Classic ’80s NYC hip-hop film Wild Style is being remastered
- Text by Isaac Muk
- Photography by Cathy Campbell, Martha Cooper
Bronx breaks — Created by Charlie Ahearn, the part-documentary, part-fiction movie captured the genre’s early style and music, as well as its intertwined relationship with breakdance and graffiti culture.
Historic ’80s film Wild Style, which captured the culture, music and fashion of the early days of hip-hop in New York City, is being remastered in 4K.
The restored version will première at this year’s BFI London Film festival, and will be available on 4K UHD, Blu Ray and streaming on Arrow Video from December 1.
Created by filmmaker Charlie Ahearn, Wild Style focused in on the bubbling underground hip-hop scene in the South Bronx during the early ’80s.
It featured performances from several of the genre’s originators including Grandmaster Flash, The Fantastic Five, Busy Bee and The Cold Crush Brothers, as well as an original soundtrack by Chris Stein that has been sampled countless times in the decades since.
The film also highlights hip-hop’s intertwined relationship with New York’s graffiti and breakdancing cultures, as well as rap and turntablism as foundations of the sound. It follows the story of now-legendary graffiti artist Lee Quiñones, as he navigates life in New York and aims to achieve success. He’s helped along the way by the likes of Sandra “Lady Pink” Fabara, Fred Brathwaite aka Fab 5 Freddy, and Patti Astor.
Credited with being invented in The Bronx by DJ Kool Herc in 1973, hip-hop had grown and developed as a sound and culture by the early ’80s when Wild Style was released, and eventually blew up to become a worldwide phenomenon. It pushed forwards a new street culture, as well as its own lexicon and sonic language led by rap, slang and sampling.
Watch the trailer for Wild Style below.
Tickets for Wild Style at the BFI London Film Festival are available to purchase here.
Woodbury House presents Charlie Ahearn: Wild Style, the first UK solo exhibition by the New York artist and filmmaker, running 26 September – 10 October 2025.
Isaac Muk is Huck’s digital editor. Follow him on Bluesky.
Buy your copy of Huck 82 here.
Enjoyed this article? Follow Huck on Instagram and sign up to our newsletter for more from the cutting edge of sport, music and counterculture.
Support stories like this by becoming a member of Club Huck.
You might like
The Gaza breakdancing crew helping children escape the trauma of war
The Camps Breakerz Crew have spent 20 years bringing hip-hop and breakdancing culture to the Gaza strip, offering psychological relief to children growing up in war through movement and dance.
Written by: Hollie Geraghty
Graffiti pioneer Lee Quiñones has kept on painting through street art's ebb and flow
Things I Learned Along the Way — Huck’s Fiftieth Anniversary Special collects lessons learned and creative advice from fifty of the most inspiring people we know. Each day we’ll be sharing a new excerpt from the magazine. Today, graffiti pioneer Lee Quiñones shares how, through all the art world's changes, he's found new ways to keep on keeping on.
Written by: Tom Fenwick
In photos: The newsagents keeping print alive
Save the stands — With Huck 83 hitting shelves around the world, we met a few people who continue to stock print magazines, defying an enduringly tough climate for physical media and the high street.
Written by: Ella Glossop
The quiet, introspective delight of Finland’s car cruising scene
Pilluralli — In the country’s small towns and rural areas, young people meet up to drive and hang out with their friends. Jussi Puikkonen spent five years photographing its idiosyncratic pace.
Written by: Josh Jones
How Japan revolutionised art & photography in the ’60s and ’70s
From Angura to Provoke — A new photobook chronicles the radical avant-garde scene of the postwar period, whose subversion of the medium of image making remains shocking and groundbreaking to this day.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Artifaxing: “We’ve become so addicted to these supercomputers in our hands”
Framing the future — Predominantly publishing on Instagram and X, the account is one of social media’s most prominent archiving pages. We caught up with the mysterious figure behind it to chat about the internet’s past, present and future, finding inspiration and art in the age of AI.
Written by: Isaac Muk
