Criterion's Fiftieth Anniversary of Hip Hop Collection: Style Wars Review


Tony Silver's Style Wars (1983) focuses a tighter lens on graffiti, breakdancing, and subway art than Wild Style. The interviews add realism lacking in that earlier film and provide a more comprehensive focus than its scripted story. However, that film feels more organic because of its less glossy cinematography and the community involvement in its production. 

Style Wars includes interviews with graffiti artists and break dancers who champion their art's creative expression and those like Mayor Ed Koch, the NYC Police Department, and disgruntled parents who view graffiti as the destruction of public property. These figures come across as hilariously out of touch, while the artists and their graffiti show the enthusiastic promise of a burgeoning art form. 

The soundtrack consists of a representative assortment of classic hip-hop tracks, including Grandmaster Flash's "The Message" and The Treacherous Three's "Feel the Heartbeat," next to songs that just fit the film's vibe, including Dion's "The Wanderer" and the criminally underrated Trouble Funk and their song, "Pump Me Up."

Style Wars is another amazing document of the early New York scene from the Criterion Channel's Fiftieth Anniversary of Hip Hop collection.

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