BEAT THIS! ist ein US-amerikanischer Dokumentarfilm aus dem Jahr 1984, damals in New York produziert von Dick Fontaine für die BBC England und einer der ersten Mainstream Dokus über HipHop. Mit Betonung auf Mainstream, denn das sieht man den Film auch an. Mit dabei sind unter anderem Afrika Bambataa, DJ Kool Herc und seine legendären Partyreihen in New York, The Cold Crush Brothers, Jazzy Jay, Graffitisprüher Brim Fuentes, die Dynamic Rockers, die Cold Crush Brothers und viele mehr.
BEAT THIS! (Trailer)
Beat This: A Hip-Hop History is a 1984 BBC documentary film about hip-hop culture, directed by Dick Fontaine. The cast includes Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Kool Herc — the film includes footage from Herc’s original dance parties — The Cold Crush Brothers, Jazzy Jay, Brim Fuentes, and The Dynamic Rockers. It is narrated by Imhotep Gary Byrd.Originally part of the Arena television series, it was among the first crop of documentaries about hip-hop.
BEAT THIS! (Film/54min)
BEAT THIS!
Dick Fontaine, 1984, 54 min, UK.
Britain’s Dick Fontaine, having previously made films on subjects ranging from Sonny Rollins and Ornette Coleman to James Baldwin and the Black Panthers’ George Jackson, was perhaps the first major documentarian to take a serious look at the burgeoning creativity of the hip-hop scene beginning literally amid the rubble of the South Bronx during DJ Kool Herc’s legendary block parties.
Colorfully narrated by legendary broadcaster Imhotep Gary Byrd, Beat This! traces the origins of hip hop from Herc’s parties a decade earlier through Afrika Bambaataa’s transformation from gang member to leader of the Universal Zulu Nation and beyond. Herc and Bambaataa are interviewed, and also appearing are The Cold Crush Brothers, Jazzy Jay and more. Even Malcolm McLaren shows up to share the story of his own personal discovery of hip hop and subsequent introduction of it to the UK.
