They-Call-Me-Steve Beat Street felt a little off track. It's a movie that took elements from an emerging culture and tried to fuse them with typical Hollywood fluff. As a result, it was sort of a glamorized version of Wild Style in how it was produced and presented, but it lacked the same authenticity. I've heard more than a few 'purists' denounce it over the years. Personally speaking I tend to agree with them. I will cut it a little slack for a solid effort, keeping in mind that in 84 they didn't exactly have a tried and tested template to work with when it came to HipHop cinema.Still a classic though, in certain respects. With many great cameos and HipHop moments nobody else was giving us at the time, even the most die-hard purist might have a hard time writing it off completely. The Melle Mel title track comes to mind, as does the Treacherous 3 featuring Doug E Fresh 'Santa's Rap' performance. At six years old when this came out, HipHop was still new to my young ears. I do recall 'Santa's Rap' in particular being a playground favorite. While they may have been trying to cash in on a rising star, they did manage to introduce HipHop to a broader audience.

gcd70 Closer to reality and containing more depth than "Breakdance", Stan Lathan's "Beat Street" is still a pretty dull show. Again this pic is really only cashing in on the 'breakin' craze but at least we get a little bit of entertainment from the plot, which concerns the lives of three young friends and a younger brother, all growing up in Queens, New York. Each has their own unique talent. One is a hustler, one a d.j., another an artist who creates 'burners', while little bro' Lee is a hot 'hip hop' dancer.Lathan is unable to generate any real audience interest in the story though, and his young cast are likewise struggling with their characters. Therefore it is left almost entirely to the funky music and the 'fresh' dancing to save the day.Choreography is again sharp for both club and street scenes, but this alone is not enough to lift ""Beat Street" to greater heights. Unfortunately the film really falls flat late on, after showing a glimmer of hope that it just might get interesting.Sunday, August 25, 1996 - Video

JZvezda "...with a kung-fu grip that don't even work!"Wheeeeeeeeeeeee! Here we go...Kenny is an aspiring mixmaster/deejay. He mans the wheels-of-steel at Kool Herc's happening hangout, The Burning Spear. Kenny's brother is Lee. Lee participates in subway platform breakdance battles. Lee befriends serious dance student Tracy. Tracy falls for a guy from the wrong side of the split-open cardboard box, Lee's brother Kenny. They have snowball fights, roam subway passages together, and have arguments about what it really means to be "down".Oh, and Kenny has a friend named Ramo' who bombs (spray-paints graffiti on) the endless number of clear, white, subway trains that were seemingly in circulation during the filming of this movie. Only, there's some jagoff named "Spit" that keeps painting over Ramo's mobile masterpieces. "Why does he do it", asks Ramo's homey. "'Cuz he can't do no better" comes the response. Yup. Intense stuff.But "Beat Street" was never about plot, or acting, or even breakdancing (there are but a few short scenes featuring any at-length dancing at all). It's all about rap songs with lyrics like: --"My name is Brenda Starr, and I, move to the beat/I go to the Roxy just to move my feet"... or: "Jingle, and Jangle, a Jingle-Jangle for the poor/and when you get your welfare check, you can buy reindeer by the score!"It's all about juicylishus wet dripping Jerri-curls and goose down coats. It's about Fila suits and sneakers with the tongues hanging out. It's about girls named Sha-Rock and guys named Cosmic Pop, Crazy Legs or Powerful Pexster. It's about manly-man rapper Grandmaster Mel E. Mel, wearing zebra-print scarves, thigh-high black leather boots, dreadlocks with Christmas ornaments on the ends, and a wrap shawl that looks like a mutant-sized tarantula crawled onto his shoulders, threw-up, and then died.Stay tuned for the film's "Showtime At The Apollo/Welcome To Your Own Personal Hell" grand finale. It's true-- white men can't jump and not all black guys can rap either. Word.

vvanpo The Harry Belafonte-produced "Beat Street" captured a slice of hip-hop back when it was dancing, graffiti, DJing and rapping not just rapping. The story line is hokey but the music performances and dancing are great. Afrika Bambaataa, Kool Herc, Kool Moe Dee and Melle Mel are among the artists that make an appearance. A decent way to check out hip-hop before NWA spoiled it all.