Wild Style – Review

Spray paint tags hit inner city South Bronx walls, and the beats begin to drop. Ready on your right. Ready on your left. Ready on the firing line. The grooves are hypnotic. Get ready for a world of graffiti and hip hop.

As Raymond aka Zoro (Quiñones) slide through the MTA subway car yard, art is everywhere. He pops open his paint, shakes it up and goes to work. A giant Zorro face is completed before he takes of running to avoid pursuers looking to stop him. He zips up the fire escape to his spot, where his brother calls him out for supposedly needing to be at boot camp.

He is not impressed by Zoro’s art work and says there is nothing out there for him and the tagging life. Zoro disagrees. The streets know his work, and he has stayed anonymous, only working late at night. The next evening, he spots a tagging crew at the train yard. This is a couple of taggers, such as Rose aka Lady Bug (Lady Pink), and Z-Roc aka Zephyr (Witten). They are in ‘The Union’ who sometimes get paid to do some work, and there may even be a museum interested in some productions. Graffiti on canvas is a job for some cash, but Zoro loves the risk and finding more natural city pieces to work on. He needs that outlaw action.

The Boogie Down Bronx holds late-night DJ and freestyle rap shows which draw huge crowds. While breakdancers groove to the live beats and flows, Zoro hits up one of these shows and reconnects with another tagger from his past, Phade (Fab 5 Freddy). Will the Union crew convince Zoro to look for real money making opportunities, or will he stick to his underground ways? Big fame and cash money, or staying out of the spotlight is quite a dilemma.

Wild Style is a dope experience and window into the graffiti and hip-hop lifestyles. While the story is simple, the vibes are undeniable and it is a fly time overall. The presentation is authentic and sticks the viewer right in the midst of the beats, rhymes, tags and rap life as hip-hop finds its footing in history. The actors include real rappers and painters. I can think of almost no other film which is more of a representation of hip-hop culture than Wild Style. It’s a short ride, so come check it out, just watch out for the third rail, shit is high voltage.

We gon boogaloo now.