Style Wars

Time hasn’t been kind to all the early 80s hip hop films but Style Wars remains amazingly fresh and watchable after all these years, a living document from a crucial time in New York’s history. Sketching out the battle-lines...

Feat. Skeme; Seen; Kase 2; Cap; Frosty Freeze; Barbara Andalcio; Mayor Ed Koch

Time hasn’t been kind to all the early 80s hip hop films but Style Wars remains amazingly fresh and watchable after all these years, a living document from a crucial time in New York’s history. Sketching out the battle-lines between the graffiti writers and the city authorities, the filmmakers offer genuine insight by letting people speak for themselves.  Brilliant music and countless classic moments; our favourite is the kitchen scene between Skeme and his mother.

Showing with:

Bombin’

dir: Dick Fontaine,

UK 1987, 60 minutes

Featuring: Brim Fuentes; Goldie; 3-D

Thanks to copious bootlegging the impact of Style Wars on writers in Europe was huge. Its ripples can be seen in this Channel 4 doc, a follow-up to Dick Fontaine's 1984 film Beat This about New York hip hop culture. For Bombin' Fontaine brought over Brim Fuentes from the first film to explore the UK's take on graffiti, with a young  B-boy known as Goldie (yes, that Goldie) introducing him to the scene in Wolverhampton and Birmingham. Also includes footage of 3-D, later of Massive Attack.

Official webpage

Bombin' clip