Beat Street

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Beat Street
Beat Street movie poster
Directed by	Stan Lathan
Produced by	Harry Belafonte David V. Picker
Written by	Andy Davis David Gilbert Paul Golding Steven Hager (story)
Starring	Rae Dawn Chong Guy Davis Jon Chardiet Leon W. Grant Saundra Santiago
Music by	Arthur Baker Harry Belafonte Webster Lewis
Cinematography	Tom Priestley Jr.
Editing by	Dov Hoenig Kevin Lee
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release date(s)	June 6, 1984
Running time	105 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

"Beat Street" may also refer to Orange Street in Kingston, Jamaica.

Beat Street (1984) was the second mainstream hip hop dramatic feature film, following Breakin'. It is set in New York City during the rise in the popularity of hip hop culture in the early 1980s. The project began when journalist Steven Hager began writing visiting the South Bronx to document break dancing, graffiti art and rap music in the early 1980's. Hager sold his script to Harry Belafonte.

Notable performances include a song by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, breakdance battles between the New York City Breakers and the Rock Steady Crew, and cameos by beatboxer Doug E. Fresh, Richard Lee Sisco, and the Treacherous Three.

The movie was the east coast answer to Breakin' , which displayed the East Coast style of break dancing, DJing, and graffiti with a mild social undertone. Some of the plotline was based on the graffiti documentary Style Wars. Most visibly, the villain character Spit in Beat Street was lifted from the way the real-life graffiti artist Cap was portrayed in Style Wars.

[edit] Cast

Mary Alice - Cora
Afrika Bambaataa
Jon Chardiet - Ramo/Ramon
Rae Dawn Chong - Tracy
Doug E. Fresh
Crazy Legs
Guy Davis - Kenny
Leon W. Grant - Chollie
DJ Jazzy Jay
Kool Herc
Kool Moe Dee
Melle Mel
Saundra Santiago - Carmen
Robert Taylor - Lee
Richard Lee Sisco Jr.

[edit] Trivia

Kadeem Hardison is credited as "High School Student" in the film. His shots were cut completely along with the classroom uprocking battle scene.
The trailer includes an alternate version of title song performed by Kool Moe Dee, which also did not appear in the movie nor on the original soundtrack albums.
Most of the graffiti art that was displayed all throughout the film was not done by real graffiti artists - it was airbrushed by set decorators.
This was the first American film to feature more than one soundtrack album. Originally, Atlantic Records, which released the soundtrack albums, had three volumes planned, but only two of these were released. The second volume was never released on compact disc.
Singer Brenda K. Starr has a small cameo in the film as a young singer auditioning at an open call audtion.
Most of the internal dance sequences were filmed at the popular New York City nightclub the Roxy located at 515 West 18th Street in the Chelsea section of Manhattan.
Beat Street is mentioned in episode 12 of The Boondocks while Robert "Granddad" Freeman discusses Riley's graffiti masterpiece.
A young RZA is one of the rappers at the open call audition. According to some rumors, he almost didn't make the final cut due to an altercation involving another one of the extras, an Indian-American rapper named Sanjeev "Vato Loco" Katz who allegedly attempted to goad him into a battle on the set.