Style wars + Style Wars: Revisited

This unique documentary classic from 1983 depicts the cultural explosion that started a decade earlier in the worn out parts of New York; graffiti and hip hop. The New York transit system is the medium for poor teenagers to channel their creativity and a way to earn fame. Their opponents are the city authorities and indignant citizens that view the writer’s actions as a sign of a society losing control.
20 years have passed since Style Wars premiered, and since, hip hop has advanced from being a subculture to one of the strongest commercial forces within show business. Style Wars has indeed contributed to this transformation, especially when it comes to making hip hop an international movement. The film put graffiti into its cultural context with rap and b-boying (break dance). It has reached a breakpoint where graffiti is about to vanish from the subway. The writers are already talking about the good old days, but many of them are also getting their work into the galleries of Soho.
Style Wars: Revisited catches up with the Style Wars heroes, some of them basically still doing the same thing, like legends Crazy Legs, Seen and Mare. To some of the others, life took a different turn.
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