Speaker: 00:00:00

Welcome to Hip Hop Movie Club, the show that harmonizes the rhythm of hip hop with the

magic of movies.

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Today we're discussing the 2015 documentary Rubble Kings.

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We are three old heads who put their old heads together to vibe on these films for you.

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I'm Dyno Wright, podcaster, filmmaker, longtime hip hop fan, and I've never been in a

gang, but I believe MC Hammer when he said we're all in the same gang.

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I'm JB, 80s and 90s nostalgia junkie, long time hip hop fan, and I still can't believe

that Jim Carrey was one of the main producers of this documentary.

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You

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Yes, sir.

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I'm Boogie, a DJ, longtime hip hop fan, and can you dig it?

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Can you dig it?

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Can you dig it?

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Yeah

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I had to, man, they referenced my movie.

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The role of Cyrus will be played by Boogie tonight.

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Yes sir!

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In this episode we'll answer the question, how did the violent gang environment of the

South Bronx evolve into the beginnings of the world-changing creative movement known as

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hip-hop?

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Ever wonder how hip hop was actually born?

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Well, Rubble Kings takes us back to the 1970s in the South Bronx, a neighborhood abandoned

by the city ruled by more than a hundred street gangs engaged in all-out turf wars.

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After the shocking murder of peace counselor Black Benji in 1971, something remarkable

happened.

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Rival gang leaders met at the historic Hoe Avenue peace meeting and decided to put down

their weapons.

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What followed was amazing.

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Former enemies started throwing block parties instead of punches and

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From those streets of transformation came the beats, rhymes, and moves we now call hip

hop.

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Through incredible archival footage and stories told by the gang members themselves, we

witnessed how creativity flourished in the most unlikely place.

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Here are five things you need to know about Rubble Kings.

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Number one, a product of the environment.

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The 70s South Bronx, plagued by urban decay and government abandonment, had over 100

street gangs with approximately 11,000 members who controlled nearly every neighborhood.

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Number two, cinematic influence.

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The real-life Bronx gangs documented in Rubble Kings directly inspired films like The

Warriors.

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Number three, the Hoe Avenue Peace Meeting.

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A historic 1971 gang peace treaty following Black Benji's murder transformed street

battles into block parties.

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Number four, the origins of hip hop.

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The violent gang culture of the 1970s South Bronx created the breeding ground for hip

hop's birth.

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And number five, the four elements connection.

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When territorial violence subsided, gang energy evolved into the four elements of hip hop,

DJing, MCing, breaking, and graffiti.

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Right on, right on.

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So, Rubble Kings, wonderful documentary really took us back to the street gangs.

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We didn't know how, I didn't know specifically how many gangs there were, as we mentioned

in the opening, over a hundred street gangs, over 11,000 members.

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And it was just wild, wild west turf wars all over the place.

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Boogie, what did you take away from, you know, how intense these turf wars were?

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Were back in the 70s there.

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Yeah, I mean it was really bad.

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I mean the Bronx was almost like walking through a war torn third world country.

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uh I've mentioned this in other documentaries, other recordings that we've done.

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There was a term where the Bronx is burning.

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There was world record number of arsons in the Bronx at the time.

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In the documentary they say there was over.

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30,000 buildings were burned down in the span of 10 years.

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Landlords wouldn't provide services, people would move out, landlords would burn down the

buildings, collect insurance.

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You got all these war torn battered up, beat down buildings all over the neighborhood.

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So the aesthetic itself was beat up.

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Now you got the people that are living there, in the desolate situation, New York City was

on a verge of bankruptcy.

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corrupt cops, corrupt politicians, the rise of heroin in the neighborhoods, the system let

the kids down, the services weren't there.

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So now all these kids, you have all these people who got nothing to do, they resort to

crime.

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And it just overrun the whole city.

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You mentioned there was over hundred gangs, thousands of members, every section of the

Bronx had gangs.

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And it was like jigsaw puzzle.

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You could walk from one turf into another just by walking down the street or walking

across the street or crossing where a garbage can or dumpster is.

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Things as simple as that.

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And it was very intense because people became so territorial that if you crossed into that

threshold, if you were wearing the wrong outfit, colors or whatever, you could not,

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there's a possibility you might not make it out.

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You know, so it was a very, very intense situation.

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And I mean, just hearing it from the members themselves in this documentary was

eye-opening.

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I I had an idea because I've seen, you know, news reports and things of that such, but to

actually hear, hearing it coming from the actual people who lived in it was eye-opening.

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right on.

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And the ghetto brothers were, you know, primarily featured.

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And uh yeah, they were great, great storytellers, right?

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uh Benji Melendez.

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He recounted how just deadly violent it was.

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And it was interesting the backstory.

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I like how it was filmed, by the way, you know, they use a little bit animation and uh

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and then archival footage.

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he was well, was Karate Charlie.

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He just went up to him at one point in the beginning of the show.

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like, I just wanted to, I saw this guy, looked like a tough guy and I just extended my

hand to him.

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And he was trying to, you know, get a little bit tense and everything.

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And then, you know, we became brothers.

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It was just a brotherhood.

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And then, you know, that grew and it grew because they needed something to latch onto.

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Like you said, the government was failing them.

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The city was failing them.

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So the cops aren't your friends there.

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know, where do you, they don't have the resources.

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So it's you, you bond amongst each other.

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And then because you don't have those resources, you fight to claim what, what you need to

get to survive.

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So yeah, it's just kind of spirals and spirals.

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was like in awe by all the different types and varieties of gangs, you know, based on

either ethnicities or,

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families, et cetera, et cetera.

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But they listed like some of the names.

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I mean, they kept popping off and I was recording some of them and I was just like, wowed

by, you know, Alley Cats, the Black Spades.

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Oh, these guys were tough, right?

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They were just all over the place.

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Like they would just show up and then you're surrounded.

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And the Javelins, the Latin Aces, Latin Kings, I'm sure, renegades, savage skulls.

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And, you know, they different offshoots, the turbans and

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Wherever you step, you're in someone's territory.

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Right.

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And he said like either a member or you're a victim So like wherever you grow up whatever

neighborhood you grow up at, know, whatever streets you grew up in there's a gang in that

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neighborhood, you know You either want to join them or you're gonna be terrorized and

plagued by them.

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So This is like one or the other flip a coin You know But okay

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Now, one thing that really caught me too when they were talking about the initiations with the Apache line.

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They were talking about how you would have to go down the line and have people on both

sides and they would just take jabs.

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at you the whole time down and see if you would make it down.

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They actually showed a clip from a great movie, Education of Sonny Carson.

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and they were talking about the Apache and

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That's a pretty tough movie to watch, but it was really good.

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But they showed that clip and they showed how it would happen.

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then one guy was talking about the, oh, was Yellow Benji was talking about the ghetto boys.

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said, they were playing 45 and you'd have to fight three guys as long as the song was playing.

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I was like, wow, that's a different one.

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I've never heard that one.

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And he said his brother went and bought an album.

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Cause he wanted to see one guy get really beat up and he ended up playing the whole album

and the guy's jaw got broken.

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I'm like, what the heck?

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It's like crazy stuff.

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then Charlie was talking about how the skulls, you know, they had the craziest one that they heard of.

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was like, we put one bullet in the gun and spin the barrel and then just pull the trigger and hopefully you'll make it.

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That's that's crazy.

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Yeah.

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But the backdrop to the seventies, just to go back a little bit, you know, the revolutionary times, you know, of the sixties, which was, as they mentioned, era of social

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and cultural reckoning where, a lot of these people, their heroes that were trying to stand up for, for equal rights.

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You know, they were all gunned down, right?

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Malcolm X, MLK, JFK.

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And they're like, what's going on?

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And then you had the Vietnam War and a lot of people just trying to seek to grab onto something because everything was just in turmoil.

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And so it's like, oh, well now I have this gang.

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This is what's gonna galvanize us and what I have to look forward to.

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What's gonna keep me afloat pretty much.

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It's crazy they were talking about how prior to, you know, all of this turmoil that occurred in the Bronx, how the Bronx actually had flourishing neighborhoods in it.

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And I was like, wow, I I never really realized that.

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But they were talking about how the neighborhoods were actually, you know, a lot of the neighborhoods were pretty decent.

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And then they, they said Ralph Lauren was actually from the Bronx.

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I'm like, what?

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specifically.

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And then when we talk about when the Cross Bronx Expressway was being constructed, it just made straight lines through entire neighborhoods, just taking down lot of the nice homes

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that existed in those neighborhoods.

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And once that occurred, in sociology, we call it white flight, is all the wealth or rich people in the

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neighborhoods start to leave.

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And then what's left is...

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the poor and that's kind of what happened in the Bronx.

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And I was like, wow, that kind of laid it out there.

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For sure.

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So we talked a lot about the environment.

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uh Takeaway number two is a cinematic influence.

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So the real life Bronx gangs directly inspired films like The Warriors, which Boogie quoted in his intro.

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One of the great cult classics.

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Yeah.

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This movie is such a guilty pleasure for me.

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love that.

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I sit and I quote the movie like and the mannerisms through the whole movie.

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It's crazy.

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Ha ha ha ha ha.

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I remember when we used to come on Channel 11 when I was a kid and I would watch it and in school we'd talk about it.

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But it's crazy because I was like, there's no way there was that many gangs in New York.

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Well, yes there were.

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I did not realize that.

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And they were just as big as depicted in the film.

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mean, granted they didn't dress as extravagantly as some of the gangs depicted in the Warriors, but yeah, they were everywhere.

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The Rubble Kings, lot of it like art imitates life or life imitates

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art.

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So, you know, what really happened here is just kind of spawned a...

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genre of gangs.

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Now you're talking about gangs on the West Coast that we discussed in some of our other films, etc.

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So gang violence becomes a big theme in the cinema.

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So gang violence becomes a big theme in the cinema.

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But then you have like, go back to like West Side Story, right?

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They're talking about gangs, but they're like snapping their...

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I always laugh at that one because it's like they're snapping their fingers, but you know, they have knife violence, right?

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Yeah, exactly.

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It's more like throwback.

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but Bronx Tale, et cetera, et So there's a whole genre.

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There you go, yeah.

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so yes.

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All that feeds into gang films, gangster films in the 70s.

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one thing that picked up too, they were talking about that they were drawing some of the similarities with the Warriors and they were saying that just like in the movie, internet

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and social media didn't exist back then, but the word got around, you know, just like in the Warriors when they were trying to run, they would pinpoint wherever they were via the

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radio DJ.

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It's, you know, word got around pretty quickly.

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when something was gonna happen or when there was gonna be a throw down between two gangs, you know, or some, or for gang, the rumor that something happened and it was gonna be

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retaliation, the word got around pretty quickly.

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And I said, oh, okay, all right.

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whole big meeting in the Bronx with Cyrus, whose quote, you know, I quote it in the beginning of the intro.

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They actually ended up having a big...

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meeting of such.

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when, granted, it was not the same purposes for Warriors, but to see that something like that actually did happen where they were able to pull all of the gangs in the area

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together was kind of interesting.

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I mean, I never thought that something like that would ever actually be able to happen.

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I knew that they did find peace at some point, you know, prior to the emergence of hip hop, you know, really starting to get its root and traction, but...

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To see that, to hear it from the people that were actually there was very interesting.

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That's a perfect lead into the next takeaway, the Hoe Avenue Peace Meeting in 1971.

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Unfortunately, it was after Black Benji from the Ghetto Brothers gang was murdered, he became an ambassador of peace.

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So these gangs had a president, a vice president, they had a whole hierarchy.

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then the Ghetto Brothers were trying to, I really admired, the Ghetto Brothers were trying to do more than just...

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obviously promote violence and protect themselves.

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were trying to, they had a cultural mission and trying to improve lives.

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And they were helping out with charities and things of that nature.

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And then they were trying to instill peace.

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And unfortunately when Benji, Black Benji went out, and tried to instill peace, was

murdered.

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But afterwards, that kind of upset a whole bunch of the...

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other gangs and it kind of galvanized them.

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uh remarkably enough, the peace treaty was successful and they agreed to put down their weapons.

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Their outlet for expression kind of leads into a lot of the elements of hip hop.

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You see actually Afrika Bambaata is featured a lot in the interviews and DJ Red Alert and I believe they were both part of the Zulu Nation, right?

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so as they start adopting hip hop, before that, Ghetto Brothers had put out music too.

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They had an album and they kind of, you know, had a creative outlet and the Latin music became popular.

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so for takeaway number four, we're talking about the origins of hip hop where the gang culture became the breeding ground for the birth of hip hop as the peace treaty took hold

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and the creative outlet became, rapping over breakbeats and dancing and et cetera.

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So that became an outlet and these

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crews started inviting each other to their block parties and it kind of became a cultural event.

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We're intermingling and it's like, all right, we're gonna get down with this.

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And it was like the stop the violence movement that we would see in the 90s kind of took shape.

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I think what's great about this film is that we always hear about Kool Herc and Sedgwick Avenue and the party, but all the things that led into that,

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don't even hear about that when you talk about the 50th anniversary of hip hop.

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so those groups coming together is an important part of this history that you don't get to

hear so much.

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So that's why I really enjoyed this film because

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Hip-hop had to start somewhere and it wasn't just Kool Herc doing what he was doing.

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You know, there's other things happening and the inclusion of Afrika Bambaataa was really great.

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He was a member of the Black Spades, which turned into the Zulu Nation.

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And then you have all these other luminaries of hip-hop joined the Zulu Nation.

221

00:16:40,375 --> 00:16:44,041

And then no one talks about like when the Zulu Nation sort of broke up.

222

00:16:44,041 --> 00:16:48,458

And Afrika Bambaataa's legal or at least accusations of troubles.

223

00:16:48,916 --> 00:16:49,375

But

224

00:16:49,375 --> 00:16:50,291

back in the beginning.

225

00:16:50,291 --> 00:17:02,791

I think that what I would like to see more is like the creation of hip hop from the standpoint of like the Zulu Nation, like Black Spades turning into, from a gang into like

226

00:17:02,791 --> 00:17:04,291

a hip hop collective.

227

00:17:05,291 --> 00:17:07,958

I that'd be like the part two of this would be really great.

228

00:17:08,208 --> 00:17:09,083

Right.

229

00:17:09,083 --> 00:17:09,666

Right.

230

00:17:09,666 --> 00:17:12,666

What was the conversation like after the peace treaty?

231

00:17:12,666 --> 00:17:15,791

Like when you guys left the peace treaty, what was the discussion?

232

00:17:15,791 --> 00:17:16,541

Like, how did that go?

233

00:17:16,541 --> 00:17:19,625

I want to be in a room where What happened?

234

00:17:19,958 --> 00:17:22,291

What was that conversation like?

235

00:17:22,291 --> 00:17:30,791

And was it just something like when you walked in and you were just talking and a bunch of people were just uh brushing you off?

236

00:17:30,791 --> 00:17:32,458

Were people just shaking their head yes?

237

00:17:32,458 --> 00:17:35,458

Or was it like a big discussion about it?

238

00:17:35,458 --> 00:17:36,708

How did that go?

239

00:17:37,708 --> 00:17:48,125

Cause we all know like to change the course of a group, a collective like that, it's not easy sometimes, you know, we all know that.

240

00:17:48,916 --> 00:17:53,041

Or, you know, in this case it might've been that easy cause it might've been like, hey, you know what?

241

00:17:53,041 --> 00:17:55,250

Yeah, the Ghetto Brothers are right, let's do this.

242

00:17:55,250 --> 00:17:56,916

And everybody just signed on.

243

00:17:56,916 --> 00:17:59,583

You know, I would love to hear how that happened.

244

00:18:00,875 --> 00:18:01,791

Yeah.

245

00:18:02,041 --> 00:18:06,750

I always think of Tribe Called Quest when I hear Zulu Nation.

246

00:18:06,750 --> 00:18:11,000

He says that I think it's ended Buggin out and it's somewhere in low end theory.

247

00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:12,916

But that just sticks with me, right?

248

00:18:12,916 --> 00:18:15,541

Because he shouts out Zulu Nation.

249

00:18:15,541 --> 00:18:23,250

It's so funny though, when they had the spring, the Rider when they had the spring 99 concert, when I got to introduce, when I was out on the stage and I had to introduce

250

00:18:23,250 --> 00:18:28,666

everybody that was performing, I said, we got my Man Phife Dawg from the Zulu Nation.

251

00:18:28,666 --> 00:18:30,041

Hahaha.

252

00:18:30,166 --> 00:18:31,166

he's nice.

253

00:18:31,166 --> 00:18:33,916

That's amazing.

254

00:18:33,916 --> 00:18:34,958

Love it.

255

00:18:34,958 --> 00:18:35,125

it.

256

00:18:35,125 --> 00:18:35,291

it.

257

00:18:35,291 --> 00:18:37,708

But Dyno Wright, your point was great.

258

00:18:37,708 --> 00:18:42,541

It's like the prequel to the Sedgwick Avenue.

259

00:18:42,625 --> 00:18:43,541

birth of hip hop.

260

00:18:43,541 --> 00:18:48,375

wasn't all of a sudden like, all of a sudden it's a pajama jammy jam back to school for my sister.

261

00:18:48,375 --> 00:18:50,208

It just popped out of nowhere, right?

262

00:18:50,208 --> 00:19:00,500

There will, we, I mean, we had learned in these movies about the Bronx is burning and the landlord, but we didn't know the extent of it until you lift up the covers on this movie

263

00:19:00,500 --> 00:19:06,125

and there's a hundred gangs where you cannot step on the wrong turf or you're going to be

assaulted.

264

00:19:07,166 --> 00:19:09,250

It was just total mayhem.

265

00:19:09,250 --> 00:19:09,458

People...

266

00:19:09,458 --> 00:19:10,500

People have no idea.

267

00:19:10,500 --> 00:19:11,583

lot of people have no idea.

268

00:19:11,583 --> 00:19:16,541

New York City, all glamour, the city that never sleeps, all the lights.

269

00:19:16,541 --> 00:19:19,708

at this point now it's been more than 50 years since New York was like that.

270

00:19:19,708 --> 00:19:23,333

You know, we remember it because we were there for that.

271

00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:28,541

But yeah, it's not the place, it's like a totally different place now.

272

00:19:28,541 --> 00:19:35,083

You couldn't walk down Times Square without like being accosted by one vice or another.

273

00:19:35,083 --> 00:19:38,625

Now it's like Disneyland.

274

00:19:38,625 --> 00:19:39,458

That's right.

275

00:19:39,458 --> 00:19:44,041

Yeah, this generation really, they have no idea what it's like, what it was like to walk

through Times Square.

276

00:19:44,041 --> 00:19:52,500

I remember like, we used to take our school bus trips up to New York to go to the

different museums.

277

00:19:52,666 --> 00:19:56,833

And I remember we would come out of the Lincoln tunnel and hit 42nd Street.

278

00:19:57,166 --> 00:20:04,541

And it was just like, what kind of like, and I'm living in Newark at the time, so I'm

like, well, what is this?

279

00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:07,333

This is crazy.

280

00:20:07,333 --> 00:20:08,500

were like,

281

00:20:08,541 --> 00:20:11,833

The Night Walkers were everywhere.

282

00:20:13,916 --> 00:20:19,708

During the day, this is like, we're in a school trip, it's like nine in the morning.

283

00:20:21,541 --> 00:20:26,333

I mean, dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty.

284

00:20:26,500 --> 00:20:32,875

But now, like you said, it's like Disneyland, Disney World, like, wow, lights everywhere.

285

00:20:34,083 --> 00:20:36,875

It's crazy, the transformation.

286

00:20:37,250 --> 00:20:47,166

And like I said, I always remember, like I always watched the Warriors and it's funny

because like, I reference the Warriors because they referenced in the movie, but as

287

00:20:47,166 --> 00:20:53,291

they're running through the streets, you know, you can clearly see in some places you

could tell where they are.

288

00:20:53,583 --> 00:20:55,291

Like, you know, they're, okay, that's Union Square.

289

00:20:55,291 --> 00:20:58,041

Okay, that's, you know, they're running, that's Broadway right there.

290

00:20:58,041 --> 00:20:59,250

That's the, okay, yep.

291

00:20:59,250 --> 00:21:02,875

And you go about those areas now, it looks completely different.

292

00:21:03,875 --> 00:21:04,458

You know.

293

00:21:04,458 --> 00:21:05,583

a long time.

294

00:21:05,750 --> 00:21:07,291

No, it's really not.

295

00:21:07,500 --> 00:21:08,958

It's really not.

296

00:21:09,708 --> 00:21:11,833

You know, it's like, wow.

297

00:21:12,916 --> 00:21:22,833

And it makes me wonder if we didn't have the South Bronx like it was, and we didn't have

the great blackout that people got a lot of equipment out of.

298

00:21:23,125 --> 00:21:31,750

I feel like hip hop would have evolved anyway, would have come out of somewhere, if it's

just that inevitable, but it would have been totally different if it originated, I don't

299

00:21:31,750 --> 00:21:36,833

know, even in Queensbridge or something, or if it happened to originate on the West Coast.

300

00:21:36,833 --> 00:21:41,750

And so these elements are quite unique, not unique, but...

301

00:21:41,750 --> 00:21:45,500

this combination of elements to create what we now know as hip hop.

302

00:21:45,500 --> 00:21:48,500

Boy, it was an accident almost.

303

00:21:48,916 --> 00:21:49,875

Yeah, the perfect storm.

304

00:21:49,875 --> 00:21:51,416

305

00:21:52,291 --> 00:21:53,000

Exactly.

306

00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:53,708

Yeah, what a story.

307

00:21:53,708 --> 00:21:55,291

Bronx Expressway never got built?

308

00:21:55,291 --> 00:21:56,708

You wouldn't have this white flight.

309

00:21:56,708 --> 00:21:58,791

You wouldn't have the situation you in the South Bronx.

310

00:21:58,791 --> 00:22:02,416

Like what, who knows what hip hop would have come out of?

311

00:22:02,416 --> 00:22:03,708

I feel like it would have come out anyway.

312

00:22:03,708 --> 00:22:05,958

Maybe it would come out of Queens Bridge.

313

00:22:05,958 --> 00:22:10,750

Maybe the South Bronx versus Queens Bridge beef would have evolved differently.

314

00:22:13,583 --> 00:22:16,125

Then Nas may not have been the rapper he was.

315

00:22:16,125 --> 00:22:19,500

So the like butterfly effect is a little wild here.

316

00:22:19,875 --> 00:22:21,125

Absolutely.

317

00:22:21,333 --> 00:22:22,458

that's true.

318

00:22:22,833 --> 00:22:34,208

So then all four elements were present because you had, you had the rapping, you had the DJing, you had the graffiti and the breaking and kind of like crews of each, right?

319

00:22:34,208 --> 00:22:37,083

Pretty much you had collectives and crews.

320

00:22:37,083 --> 00:22:45,541

We've seen the dance battles, we've seen the rap battles, just like you just mentioned there between South Bronx and...

321

00:22:45,541 --> 00:22:50,875

the violence you see and just like the battles, just rap battles or breaking battles.

322

00:22:50,875 --> 00:22:51,750

Exactly.

323

00:22:51,750 --> 00:23:00,000

your crew couldn't exist unless you had somebody in your crew that could that can do all you had to have somebody that could do at least one of these things.

324

00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:03,875

Each person, like a person that can do some, I guess some people could do all of them.

325

00:23:03,875 --> 00:23:06,625

But you had to have those representations.

326

00:23:06,666 --> 00:23:08,416

You know, just like in the Warriors.

327

00:23:08,416 --> 00:23:11,375

They had a member in their crew that tagged.

328

00:23:11,875 --> 00:23:13,666

You had Rembrandt.

329

00:23:13,833 --> 00:23:16,083

spray paint the Big Red W wherever they went.

330

00:23:16,083 --> 00:23:17,375

That was their tag.

331

00:23:17,375 --> 00:23:21,791

I mean, granted, that was very simplistic of a tag.

332

00:23:22,250 --> 00:23:28,583

Most tags are much more elaborate than a Big Red W, but evolved into the graffiti artists.

333

00:23:28,583 --> 00:23:34,625

Instead of fighting, you do a choreographed moves, imitating fighting, but you're doing it to music.

334

00:23:34,625 --> 00:23:36,166

There's your B-Boys.

335

00:23:36,875 --> 00:23:38,750

The DJ was the guy who was...

336

00:23:38,750 --> 00:23:40,750

commanding the break beats.

337

00:23:41,583 --> 00:23:49,083

the MC was the, they talked about it as the president and the group was the charismatic one, the one who could talk to the people.

338

00:23:49,291 --> 00:23:51,208

The charismatic one became the MC.

339

00:23:51,208 --> 00:23:53,458

That's the one who was getting the crowd hyped up.

340

00:23:53,458 --> 00:23:55,375

They could get the crowd to follow along.

341

00:23:55,375 --> 00:23:59,375

So you had to have members in your gang-turned-crew.

342

00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,583

And you know, there we have it, the most four elements.

343

00:24:02,583 --> 00:24:05,833

It's funny though, we always talk about

344

00:24:05,833 --> 00:24:08,541

a fifth element of knowledge being passed along.

345

00:24:08,708 --> 00:24:11,000

He said the fifth element of style.

346

00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:14,833

And I said, huh, because you did see a style change.

347

00:24:14,958 --> 00:24:26,250

You know, guys were went from from went from looking like biker gang members to being a little more flashy, dressing to impress the ladies, you know, said, the ladies have always

348

00:24:26,250 --> 00:24:26,875

been around.

349

00:24:26,875 --> 00:24:27,916

Yeah, they've always been around.

350

00:24:27,916 --> 00:24:32,875

But now you could talk to women from different areas where you couldn't go before.

351

00:24:32,875 --> 00:24:35,958

without the threat of being chased out.

352

00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:44,541

Now you can go talk to that woman over there that lives in another neighborhood or that Black guy, go talk to that Puerto Rican or vice versa because there's no threat of getting

353

00:24:44,541 --> 00:24:47,416

jumped or chased out of the neighborhood now.

354

00:24:47,416 --> 00:24:48,791

So now the style is changing.

355

00:24:48,791 --> 00:24:51,250

I'm like, ah.

356

00:24:51,291 --> 00:24:52,500

That was a good point, yeah.

357

00:24:52,500 --> 00:25:00,208

Yeah, that was the first time I think I actually seen a documentary where they specifically pinpointed that moment of changing.

358

00:25:00,250 --> 00:25:00,583

Yeah.

359

00:25:00,583 --> 00:25:03,041

see the evolution of style changing.

360

00:25:03,041 --> 00:25:09,041

Because I remember, as I was younger, you see guys and they would, you know, cut off this and cut off that.

361

00:25:09,041 --> 00:25:10,708

And then it was like, nah, no more ripped off stuff.

362

00:25:10,708 --> 00:25:13,375

You're gonna start wearing, know, flashy stuff.

363

00:25:13,375 --> 00:25:15,791

know, everything's clean and matching.

364

00:25:15,791 --> 00:25:21,416

Your hat, your sneakers matching, your shoelaces and your hat are matching, your belt and, you know, your shirt matching.

365

00:25:21,416 --> 00:25:23,833

Everything's starting to change up a little bit.

366

00:25:23,833 --> 00:25:25,125

And I'm like, okay.

367

00:25:25,166 --> 00:25:27,291

Yeah, yeah.

368

00:25:27,416 --> 00:25:37,083

There's definitely a divergence between the original look that was like cut off jeans and like you look like rock and roll punks.

369

00:25:37,791 --> 00:25:40,416

You know, there's a lot of studded leather belts and stuff like that.

370

00:25:40,416 --> 00:25:46,166

And then you get this kind of break and then you get the more refined look, I guess you call it.

371

00:25:46,166 --> 00:25:53,583

And you start looking like Kool Moe Dee in 1983 or something and less like Joey Ramone in ‘78.

372

00:25:53,583 --> 00:26:01,333

but even like, know, even like you think about, you know, Afrika Bambaataa in the Soulsonic Force, how they will how they appeared on stage and then there's versus like Run

373

00:26:01,333 --> 00:26:02,416

DMC.

374

00:26:02,500 --> 00:26:04,041

We talked about Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys

375

00:26:04,041 --> 00:26:06,208

Yeah, you know, they look like the guys from around the way.

376

00:26:06,208 --> 00:26:08,583

Yeah, the guys from around the way.

377

00:26:08,625 --> 00:26:10,916

Kurtis Blow was dressing them all

378

00:26:10,916 --> 00:26:12,333

like pimp-like.

379

00:26:13,041 --> 00:26:20,708

then, know, Run DMC was like, right, we're the Adidas, the tracksuits and the hat.

380

00:26:21,250 --> 00:26:23,083

And that became the standard.

381

00:26:23,083 --> 00:26:25,375

So yeah, the evolution of style is a good point, Boogie.

382

00:26:25,375 --> 00:26:31,041

That's kind of like a fifth element and or knowledge, right?

383

00:26:31,041 --> 00:26:35,416

They both vie for a top billing is another element.

384

00:26:35,416 --> 00:26:42,541

Yeah, there's probably lots of documentaries that need to be made about hip hop style and its evolution.

385

00:26:42,541 --> 00:26:44,625

There are some out there.

386

00:26:44,666 --> 00:26:46,083

Get ‘em on the show.

387

00:26:46,083 --> 00:26:48,958

I've come across couple of them because I know one of them.

388

00:26:49,333 --> 00:26:54,208

Walker, wear I know she pops up in a couple of them.

389

00:26:54,208 --> 00:26:55,708

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

390

00:26:55,708 --> 00:26:57,541

I'm going look for those ones.

391

00:26:57,541 --> 00:26:59,458

can talk about those.

392

00:26:59,458 --> 00:26:59,750

guys.

393

00:26:59,750 --> 00:27:01,666

394

00:27:01,958 --> 00:27:11,666

had at, I don't know, was that MoMA or some other art museum or the bling, the bling um exhibit, Museum of Natural History, right?

395

00:27:11,666 --> 00:27:17,958

All bling was all like that was worn by all hip hop artists, like flashiness, et cetera.

396

00:27:17,958 --> 00:27:18,500

Yeah.

397

00:27:18,500 --> 00:27:25,791

I went to FIT one afternoon and they had that hip hop clothing exhibition that was really

great.

398

00:27:26,541 --> 00:27:29,000

So it's definitely something put on the list.

399

00:27:30,416 --> 00:27:31,416

Hip-hop fashion can talk.

400

00:27:31,416 --> 00:27:32,166

That could be...

401

00:27:32,166 --> 00:27:33,416

that's her name.

402

00:27:34,833 --> 00:27:37,375

I was like, I know it's Walker where Amber Walker, I follow her.

403

00:27:37,375 --> 00:27:37,916

I follow her.

404

00:27:37,916 --> 00:27:41,833

I've been following her like years since I got her IG.

405

00:27:42,333 --> 00:27:43,625

Right, right, right.

406

00:27:43,833 --> 00:27:46,458

One more point about the four elements.

407

00:27:46,458 --> 00:27:53,083

think there's an easy connection you can make between gang culture, I guess, and graffiti.

408

00:27:53,750 --> 00:28:00,416

Because even now, there's still a stigma attached to graffiti and tagging, whether you

consider it vandalism or not.

409

00:28:00,416 --> 00:28:02,458

mean, that is sort of a gang activity.

410

00:28:03,666 --> 00:28:08,708

But now it's been monetized quite a lot, and it's different now.

411

00:28:08,708 --> 00:28:09,666

Yeah.

412

00:28:09,750 --> 00:28:11,916

And even it's crazy though.

413

00:28:11,916 --> 00:28:15,916

It's even I know I've seen in my neighborhood with the gangs.

414

00:28:15,916 --> 00:28:24,333

Well, I call them fake gangs, but that in the neighborhood, but they actually still tag areas.

415

00:28:24,333 --> 00:28:33,541

there's some like right at the corner of my street there, there's some tag there, but it's like, it doesn't hold the same weight as if I was walking through the Bronx and saw that

416

00:28:33,541 --> 00:28:35,375

tag I'd go run for cover.

417

00:28:35,375 --> 00:28:36,291

Yeah.

418

00:28:38,375 --> 00:28:39,625

Oh, I got one point.

419

00:28:39,625 --> 00:28:40,541

Yeah.

420

00:28:40,958 --> 00:28:47,958

The song that they kept playing in this movie that I love, absolutely love, is “Just Begun” by the Jimmy Castor Bunch.

421

00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:50,291

Shout out to that song. Oh my God.

422

00:28:50,291 --> 00:28:53,291

Every time that song comes on, I want to start dancing.

423

00:28:53,416 --> 00:28:56,416

That is a great song.

424

00:28:56,458 --> 00:28:59,291

I heard it come on, was like, oh, here we go.

425

00:28:59,291 --> 00:29:01,458

I'm trying to type notes and I'm over here rocking with it.

426

00:29:01,458 --> 00:29:02,416

Like, oh man.

427

00:29:02,416 --> 00:29:05,416

(singing)

428

00:29:05,625 --> 00:29:07,083

I'm like, yes.

429

00:29:07,083 --> 00:29:08,375

There was good music in this.

430

00:29:08,375 --> 00:29:09,416

The score was nice.

431

00:29:09,416 --> 00:29:09,958

Yeah.

432

00:29:10,166 --> 00:29:11,416

This score, yeah

433

00:29:12,875 --> 00:29:17,333

Speaking of shout outs, we wanted to shout out DJ Dynamite for recommending Rubble Kings to us.

434

00:29:17,500 --> 00:29:19,583

Yeah, thank you, Dynamite.

435

00:29:19,625 --> 00:29:20,958

Hope to collab with you again.

436

00:29:21,541 --> 00:29:24,541

so let's go around the room and we'll rate Rubble Kings.

437

00:29:24,666 --> 00:29:26,208

So BooGie, for Rubble Kings.

438

00:29:26,208 --> 00:29:27,708

Bring that funky flick back or leave it in the vault?

439

00:29:27,791 --> 00:29:29,375

(echoing) Bring that funky flick back

440

00:29:29,416 --> 00:29:31,791

or leave it in the vault

(sound of vault door closing)

441

00:29:32,875 --> 00:29:35,875

Bring that funky flick back, no doubt about it.

442

00:29:37,083 --> 00:29:38,583

DynoWright?

443

00:29:39,083 --> 00:29:40,458

Definitely bring this funky flick back.

444

00:29:40,458 --> 00:29:44,250

It's unanimous bring this funky flick back. A lot of historical content.

445

00:29:45,041 --> 00:29:47,666

I'm always amazed by how much archival footage exists.

446

00:29:48,083 --> 00:29:49,541

It wasn't easy to have.

447

00:29:49,541 --> 00:29:52,291

You had to have like legit equipment.

448

00:29:52,666 --> 00:29:55,125

You can't just have like a phone in your pocket.

449

00:29:55,125 --> 00:29:56,791

It's 50 years ago.

450

00:29:56,958 --> 00:29:59,958

Yeah, I wish I had come across this earlier.

451

00:30:00,166 --> 00:30:02,625

But yeah, I'm glad we reviewed this one.

452

00:30:02,708 --> 00:30:03,375

Yup.

453

00:30:03,791 --> 00:30:06,791

Like I mentioned in the opening, Jim Carrey was credited as a producer.

454

00:30:06,791 --> 00:30:07,833

That's wild.

455

00:30:08,416 --> 00:30:09,375

I would never have. Yeah.

456

00:30:09,375 --> 00:30:12,208

I think he had seen an early screening of it.

457

00:30:12,250 --> 00:30:13,333

Yeah, that’s awesome.

458

00:30:13,541 --> 00:30:15,041

He got behind it. Yup.

459

00:30:15,625 --> 00:30:16,291

That was so funny.

460

00:30:16,291 --> 00:30:18,750

said, I was like, let me go to IMDB.

461

00:30:19,583 --> 00:30:20,583

Producer credit.

462

00:30:20,583 --> 00:30:21,833

Oh, he really is there.

463

00:30:25,166 --> 00:30:27,541

Fire Marshal Bill, let me tell you something.

464

00:30:27,666 --> 00:30:28,625

Let me tell you something.

465

00:30:30,375 --> 00:30:32,625

Oh man. Oh man.

466

00:30:33,916 --> 00:30:36,000

Ace Ventura was behind this one.

467

00:30:39,125 --> 00:30:43,750

Hip-Hop Movie Club is produced by your HHMC's JB, Boogie, and Dyno Wright.

468

00:30:43,958 --> 00:30:45,500

Theme music by Boogie.

469

00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:54,666

Join us on May 28th at the Lower Macungie Library for a screening and panel discussion by us of We Want the Funk, the new documentary from PBS.

470

00:30:55,083 --> 00:30:58,083

Go to lowermaclib.org to register.

471

00:30:58,625 --> 00:31:03,250

And as always, check out our full live event schedule on our website, hiphopmovieclub.com.

472

00:31:04,125 --> 00:31:06,333

Thanks for listening to Hip-Hop Movie Club Podcast.

473

00:31:06,541 --> 00:31:09,083

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend.

474

00:31:09,250 --> 00:31:10,875

It's a real power up for us.

475

00:31:11,708 --> 00:31:13,041

And remember, don't hate.

476

00:31:13,291 --> 00:31:14,250

Graduate.

477

00:31:15,333 --> 00:31:16,291

It's about that time.

478

00:31:16,291 --> 00:31:17,625

It’s the time of the year.

479

00:31:19,083 --> 00:31:20,250

Graduation.

480

00:31:21,416 --> 00:31:22,583

Dads and grads.

481

00:31:22,583 --> 00:31:24,916

Get that graduation party lineup.

482

00:31:25,083 --> 00:31:26,208

Right on.

483

00:31:26,208 --> 00:31:27,833

If you need a DJ, hit me up.

484

00:31:29,458 --> 00:31:32,458

BooGie is available for graduation parties!

485

00:31:32,541 --> 00:31:35,166

That’s right.

486

00:31:36,625 --> 00:31:39,041

No mumble rap though.

487

00:31:39,041 --> 00:31:41,208

No mumble rap here, only good stuff.

488

00:31:41,250 --> 00:31:42,500

Only the good stuff.