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.
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