This year marks the 30th Anniversary of one of Hip-Hop’s favorite films – Beat Street. Released on June 6, 1984, Beat Street was based on an original story by former High Times editor Steven Hager and was produced by Harry Belafonte and David V. Picker. Veteran producer and director Stan Lathan –actress Sanaa Lathan’s father– directed the film and its cast consisted of both actors and authentic Hip-Hoppers alike. It seems like yesterday that I was packed in a rowdy, cheeba filled theater in Jersey City watching the culture I was completely intoxicated with explode on the big screen. I wasn’t able to catch Wild Style a year earlier –shut down by a no-nonsense usher while trying to sneak in– but I was damned if I was gonna miss Beat Street! Arguably, the B-boy battle at the Roxy alone was worth the price of admission. Beat Street totally resonated with me. Much like the character Lee in the film, I too was a spirited, rebellious, inner-city teen using Hip-Hop as a means of recreation and personal expression. Beat Street wasn’t flawless and did catch flack for its inauthentic graffiti, abridged version of the Roxy battle and the omission of a classroom B-boy scene and a cameo by graffiti legend Phase 2. That’s Hollywood for ya.

Despite any of its shortcomings, Beat Street remains a beloved gem in Hip-Hop’s cinematic crown. 30 years later, we still love the film and not just for the authentic Hip-Hop players and scenes that Hollywood did get right, but because Beat Street reminds a lot of us true Hip-Hoppers that once upon a time our culture was true to its mantra of peace, love, unity and having fun. Back in the day, Hip-Hop gave some of us pride, hope and a reason to dream before Crack, Aids and soaring violence changed everything. To me, Beat Street is a feel good film. A film that reminds me of my youth and why I fell in love with Hip-Hop.

I recently bumped into B-boy legend Ray Ramos aka ‘Lil Lep’ at the Ultimate B-boy Championship in New York. Lep’s New York City Breakers played the B-boy protagonists in Beat Street. In the spirit of the film’s anniversary and just out of sheer curiosity, I asked Lep who won the infamous Roxy battle and his thoughts on Beat Street turning 30. With a big Colgate smile and no hesitation, Lep proclaimed, “I think we won the battle. It was a real, real battle and not made up. They just let us do what we did.” Lep concluded by saying, “I appreciate being part of Hip-Hop; part of the culture and part of Beat Street.” Well, Lep, we appreciate you and the New York City Breakers; the Rock Steady Crew, the Treacherous Three and Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious 5; the Soul Sonic Force and Shango, Arthur Baker, Sha Rock, Lisa Lee and Debbie Dee; Doug E Fresh, Jazzy Jay and The Magnificent Force; Robert Taylor, Guy Davis and all the other actors and Hip-Hoppers that make Beat Street worth writing about three decades later. Rock on…

-Koe Rodriguez