THINK TANK | Benson Lee « Urban Molecule

THINK TANK | Benson Lee

01Jul08

Benson Lee would like to know how corporate America can support street art without exploiting the street artist. For instance, he’ll tell you that he’s just plain fed-up with what’s happened to hip-hop. He hates bling. And it’s not because he doesn’t understand cultural movements.

Turns out he understands them all too well. So well, he’s directed a film that’s garnered international praise and mustered up a cult following that might very well soon rival that of Style Wars. But b-boying (he’d ask for you not to confuse it with breakdancing) is an art unto itself and – as his documentary Planet B-Boy explores – it’s an art that’s been gaining momentum globally for some time.

The Molecule recently caught up with Lee, after his New York City film screening on Houston Street, to discuss what the hip-hop cultural movement really means, and what’s hot on his b-boy to-do list.

UM: How would you compare present-day mainstream hip-hop to the global cultural movement?

BL: I think it’s pretty perverted. I think anything completely commercialized that deals primarily with violence, as well as misogyny and materialism, is pretty sad. And what’s really terrible is that it defines how a lot of people in the mainstream perceive hip-hop. I’m sick of rappers throwing money in my face in videos. The bling. There’s nothing in terms of diversity in mainstream hip-hop. It completely ignores the culture of hip-hop. Now, it’s the culture of violence. Mainstream hip-hop feeds young people this notion that you have to make it by being a certain way – you’ve got to be this mogul. It’s pretty pathetic.

True hip-hop is a beautiful culture, one of the most important cultures that have come out of the U.S. since rock & roll. It transcended all sorts of oppression faced by youth in the Bronx at the time. With it, they finally got to express their own immediate concerns – political, social concerns.

UM: So, hip-hop is more than what mainstream says it is.

BL: These are true artists and the movement is unbelievable. It’s made of people who are incredibly conscious. Cultural exchange is constantly going on. They learn about other countries in the way that only art can provide a context for. It’s a beautiful culture.

UM: “Incredibly conscious”?

BL: I mean conscious of other artists and writers – the artists who are politically conscious in the context of their own work. They have a means to express their own attitudes toward the politics of their environments, the sociology of their environment. They translate themselves through their work. The Roots are very politically conscious.

UM: There are several stories in Planet B-Boy that deal with this transcendence, this cultural exchange.

BL: In the film, we deal with Koreans who want North and South Korea to be unified. In France, it’s battling issues of racism through this young white boy. The b-boys represent their country on an international level. They bring messages with them. To be conscious means they have a form – a means – to express how they feel about things.

UM: B-boying, more commonly known as “breakdancing,” was one of the defining art forms of Hip-hop culture, along with graffiti writing and those developed in the music scene. Jeff Chang’s seminal work Can’t Stop Won’t Stop (released in 2005, the same year as “The Battle of the Year” in your film takes place) has been compared to the 80s films Style Wars and Wild Style, in that it’s influenced how mainstream society views the origin and evolution of the hip-hop cultural movement.

BL: My film is much more about the time in which we live now. That’s the connection we have with Wild Style. The evolution and proliferation globally – in my case with b-boying – of hip-hop. That’s where it’s different. I’ve captured more of an explosion on a global level. In the context of b-boying.

UM: The film was amazing. You leave the film wanting more. Wanting to know more about the characters – the situations they come from, their futures. We want to see more competitions!

BL: I’m really glad you react that way. This subculture is huge. Its art forms survived even when other art forms died. The parents didn’t understand – why are they defacing buildings and trains? They wanted to draw graffiti as opposed to fine art or modern art because that’s what they related to. They grew up with a sense of street culture. But the parents observed their children in a lifestyle that was very passionate, and began to understand. And as the culture thrived, they found they were protected within a community.

UM: Any thoughts on Joel Silberg’s 1984 film Breakin’?

BL: Breakin’ was, as they called it, poppin’ and lockin’ – that west coast funk style that came before b-boying. The mainstream film industry at that time had no clue, but they thought, we have to make this digestible for an audience. It’s like saying hip-hop music is jazz. You can’t represent it like that. It might have roots in it, but they’re not the same. So, the b-boys took it. They were just happy the dance was getting recognition on the Hollywood level. But they’ve seen since how it’s ruined their image forever.

There were only two real 80s movies that got it right. Wild Style was an underground classic – still very much a cult film. Flashdance was the only real mainstream film that had real b-boying. Style Wars featured some as well. Breakin’ wasn’t b-boying. That was a west coast dance.

UM: Planet B-boy is your first documentary as a filmmaker. Can you tell us the major differences (doc vs. feature) you’ve encountered and how they’ve influenced your style?

BL: From feature film to documentary is like night and day. They’ve got a lot of similarities. But when you work on a feature you script things and create the world. On a documentary you’re not creating anything. You’ve got this theme and synopsis in your head and you have to go out into the world and find it. It’s quite a challenge as opposed to feature filmmaking. With a feature you’re supposed to have all the money before you start making it. It’s totally different with documentaries – and they take a lot longer to make. You can spend over a year making one.

UM: You mentioned after your New York screening you had an enormous amount of footage in the end.

BL: 300 hours.

UM: UM: You seem to have a devout connection to b-boying. How would you say this phenomenon – an art form that evolved primarily among Puerto Ricans and African Americans in the South Bronx during the 70s – has spread through cultures and societies around the globe? When did you first become interested in the art form?

BL: First it was the movies in the 80s. Flashdance affected so many people. You had kids all around the world doing it. They started pushing the envelope, but they were just discovering it at the time. It was initially a fad so it died out for a while.

It continued to proliferate when the new generation came in and saw kids doing it. They gravitated to it. Then in the 90s, the internet changed everything. People got access to the dance through the internet and spread it virally. When YouTube came it was over. The words “b-boy” and “breakdance” are two of the most searched terms on YouTube. Every ivy league school has a break club. Tons of schools have hip-hop dance, street dance, organizations. That’s helped as well, because it’s become close enough to the mainstream so they can find it if they want to.

UM: Where did you grow up? How did your childhood influence your art?

BL: I was born in Toronto and raised outside of Philly. I went to a mixed school. That’s where I was introduced to it. I remember seeing Grand Master Flash and was floored. Afrika Bombata later. That’s when I saw the movies. As a minority myself I noticed how kids were doing something outside of convention, and I was gravitated to it. It just spoke to me. That’s how I got into hip-hop. MTV realized this was talking to a lot of people.

UM: Back in March you told indieWIRE you wanted to “work with some big ass producers and film companies who are willing to take risks in order to create something different, and strive to be innovative.” Sounds like you have an itch. The Molecule’s got that same itch. How do you plan to scratch that itch, and where do you go from there?

BL: The Planet B-boy feature adaptation. Based on the documentary. The feature film explores it with a much more dramatic storyline. I’ll be able to put together a film that really explores the art of b-boying. It would be the first true b-boy film. Flashdance only said a part of it. Going into the past in the film. The gang roots will show where it came from. In flashback form. But it will focus in on contemporary b-boying.

UM: Any advice for emerging filmmakers?

BL: I would offer to filmmakers today that they are living in a time… It’s like when they first discovered gold in the west. You have the tools to find the gold if you want to go out and find it. It was once a time-consuming process. Now you just get digital tape and put it on your computer and do what you want. You’ve gotta focus on your message. It’s more than the technology.

It’s like any other art form. You have to find your voice. You have to dig deep into who you are and what you want to say. And you can’t take for granted that technology is going to get you there.

Check out Planet B-boy | Get the THINKTANK schedule | Artwork by Luis Colan