about him, we don't really find out much  about him. Maybe he was just supposed to

DynoWright:

be part of the environment that they're supposed  to deal with. He's based on a real person if we

DynoWright:

go through Style Wars, that documentary about  graffiti, you see is based on a character in

DynoWright:

that film. But if you haven't watched Style  Wars then you wouldn't know this so I felt

DynoWright:

like i needed more meaning behind Ramon dying  because he was fighting with Spit in the subway.

DynoWright:

And for that matter Robert, you know, Tracy's  boss - I was confused by the relationship

DynoWright:

I think I see them kissing in one scene or she  kissed him and it made Kenny jealous, so I felt

DynoWright:

like something that it wasn't developed much, the  sort of love triangle going on there and so I was

DynoWright:

confused by it a little bit. Maybe the listeners,  maybe you can explain it to me (laughing).

JB:

That's true. Yeah I didn't, I caught that

JB:

relationship. I didn't know it was a hug or a  kiss but it was something that was kind of like

JB:

maybe more accepted back in the day you know with  this you know you know 70s for sure and maybe

JB:

early 80s or secretaries yeah I understand that  lacked a little bit of storyline for sure, yeah.

DynoWright:

Maybe it was cut for time but

DynoWright:

those two things I would have  liked some more on on those.

Boogie:

Yeah yeah I think Ramon he just he dropped  a quick hint about Spit. They said he he said

Boogie:

something along the lines that he used to create  artwork out there and nobody really liked it.

DynoWright:

Ah.

Boogie:

And so that point, from that point on he'd  just go around writing his name on other people

Boogie:

stuff but yeah but it didn't, it wasn't much I  think it was maybe like a couple of lines and that

Boogie:

was it so I do agree that we probably could you  know give them a little more character development

Boogie:

so we kind of get a little bit more about you know  what he was doing but they were definitely, I've

Boogie:

definitely seen instances of that happen in my own  neighborhood uh with people putting up you know

Boogie:

burners and people coming along and just writing  their name across it and um yeah (laughing)

DynoWright:

(Laughing) It's  hard out here in the streets.

JB:

Yeah.

JB:

(Music)

JB:

So guys what do we think the overall rating  and I think what we'll do for the ratings for

this podcast is we have two choices 00:31:58

bring that  funky flick back (bring that funky flick back)

this podcast is we have two choices 00:32:05

or leave it in the vault (leave it in the vault)  so Boogie what would you say for this one?

Boogie:

Ha ha, bring that  funky flick back! (Laughing)

JB:

DynoWright, whaddaya you got?

DynoWright:

Bring it back!

JB:

yeah I'm with you, bring that funky  flick back, bring that funky flick back!

JB:

So yeah we we all like this and we think this  as I mentioned in the beginning this should be

JB:

required viewing Hip Hop 101 for those that love  the genre for those that want to learn about it.

JB:

(Theme music)

JB:

There you have it.

DynoWright:

We did it guys! We did it.

JB:

Yep.

DynoWright::

DynoWright::

Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your HHMCs  JB, Boogie and DynoWright. Music by Boogie.

DynoWright::

Thanks to Liv and Rose from  the Highs and Lows with Liv

DynoWright::

and Rose podcast. Go check them  out and subscribe to their show.

DynoWright::

Special thanks to Susan Berger,  Towanda Edwards and Alice Seneres.

DynoWright::

Hit us up at hiphopmovieclub@gmail.com or on  Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @hiphopmovieclub.

DynoWright::

You can also check us out at hiphopmovieclub.com.  The next episode of Hip Hop Movie Club podcast

DynoWright::

drops in two weeks. Subscribe today in your  favorite podcast app so you won't miss it.

DynoWright::

Please do share this with a friend. Shout out  to you listeners. Don't hate, congratulate!