joel_rosenbaum

In the timeline (?) of the movie, he had already peaked; his period of success was from 1979-1984 and he pretty much disappeared after that. I mean, he went from this: To this (warning: very sad impersonation of PE/Bomb Squad below) In ten years.

He even gets to show off his acting chops in the rooftop chin-up scene with Blair Underwood. Speaking of which, I counted three professional actors in this movie: Blair Underwood, LisaGay Hamilton, and Richard Gant. If you want to count LL, that brings the number up to four. Everyone else is either an extra or a cameo by a musician, club owner, or someone's manager. My favorite of these is Full Force, by far: They also appear in House Party:

Not uncommon! I first heard of Kurtis Blow when Chris Rock used him as a punchline in CB4:

Anyone else spot the kid in the blue polo shirt?

I think it was the latter. Run DMC had just broken out (certified gold!), were massively more successful than anyone who preceded them, and even then they had peaked at around 50 on the album charts.

The natural arc would have started with the earliest days, with Russell promoting Kurtis Blow, followed by the founding of Def Jam and the massive success of Run DMC. But like others noted the movie wasn't really about the story. It seems like it was about promoting artists. Def Jam wants to promote their artists (Kurtis Blow, Run DMC, etc.), Warner Brothers wants to promote their artist (Sheila E.), and Schultz/Warner Studios wants to build around the Fat Boys. It seems like there was the feeling by many that rap was still just a novelty that would fade like disco did, so tons of people were motivated to cash in as early as possible. This came a year after the Breakin' movies -- an obvious cash grab for Cannon -- plus Wild Style and Beat Street, the latter of which made a lot of money.

Sal Abatiello = Luigi

Yeah, it kind of did. Now the lyrics are terrible, but that was pretty much the standard at the time. Harry at least wrote her lyrics and didn't steal them (like Big Bank Hank of the Sugarhill Gang). Probably worth remembering that people hadn't grown up with hip hop yet. Rap was being invented on the fly. There are a ton of documentaries on the origins and popularization of hip hop, some pretty good. But there's something to seeing a contemporary report on hip hop as it was happening. Harry features early, and there's a mutton chopped Kurtis Blow. You'll also see how corny a lot of early rap really was. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWHwcmoNZm8

I mean, "A Love Bizarre" is straight up a Prince song (he co-wrote but his fingerprints are all over it)

Cher comes off awfully Trump-like in that quote. Not just because she repeatedly uses the word "terrible", but because she throws someone inconsequential under the bus (Steve Antin never directed again).

Holy shit, that's a great C&O. Also, how the fuck did they manage to run after eating all of that?

Related to New Edition -- this movie fucks with geography, too. New Edition would never participate in the Tin Pan Apple talent show because they were from Boston. They were managed by noted dirtbag Maurice Starr, who stole all their early earnings and eventually repeated the scam with NKOTB.

For me, it has to be New Edition: Also, Bobby Brown was 16 and looks like he is 12. Like the polar opposite of the Fat Boys.

Since we're talking about the Fat Boys, why were they featured so prominently in the movie? They were not signed to Def Jam, and they weren't stars. In fact, the movie is what made them stars. So why did they get more screen time than Kurtis Blow and Run DMC, arguably the biggest stars in hip hop at the time? Apparently their manager had already secured the deal for Disorderlies, so they got extra screen time for promotion.

Hold on to your hat because in 1985: Prince Markie Dee was 17 Buff Love was 18 Kool Rock Ski was 19 But wait! Run and DMC were 21 Jam Master Jay was 20 MCA was 21 Mike D was 20 Ad-Rock was 19 Rick Rubin was 22 Kurtis Blow was 26 Sheila E was 28 Based on that, the most unbelievable aspect of this movie is Sheila E having a romantic relationship with 21 year old Blair Underwood (to be fair, Russell Simmons was 28 at the time).

Man, I thought the scene where Prince Markie Dee was looking up that girl's skirt was the worst. But at least he got a cup full of ice dumped on his head.

Speaking of which, I am making time whenever you guys get to Cool As Ice

obligatory Pink Floyd reference in honor of Ninja Terminator:

What is raisin beer? Isn't that.. wine?

Would I be déclassé (as a Pittsburgher) if I admitted that I do not like Primanti Bros.?

I feel like Jimmy Cliff was miscast in this movie. Should have gone with Bobby McFerrin.

To smash watermelons and tell bigoted jokes, clearly.

Man, that historian crew comment was spot on. Easier to appreciate when it's read.

Basquiat's happening, everyone?

Unanimous, guys! No one fuck this up!