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34-470: Wild Style was shot in 1981, completed in 1982, and released theatrically in 1983. The film was later released on home video by Rhino Home Video in 1997. In 2007, it was released on DVD for the 25th anniversary. A 30th anniversary collector's edition was released on Blu-ray in 2012. Fab Five Freddy (Fred Brathwaite) approached Ahearn about making a film focusing on what would become known as hip-hop culture and they began working together in late 1981. The idea

68-638: A flexi disc with the single "Jack the Mack" that was featured in an issue of the Bay area hip hop zine Bomb Magazine were released while signed to Hollywood Basic. Despite not having released an album, the duo gained a following. They routinely performed live in the Bay Area , toured Germany with label mates Raw Fusion and were featured in Billboard magazine . They also opened for Nas and The Pharcyde , but

102-490: A record label . After entertaining offers from some major record labels, including Columbia Records , they signed with the Disney -owned record label Hollywood Basic, now Hollywood Records . While signed to Hollywood Basic, Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf recorded several tracks but Hollywood Basic did not release an album due to creative differences between the artists and the label. Charizma stated, "The stuff we wanted to do

136-474: A Bronx teenager named Raymond (Lee Quiñones), who under the pseudonym "Zoro" is a celebrated but anonymous graffiti artist. Raymond scorns a group of graffiti artists, known as the Union Crew, who have turned their talents to legitimate, commissioned murals on the walls of playgrounds and business establishments. Their graffiti murals attracted the attention of Virginia ( Patti Astor ), a journalist, who brings

170-503: A deal with New World Pictures to set up a feature film company called Rhino Films. The first project planned by Rhino Films was to be a film about the rock band Big Daddy , which was a Rhino group that was returned to the US after several years of absence. In 1985, Rhino signed a six-year distribution agreement with Capitol Records . During 1989 Rhino and Capitol's parent EMI made a deal to jointly acquire Roulette Records ; Rhino received

204-424: A graffiti artist in real life, and Frederick Brathwaite as a very cool artist promotor." On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 90% based on 20 reviews. Phelim O'Neill of The Guardian noted that despite the low production values, "nothing else comes close to capturing the atmosphere of the early days of hip-hop and spraycan art ..." Reviewing the film for BBC , David Mattin wrote that " Wild Style

238-416: A number of influential old school hip hop and electro 12" singles that were released in the early to mid-1980s. While a few of the singles are early releases from Hip-Hop artists who would go on to greater success later on in the decade such as Run-DMC and Slick Rick , the majority of the tracks in the series are considered one-hit wonders by acts who have fallen into relative obscurity but that had

272-499: A profound impact upon the Hip-Hop/electro scene of the 1980s and influenced some of the more well known artists of that time. Charizma Charles Edward Hicks Jr. (July 6, 1973 – December 16, 1993), also known by his stage name Charizma , was an MC from Milpitas, California . He is best known for his work with Peanut Butter Wolf ; the two artists formed a duo after meeting in 1990. Their musical partnership

306-445: A record shop on Westwood Boulevard , Los Angeles, in 1973, run by Richard Foos, and became a record distributor five years later thanks to the effort of then-store manager Harold Bronson. Their early releases were mostly novelty records (such as their first single, in 1975, Wild Man Fischer 's "Go to Rhino Records"). The difficulties involved in getting airplay and distribution for such material eventually caused Foos and Bronson to take

340-488: Is a cult classic - indisputably the most important hip hop movie, ever." The plot of Wild Style is fairly loose and the film is more notable for featuring several prominent figures from early hip hop culture such as Busy Bee Starski , Fab Five Freddy , The Cold Crush Brothers and Grandmaster Flash . Throughout the movie, there are scenes depicting activities common in the early days of hip hop. These include MCing, turntablism, graffiti and b-boying. The film demonstrates

374-719: The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston in 2012. In 2021, it was shown at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston to celebrate the closing weekend of the exhibition "Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation." Chris Stein of Blondie worked on the soundtrack and score of Wild Style . The original 1983 soundtrack was released by Animal Records. It consisted of 13 tracks recorded by various artists included in

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408-457: The 'Rhino Handmade' division of limited-edition releases available primarily from their website. All Handmade deluxe editions were limited to about 3,000 copies or fewer, and once sold out were not re-pressed. In 2003, co-founders and longtime executives Richard Foos and Harold Bronson left Rhino, reportedly due to frustration with the challenges of an increasingly competitive market. In fact, Time Warner's final vesting of its 100 percent ownership of

442-499: The 1980s and 1990s, the company's head of A&R , Gary Stewart, signed artists who recorded new music, including Cindy Lee Berryhill , Steve Wynn , Rank and File , Gene Clark and Carla Olson , The Textones, and NRBQ . These albums were released on the main Rhino label and on subsidiary labels such as RNA (Rhino New Artists) and Forward. However, the company's artists tended to generate more critical acclaim than public interest; for

476-1164: The Beach Boys , Yes , the Doobie Brothers , the Cars , Chicago , Tom Paxton , Third Eye Blind , the Doors , War , Spirit of the West and, most recently, the Bee Gees ; as well as soundtracks spanning the Turner-owned pre-1986 MGM and pre-1950 Warner Bros. periods, in addition to WB's own post-1949 period. Rhino's soundtrack releases include Gone with the Wind , The Wizard of Oz , Easter Parade , North by Northwest , Casablanca , King Kong , Doctor Zhivago , Superman , and Finian's Rainbow . The Turner Entertainment and Warner Bros. film soundtrack libraries are currently managed by Warner Bros.' in-house label subsidiary, WaterTower Music . In 1999, Rhino started

510-651: The Old School ) and catalog material from the Warner vaults. Led Zeppelin 's 2007 release Mothership and the soundtrack to the film Juno are among the label's successes. In 2013, WMG acquired certain EMI assets divested by Universal Music Group including Parlophone and worldwide rights to Roulette Records. Those assets are now managed by Rhino. Street Jams is a series of compilation albums issued by Rhino Entertainment between 1992 and 1994. The albums catalogue

544-412: The U.S. rights to Roulette's catalog, excluding jazz. When the distribution deal with Capitol ended in 1992, Rhino signed a new distribution deal with Atlantic Records , and in turn Time Warner bought a 50 percent stake in the record company. In 1993, Rhino's home video unit ended its deal with Uni and moved its deal to A*Vision Entertainment . In 1998, Time Warner bought the other half of Rhino, making

578-522: The catalog division for Warner Music Group . Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus. Founded in 1978, Rhino was originally a novelty and reissue label during the 1970s and 1980s. It released compilation albums of pop , rock & roll , and rhythm & blues successes from the 1950s through the 1980s, as well as novelty-song LPs (compiled in-house or by Dr. Demento ) and retrospectives of famous comedy performers, including Richard Pryor , Stan Freberg , Tom Lehrer , and Spike Jones . Rhino started as

612-588: The company a wholly owned unit of Time Warner. The Rhino Records retail store, which was part of the 50% sale in 1992 but which reverted to Foos after Time Warner bought out the remainder, closed in 2005. It was through this merger that the label reissued material from such artists as the Monkees , Eric Burdon , Fanny , Dannii Minogue , the Ramones , the Grateful Dead , Emerson, Lake & Palmer ,

646-475: The conflicts with Hollywood Basic's executives continued and they were released from their contract. Charizma was shot dead in a mugging outside a church in East Palo Alto on December 16, 1993. While headed to pick up his mother, Charizma was sitting in his car at a stoplight in front of a church in East Palo Alto when a man approached his car and shot him once in the chest, killing him. The suspect

680-570: The film. In 2007, the VH1 Hip Hop Honors paid tribute to Wild Style in recognition of its influence upon the culture. The film was also voted as one of the top ten rock and roll films of all time by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . In 2012, Wild Style was ranked No. 1 on Billboard's list of the Top 10 Best Hip-Hop Movies Ever. The film was exhibited as part of a 1980s art retrospective at

714-407: The film. A 25th anniversary edition expanded this to 17 tracks, plus a bonus disc of remixes, instrumentals and DJ tools. The album has been described by Allmusic as "one of the key records of early 1980s hip-hop". Rhino Home Video Rhino Entertainment Company (formerly Rhino Records Inc. ) is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently

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748-575: The interconnections between music, dance and art in the development of hip hop culture. The film has received a large cult following over the years after its initial release. Highly regarded hip hop albums such as Illmatic by Nas , Midnight Marauders by A Tribe Called Quest , Black Sunday by Cypress Hill , Resurrection by Common , Big Shots by Charizma , Mm..Food by MF Doom , Check Your Head by Beastie Boys , Beat Konducta by Madlib , Jay Stay Paid by J Dilla and Quality Control by Jurassic 5 have used samples from

782-400: The label also manages the U.S. distribution or worldwide production of compilations for more recent Warner acts, including still-active artists such as Enya , New Order , and Chicago . In June 2006, Warner Strategic Marketing in the U.K. was dissolved and Rhino Records U.K. was formed. The division has two main factions: TV-advertised compilations (for example Pure Garage Rewind Back to

816-465: The label in other directions. One of Rhino's early artists was The Twisters, whose Los Angeles popularity far exceeded their album sales. Rhino's mail-order catalogs and early LP labels featured the company's mascot character Rocky—a cartoon greaser rhinoceros wearing a black leather jacket, designed by bootleg cover artist William Stout , and later cartoonist Scott Shaw! . Some of the label's earliest successes with re-issues were achieved by acquiring

850-472: The label, and its subsequent 'reorganization' of label staff, which did not stop at the former owners, were the major factors in their exits. Soon after, Foos inaugurated a new label, Shout! Factory , which began releasing dozens of CDs and videos mirroring the original early-1990s Rhino philosophy. In 2004, Time Warner spun off its music divisions and today Rhino is part of the newly organized Warner Music Group . In addition to dealing with archive material,

884-496: The month before it opened at Embassy 46th Street Theatre on Broadway in November 1983. By early 1984, it was being shown in other major cities. Film critic Vincent Canby wrote for The New York Times that Wild Style "never discovers a cinematic rhythm that accurately reflects and then celebrates the rare energy and wit of the artists within the film." However, he noted that the "subjects are appealing, especially Mr. Quinones,

918-527: The most part, sales totals in the low five figures or less were routine for Rhino-produced albums, and the less costly, less risky re-issue business remained the company's primary revenue stream. One exception was the success of "At This Moment" by Billy Vera and the Beaters , a 1981 song that went to the top of the U.S. Billboard charts in late 1986 after being featured in an episode of the hit NBC TV series Family Ties . In 1986, Rhino Records had signed

952-673: The rights to the White Whale Records catalog that included the Turtles . By the mid-1980s, most of Rhino's releases were re-issues of previously released recordings licensed from other companies. For superior sound quality, audio mastering of the original tapes (where possible) was done under the direction of Bill Inglot , and the label's creative packaging made Rhino one of the most respected re-issue record labels , receiving rave reviews from music collectors, fans, and historians; and later, Grammy nominations and awards. Rhino

986-485: The soundtrack. An early version of the Wild Style logo appeared in 1981 when Ahearn hired graffiti writer Dondi to paint the "window down" subway car piece that appears in the film. The Dondi piece was the inspiration for the animated title sequence designed by the artist, Zephyr and animated by Joey Ahlbum in 1982. The Wild Style mural was painted by Zephyr, Revolt and Sharp in 1983. Wild Style centers around

1020-610: The uptown hip-hop culture to the downtown art world. There are a series of encounters with graffiti artists, rappers and breakers, leading up to a giant rap-break concert in a Lower East Side band shell decorated by Raymond. Wild Style premiered as part of the New Directors/New Films Festival at the 57th Street Playhouse in New York on March 18, 1983. Interestingly, the film was shown in theaters in Tokyo

1054-524: Was a hybrid of narrative musical and documentary, having hip-hop pioneers play themselves in a loosely scripted story shot entirely in the South Bronx , the Lower East Side , and MTA subway yards. Freddy eventually stepped back from co-writing and co-directing with Ahearn ("Freddy didn’t have the focus at that particular time to write or direct," Ahearn said), but he helped Chris Stein produce

Wild Style - Misplaced Pages Continue

1088-637: Was cut short prior to Charizma's murder in December 1993. Charizma was 13 when he started rapping at high school talent shows. He was 16 when he met 19-year-old Chris Manak, also known as Peanut Butter Wolf, in 1990. They became best friends, recording several demos and performing live in the San Jose area. After hearing Charizma on San Jose State 's KSJS 90.5 FM, Matt Brown approached Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf, offering to become their manager. Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf agreed and began looking for

1122-429: Was not what Hollywood wanted. When we first got signed they kept asking us for more and more songs. After we got signed they were turning things down left and right. They were talking about bringing outside producers—but Pete Rock & CL Smooth never had outside producers, Gang Starr never did. It's like they almost liked the image [of us] more." Only a promotional cassette with the single "Red Light, Green Light" and

1156-875: Was quick to get into the compact disc market, releasing dozens of oldies CDs at the dawn of the CD age in 1984. Their retrospective compact disc releases, such as those in the Billboard Top Hits series ( Billboard Top Dance Hits ), are often remastered to restore or improve upon the releases' original analog audio quality. In the late 1980s, Rhino transitioned into a complete entertainment company specializing in home video (initially VHS , then DVD and Blu-ray ) reissues of television programs such as The Monkees , The Lone Ranger , The Transformers , Mystery Science Theater 3000 , and Ed Sullivan's Rock 'n' Roll Classics collection, as well as compact disc releases of select artists and movie soundtracks. Through

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