USA / 2005 / 8mins / Documentary / English and Swahili

An East African MC, Balozi Dola, wanders into a Bronx barbershop on his pilgrimage to find "the real hip hop". The barber, Flash's original partner DJ Easy Mike calls out Grand Master Caz who spits a rhyme on how we are in the place of hip hop's origins. Shop sweeper DOA adds vocal percussion to the mix and Balozi Dola rhymes back in his native African Swahili. Bongo is the Swahili expression for "Brain" used in local hip hop slang.

Charlie Ahearn

Wild Style directed by Charlie Ahearn was first screened in 1982 and went on to become the classic Hip Hop movie. After directing other films such as Fear of Fiction and artist documentaries Ahearn co-authored the book Yes Yes Y’all. Released in 2002, it was an oral history of the first decade of Hip Hop with many photos by Ahearn. Wild Style The Sampler by Ahearn was published in 2007 on the 25th anniversary of that movie. Ahearn has been producing documentaries such as Richard Hunt, Sculptor (2010), Jamel Shabazz Street, Photographer <(2011) and Hip Hop musical shorts, including All City Take It to the Bridge. Ahearn exhibited the Scratch Ecstasy Exhibition at PPOW with a slide show, videos, photographs, and silkscreen paintings. He resides in New York City. Learn More