Starring Guy Davis, Jon Chardiet, Rae Dawn Chong, and Leon W. Grant
Directed by Stan Lathan
Music and Lyrics by various
This week, we dive into early rap culture with two musicals from the mid-80's. By 1983, rap, hip-hop, and breakdancing were just starting to come off the streets of major cities and into dance clubs like the ones in this movie. Record companies were starting to take notice, too, as were several major movie studios who saw the success of those clubs. How well does this do in representing that new culture, seen through the lives of four young men living in the South Bronx? Let's begin on the streets with the kids and their breakdancing and find out...
The Story: Kenny Kirkland (Davis) is a DJ and aspiring composer. His best friend Ramon Franco (Chardiet) is a graffiti artist who tags himself "Ramo," and wants nothing more than to decorate one unmarked subway car with his work. Ramon's girlfriend Carmen (Saundra Santiago) wants him to marry her and help her take care of their child.
Kenny's brother Lee (Robert Taylor) is a member of one of the breakdancing gangs. He first turns up when he DJs for a party to rumble with another local breakdancing gang, then at the Bronx nightclub the Roxy. Fellow composer Tracy Carlson (Chong) is impressed with his moves and invites him to try out for TV dance show. He's rejected, and Kenny accuses Tracy of being a snob. She goes to his house to make up, and they end up falling for each other.
Things begin to look up when Kenny gets a job at the Burning Spear Club, and Ramon finally gets an apartment for him and his family. Kenny's not as happy when he first catches Tracy with her professor (Duane Jones), then he accidentally erases his creation on their equipment. Ramon's having his own problems. There's an artist named Spit (Bill Anagros) who keeps defacing his work, and job interviews are keeping him from the art he loves. His attempt to make one last try at that unmarked train leads to a confrontation with Spit that ends in tragedy. Kenny, however, will never forget his friend or the lasting impression he left on his music, his family, and their community.
The Song and Dance: This one has a lot in common with Saturday Night Fever, from the New York Boroughs setting to its use of actual Bronx locations (including the real Roxy nightclub). Chardiet is by far the best thing here with his intense performance as the tough youth who sees beauty in his art where others see something damaging or criminal. Some of the dancing is genuinely amazing too, both in the breakdancing sequences and at the TV show audition Tracy wrote a song for.
Favorite Number: We open with "Breaker's Revenge" over a montage of Lee and his friends breakdancing in the streets of the Bronx and Ramon. "Son of Beat Street" and "Baptise the Beat" are the dance numbers at the house party. Juicy performs "Give Me All" and over the end credits "Beat Street Strut." "Santa's Rap" is Lee and two of his buddies (The Treacherous Three) singing a comic Christmas rap number as Santa and two kids complain about his gifts. Jake Homes sings the R&B ballad "Strangers In a Strange World" as Kenny takes Tracy home. "Frantic Situation" is Afrika Bamaataa's goofy jungle routine at the Burning Spear Club. "Battle Cry" is the number that gets Lee and his buddies into trouble when they're practicing a dance routine, and the cops think they're actually trying to hurt each other.
The huge finale involves Davies and almost every rap group in the film dressed in the most 80's collection of tulle, sequins, chains, and vinyl saluting the life and death of Ramon with "Beat Street Breakdown." A gospel choir finishes off with "Believe."
Trivia: Filming locations included the actual Roxy (which has since been demolished), the City College of New York, and the Bronx subway.
Most of the graffitti used in the movie wasn't real, but actual graffiti artists were used as consultants.
What I Don't Like: It has a lot of the same problems as Saturday Night Fever - namely, it was made to represent a certain time and place, and hasn't aged well beyond that. New York and rap culture have changed a lot in 40 years. The crazy costumes at the clubs and in the finale alone scream "New York 1984." There is some bad language (though not to the degree of Fever) and violence, not to mention that tragic ending. Most of the artists here probably aren't remembered by anyone but huge fans of 80's rap, too, and neither the actors, nor the plot are really all that interesting.
The Big Finale: If you want to learn more about early rap culture or rap in New York in the 80's or are a fan of the rap and R&B musicals of the mid-80's, this one is worth checking out for some of the numbers alone.
Home Media: Easily found anywhere; it's streaming for free on The Roku Channel and Pluto TV.
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