The Honoraries: Harry Belafonte and the Music of 'Beat Street'

In "The Honoraries" we're looking at the careers of this year's Honorary Oscar recipients (O'Hara, Miyazaki, Carriere) and the Jean Hersholt winner (Belafonte). Here's Glenn on a Belafonte hip-hop musical gem…

Harry Belafonte brought hip-hop culture to the world with Beat Street. This rather unassuming musical from 1984, made in the shadow of Style Wars and Wild Style, might not strike you as an important film, but it very much is for the way it influenced a lifestyle and popularized it around the globe. Belafonte was a producer on the film as well as the soundtrack (the first film to ever release two soundtracks – I have part one on vinyl!) and his influence shows. His time-tested ability to spin niche into cultural touchstones is yet again on display with this, the first mainstream film to focus on hip-hop, graffiti art and breakdancing into a hit. Giving the under-heard voice of the youth an audience.

I also just happen to think it is a wildly entertaining film, and the kind of which we rarely get. A film about young artists that doesn’t treat its audience like idiots. Sure, it’s not the most visually arresting film, but then 1984 in the Bronx was hardly in the same vein as Breakin’ and all that electric boogaloo on the shore of Venice Beach (a film made in such a fast turnaround so as to beat Street to cinemas - it worked). The world that these characters exist in is harsh – death is a tragic side-effect of one character’s dogged determination to prove his worth to girlfriend and baby – and the only thing that gets them through is their music and their art. Much like I will continue to praise the Step Up films as actually being about much more than just pretty people dancing (they’re about the need for artists to foster communities and to embrace their individualities, plus more), Beat Street is more than just about scratching and rapping.

The influence of Beat Street is not to be underestimated just because you may not have heard of it in the same breath as other films about music (like Fame) or race (like Do the Right Thing). Musically, it helped usher in the east coast hip-hop sound that was so popular and brought it not only to America, but to the world. Particularly Germany, where the film was a blockbuster and helped raise the profile of their own underground music world. It's soundtracks feature a dizzying collection of pre-existing and original songs that swing from dancehall boogies like "Us Girls" to socially conscious raps like Grandmaster Flash and Grandmaster Melle Mel's powerful "Beat Street Breakdown". Thank you, Harry!

Cinematically, the film was a pivotal one in the redefining of the movie musical for a younger audience who were not attending the more glossy fantasy of Xanadu, but rather turning their attention to the grittier worlds of the aforementioned Fame. It’s an influence that carries on to today. And from a purely nostalgia point of view, its of-its-time representation of 1980s New York City is wonderfully transporting, which when combined with its celebration of cultural individualism gives it a look that is so vibrant and thematically powerful.

I hope they include Beat Street in whatever clip show they create for Belafonte’s award. It would be a damned shame if The Academy – who we recently learned are not beneath celebrating somewhat less reputable titles – ignored it given how positively electric it is. When those end credits start to role I always wish it could keep going. It’s celebratory spirit proving undeniably infectious. I’m just gonna go and do the Beat Street strut.

Previously in The Honoraries: Maureen O'Hara, Jean-Claude Carrière, and Hayao Miyazaki.

Comments

[Pedro]

Great new series. I have to admit that I did not know the inffluence of Harry Belafonte in movies. I always thought he was a musician. Also, thank you for discussing this movie, of which I am sure a lot of people is not aware of.