Beat Street: How a Harry Belafonte Movie Introduced Hip-Hop to the World
In June 1984, a hip-hop movie hit theaters that wasn’t trying to be slick, wasn’t trying to be Hollywood, and definitely wasn’t filmed on a studio backlot. Beat Street dropped its cameras straight into the South Bronx and let DJing, breaking, and graffiti writing play themselves. It bombed next to its flashier rival that same…