Hip Hop on Film 1979 - 1986

Series Site

September 12 – October 20

From gonzo artists shooting 16mm on the Bronx’s Grand Concourse, to Hollywood producers writing checks to cash in on a new fad, rapping, DJing, break dancing, and graffiti went way beyond the sum of their parts: it had to be on the big screen. Not only was the motion picture the best medium for it, but it created indispensable documents of art and youth in derelict neighborhoods. And the movies themselves became part of its lore creating a kinetic, organic unit diffusing hip-hop beyond the boundaries of the coasts. Vibrant and vital, hip-hop at the movies has miles of style—from Puma Clydes squeaking on a square of linoleum on a cement playground, to the rattle and hiss of a can of orange Krylon onto a steel train car.

Programmed by Gabriele Caroti