Search - From Mambo to Hip Hop on DVD

SUPERB Latin Public TV doc Latin Music in the Bronx from 50s

Steven I. Ramm | Phila, PA USA | 03/29/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This well-crafted hour-long documentary - produced in conjunction with NYC's City Lore project and Latino Public TV - traces the music of the South Bronx, where Puerto Ricans who emigrated from Puerto Rico to the South Bronx in the 1950s and 60s merged their music with the African-Americans who moved in during the 1970s to create the original hip-hop movement of break dancing, scratching and B Boys. The first half focuses on the Mambo legends like Tito Puente - who was a mambo dancer before he became a band leader. As we learn from the interviews, "drugs came to the Bronx in 1953. It was the beginning of the end of the community". Dance halls disappeared and gangs abounded. Finally the gangs came together with a common goal: to dance and create music all their own. There was Grandmaster Flash, and The Rock Steady Crew. DJ Charlie Chase, a Latino, tells how he started. And there's a great soundtrack to take you through the story.

As a bonus, there's 67 minutes of "bonus interviews" with folks like Eddie Palmieri, Benny Bonilla, and more.

Long before RAP as we know it today, and the whole industry run by Russell Simmons and Def Jam (the "commercial side of hip-hop") there were kids who just wanted to party and make some music. This is the best film I've seen which tells the story concisely and accurately, from the mouths of those who were there. Highly recommended!



Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"
"

Hip Hop Video

doc Storm | Firenze, FI, IT | 01/02/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Very interessing stuff, a real good documentary aboute the hip hop origin in New York
Really appreciated"