None of the recent 20th anniversaries have made me feel older than this one. This film really captures that era for me. I practically lived in the park this summer. I remember crashing on a box spring in this white chick's apartment over one of those Indian restaurants. We used to do hella drugs and fool around, but she never let me smash, because I had a girlfriend. All these years later, I remember her far more vividly than the actual girlfriend.

I try not to be overly-nostalgic, but that was my favorite version of NYC 99-2002 being a close second.

New York.

I'm the same exact age as all of them. I loved how free they all seemed, even if they were engaging in destructive behavior. Plus, the embrace of Boom Bap (and a little jazz). And Rosario had me with my jaw hanging open.

I wonder how the movie would look to me if I saw it now, though.

I'm glad Rosario, Chloe, and Telly have careers

What bugged me out when I saw it wasn't the drugs and debauchery (we were doing the same exact shit) but the soundtrack. Artifacts? O.C? ATCQ? I couldn't believe it.

I remember some years later reading an article in Stress magazine saying it should have been called "Those crazy ass Village kids" and saying how the racial politics of a gang of white, black, and latino kids ganging up to beat a black dude half to death was bullshit.
I don't know if that was true or not in NY, but down here that would've never happened and if it did, would've started a race riot.

The unrealistic part of that beating is that is happened in Washington Square Park and no one was arrested.

WSP was an open air drug market for YEARS.

I don't see cops running to stop a beat-down in 95.

meaning, it was totally an open-air drug market, except for the one day a month they ran a sweep. There was always a police presence on the periphery. Violence wasn't really that common.

No cops.

And this was during the day, too

But this was late 80s early 90s so I get your point

I would walk through WSP in the early 90's and get mobbed by the dealers

Pretty much just got a headache

...bought off a guy he thought he knew. Took a blunt to the head while waiting for the 1 train @ Varick Street. Passed out, landed on the tracks, got run over by the train, lost his leg. Found out the blunt was spiced with heroin when he woke up at the hospital. :/

That's extra fucked up about losing the leg though

>WSP was an open air drug market for YEARS.
>
>I don't see cops running to stop a beat-down in 95.

mainly because around that time
freaknik exploded
the black fest in LI too
and they started shutting down 8th st because it was getting out of control


~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

>The unrealistic part of that beating is that is happened in
>Washington Square Park and no one was arrested.

For the most part those skater types weren't built like that on the violence tip. They just wanted to be left alone, remember Decepts and other smaller gangs were still running around BK and downtown Manhattan, those skater kids didn't want any problems.

I had friends very much like that.

Most of them did not end up very well.

But they were definitely rowdy and did not give a single solitary fuck at all ever about anything

>I had friends very much like that.
>
>Most of them did not end up very well.
>
>But they were definitely rowdy and did not give a single
>solitary fuck at all ever about anything

YEP

them little kids were BAD
at that point they'd bee running loose for years from age 9 on
they were loosely connected to everyone at that point

they gave very little fucks

~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

>I had friends very much like that.
>
>Most of them did not end up very well.
>
>But they were definitely rowdy and did not give a single
>solitary fuck at all ever about anything

I didn't hang with skater types, but a close friend of mine rolled with HH. The sex & violence aspects were the most exaggerated aspects of the film, most of the other stuff (boosting, vandalism, drugs, partying) was pretty on point.

Let my love slide in and never slip out

just weird how his crew still had that cliquish confrontational vibe about them

>just weird how his crew still had that cliquish
>confrontational vibe about them

emotional issues. Obviously I'm no expert on stuff like that, I'm judging based off the types of kids I knew that would gravitate in that direction. My teenage years weren't free of strife, but I couldn't really understand the mad at the world, loner types. And once you introduce hard drugs into the mix, it just gets worse for them.

Let my love slide in and never slip out

on the streets of OLD New York, and they were sort of weirdo outcasts. They probably caught a lot of shit growing up and it left scars.

>on the streets of OLD New York, and they were sort of weirdo
>outcasts. They probably caught a lot of shit growing up and
>it left scars.


they were exposed to a lot
but so were most of us
hanging in the village alone gives you a giant group of outcasts to choose from
its not the same as elsewhere in that regard

their drug use was no different from other scenes suburban or urban
its was rife in the country
its still rife with meth apparently

only thing difference is you guys got to see the decimation in the ranks of people who grew up

watching the Nas doc
yes their generation and ours a lot of people are missing

i'm wary of painting them as these loner druggie outcasts when thats not the whole picture

its a bit like looking back at HS
a lot of shit happens
folks take different paths
some make it through okay
some still struggle
some shine bright for a short period
some bloom late
some die
~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

>on the streets of OLD New York, and they were sort of weirdo
>outcasts. They probably caught a lot of shit growing up and
>it left scars.

Growing up I was trash at hoops and I could make the argument that it stunted my social development to some degree. So REALLY being different could totally mess a kid up emotionally.

Let my love slide in and never slip out

I went to a high school grad and a grade 8 grad this year. Kids are so much different now. There's less investment in identity groupings. Their likes and interests are random. They don't flock together according to sub-cultural norms like we did. Within a group of teenagers....each individual can express themselves and identify with what they want. They are much more free than us. We travelled in packs who dressed alike and listened to the same music...did the same drugs. In our day...it was more like people picked a sub-group and then followed the rules for that particular group.

I think the internet was the driving force in this change.

I never made that connection.

on some scared straight shit. Dope movie but man that end scene messed with me for a long time.

I remember hearing everybody talking about this when I was in high school,I finally saw it on Cinemax at 1 AM one random summer night

Film is pretty ridiculous at some points but yeah it's the best representation of that era in NYC that we have.

Let my love slide in and never slip out

in one scene.

i've never seen the movie myself.
when i was a kid everyone would always talk about it
and i just couldn't get my hands on a copy of it
when i got older i lost all interest in seeing it.

When she told me she grew up in downtown NY I pretty much assumed she was raised like this.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson


"One of the most important things in life is what Judge Learned Hand described as 'that ever-gnawing inner doubt as to whether you're

hadn't been priced out of Manhattan yet, too.

lol.. great film.. mad miserable tho.

The crew I was running with was sort of a Hampton version of those kids. Drugs, hip hop, skating (not me, I sucked), multi racial etc. Definitely misfits.

I still sing that shit when I see someone without legs.

not out loud tho

>

I saw a couple of their other works, despite the hype they didn't do much for me.

Let my love slide in and never slip out

Really disturbing, sad and annoying. Definitely disliked most of the characters in that movie as well. No desire to see it again

and he was like "This movie SUCKS"... LOL. I didnt realize how miserable it is because I first watched it when I was young and used to actually goto WSP whenever I visited my brother in Manhattan. I thought it was cool LOL.

It's my generation's 'American Graffiti'. They got the clothes, the slang and all the nuances right. That was basically my social circle on screen.

~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

1: Good Lord was Telly a mumblemouthed motherfucker.

2:I wanted to punch most of the main characters in this film

3: I like how Clark contrasted the ugliness of the main characters with all the random characters who are only in the picture for one or two scenes but bring out a lot of warmth and energy