Throwback: Beat Street

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Beat Street is one of the early films to document hip-hop culture in the Bronx and was directed by Stan Lathan and produced by Harry Belafonte. The film is based on a script from Steven Yeager and Wild Style, the iconic documentary about 80’s hip-hop that came out the previous year in 1983. Little Louie Vega, Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force, Kool Herc, Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five, The Treacherous Three, The Rocksteady Crew, The New York City Breakers and Doug E. Fresh all made historic appearances in the film about graffiti, breakdancing and MCing. The movie came out the same year as Purple Rain and Breakin’ and a year before Krush Groove. Beat Street helped lead hip-hop into the cinema before the raptor (rapper who acts) became an entertainment commonality. The soundtrack featured music from some of the artists who were in the film as well as songs from Cindy Mizelle, Arthur Baker and The System and Jazzy Jay. In 2012 Yeager made the original script available at smashwords.com.