This wasn’t like no love pow-wow, this was the streets.

Bronx 79 will provide the definitive history of the birth of hip-hop culture – the largest and most impactful youth movement of the past 40 years. Employing first-person interviews of the people that were there at the beginning, original footage and photographs of that era, and unique recreations through stylized animation and live-action we will finally see the untold story of the pioneers, the fans and the world of the South Bronx in 1979.

Youthful creativity and adult alienation, a city on the precipice and the raw combination of numerous Caribbean and African cultures created the primordial stew that hip-hop culture would grow out of in the late 60s and early 70s, primarily in the South Bronx. By 1979, these disparate elements would coalesce into a defined culture with its very own constellation of local stars – in music, dance and art. This would be the final year that this world would stay off the pop culture map – record companies desperately looking for the next big thing in Soul and R&B that would rise from the ashes of disco started to sign rap acts to one-offs. Its no coincidence that rap’s first mainstream hit “Rapper’s Delight” was created over the instrumental B-Side of Chic’s disco smash “Good Times.” Once the 1980’s came around, hip-hop would weather the effects of two giant flame-outs on the pop culture scene with graffiti and breaking and what was once thought of a passing fad in rap music would emerge as the preeminent music genre by the end of the decade.

However, Bronx 79 isn’t the story of the mainstream side of this artform. Instead, it is about a time before the outside hands of greed and desire tainted the culture from the outside. It is a time where the superstars of the genre were within a 50 block radius, when it was possible to see the best in the game every night, many times for free. It is also the story of how systematic exploitation of the inner city led to one of the worst examples of urban decay of the past century – simply the name “South Bronx” would become synonymous throughout the world with rampant crime, exploitation and crippling arson. This tension – between extreme disenfranchisement on one end and the ultimate in personal expression on the other is the thematic backbone of Bronx 79. Through these stories of struggle and triumph we will see how the foundation was laid for one of the greatest impacts on popular culture the world has ever seen.

They’d spend $2 to get in and they’d see 3-4 hours of great hip-hop. And it was just beautiful.

So this youth culture is kind of born out of that. And that becomes hip-hop.