Beat Street

Beat Street is a 1984 drama film, featuring New York City hip hop culture of the early 1980s. The movie focuses on break dancing DJ-ing and graffiti. From 1984-2011, hip hop has changed drastically.

When hip hop was first forming, it was a new underground style of music, fashion, dancing; a new way of life. It was new to many people outside of urban areas and Beat Street was able to introduce hip hop to the world. Hip hop was about smooth beats, rhythmic delivery, and the clever rhyming of the lyrics.

Now, instead of funky beats, wild outfits, and spinning on your head on linoleum, hip hop, or rap, artists talk about getting high, getting girls, and getting money. The substance beats that started this movement have been replaced by bass rhythms and auto-tune. It seems now that rappers and hip hop artists make music no longer for what they believe in, but for what will sell and make them famous. No longer do they sport puffy jackets and crazy sunglasses; instead they wear their pants at their knees and tattoos as their attire.

Has the original hip hop movement that once was only found in the Bronx move on and forever been transformed into something else? Has Beat Street been closed?