Customer Reviews

Wild Style (1982 Film)

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This is, without a doubt, the first classic hip hop album and one of the finest soundtrack albums of any genre. At the time of it's release there had already been a few album releases by Kurtis Blow, Sugarhill Gang and a few others but it was a still a genre that was most effectively summed up by 12"s by Grandmaster Flash & Furious Five, Spoonie Gee, Busy Bee and Treacherous Three.

Wildstyle was the 1983 movie which tied up what had been happening in New York City since in the mid 70's, with kids painting murals/their names on trains, people d.j-ing at house and block parties and hyping the crowd up over the top while kids danced to the music, into what would become the four elements of the hip hop culture : graffiti, d.j-ing, rapping and breakdancing. The movie itself used very few real actors and instead gave parts to prominent graffiti writers, rappers, d.j's, dancers and scensters, which resulted in it's very realistic, if not a little wooden, feel.

It's a great and very classic movie that's crammed full of legendary and immensely quotable scenes but it's the soundtrack which stole the show. It was a collaboration between Chris Stein of Blondie (who were regulars at hip hop parties downtown and who had already dabbled in the sound with "rapture") and scenester/graffiti-artist/promoter Fab Five Freddy (who was in the movie itself as the flamboyant but slightly shady club promoter/one time graffiti king Fade and who later went on to host Yo, MTV Raps). What's interesting is that the time of it's release rap music was, for the most part, studio house bands replaying the funk and disco classics like "good times" or "7 minutes of funk" that the d.j's would play and cut up at parties. Even an original composition like "the message" by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five was the Sugarhill house band, who later went on to play in Living Color, playing "genius of love" by Tom Tom Club backwards.

However, the soundtrack here was all original compositions played by Stein, organized by Freddy and the d.j's involved like Charlie Chase and Grandwizard Theodore and rapped over by Grandmaster Caz of Coldcrush Brothers. It was still a funk based sound designed to be played at parties and rapped over but it was tougher, more accomplished with almost dub-ish atmospheric tracks that accompanied various scenes in the movie. Unfortunately the rappers of the time never got the chance to fully utilize this type of harder, less disco live instrument sound because electro blew up a few months later and a keyboard with a drum machine became the rap sounds of choice for the next few years until people like Marley Marl, Eric B. & Rakim and Ultramagnetic M.C's brought sampling into vogue in 1986.

A pity and all but it doesn't detract from the music on this album being timeless. Rappers have been borrowing chunks of this soundtrack ever since. From Nas sampling it for the intro on "illmatic" to phrases from the rappers live routines still being common place in rhymes to the beats from this album sounding so fresh that rappers still can rhyme over them in 2005. Indeed, just last week there was a new track by 3 of the better current rappers that've come out of New York in the last 10 years that sampled a beat from this album ("new york" by AZ, Raekwon & Ghostface for the people who've emailed me, go find it on the new AZ cd "a.w.o.l").

This reissued version of the album is a treat with other incidental tracks from the movie and all the live battle rap scenes. Simply put, this is essential and probably a better document of pre-Run Dmc rap music than any Sugarhill Records boxset.

Not only is this record a great listen in and of itself, it's also fun to come across the sources for countless hip-hop scratches. Cypress Hill sampled and stole their name from Rammellzee on this album. Public Enemy, the Beasties, A Tribe Called Quest, Common, Marley Marl, Gang Starr, Nas, and House of Pain, among others, all picked this record clean to dress up their own. If you have even a passing interest in the history of hip-hop, or musicology in general, be happy that the Wild Style Soundtrack is back in print.

This CD here embodies the true essence of Hip-Hop culture in every aspect. This is the soundtrack of of all B-Boys and true Hip-Hoppers world wide. Before MTV2, Yo! MTV Raps!, Rap-City, HOT97, The Source, Breakin' and Beat-Street there was "Wild-Style"! If you ever owned the record, you'll notice the extra trks. on this CD edition. This is the real deal people! The Fantastic Romantic 5, Cold Crush Bros., double trouble are all in here! this is a CLASSIC!!! All true Hip-Hop heads should own a copy!

This cd definitely reminds me the time of real old-school.You can find all hip-hop masters on this album to listen.More importantly if you've never seen that film before i recommend you.Its must have album and film as well.whay are waitin for?Don't waste your time purchase them.Time to reveal real old-school now!!!

although the rhyme style might be dated give a little tune up to a few key phrases and rhyme patterns and you have all new hits. All of the beats,basslines,and synths are timeless and if you listen to the first Cypress Hill album you'll notice grand wizard's military scratch on a couple of cuts. Busy Bee's cuts are perfect examples of what a real MC is supposed to sound like when he is holding the mike. With his call and response from the crowd. Busy Bee's live cut should be the model for all new rappers before they try to perform in front of a live crowd. All these cuts make you feel like your back in the parks of the South Bronx. It goes without saying this is a classic.

This album & movie is the original of hip hop, and rap. Rap would be nothing without the mc's on this album. something everybody into hip hop should have.

This one is mind bogglingly old school. If you listen to tracks like "M.C. Battle", you realize how much of this has been sampled and has influenced hip hop. That groove they continually use is great. The album contains plenty of old school greats, like Busy Bee, Grand Master Caz, and the Cold Crush Bros. If you like old school hip hop, you need this album.

Wild Style was the first movie and live soundtrack hip-hop album to hit the streets and will always be among one of the best hip-hop albums ever. If you don't have this in your album collection you should grab the chance now to get it.