In 1983, three landmark hip-hop films were released: Wild Style, Style Wars, and Breakin’ And Enterin.’ Film studios saw the response to these three independent films on the festival circuit and in limited box office runs. They then wanted to capitalize off of the growing popularity of hip-hop.

Cannon Films was rushing to put out Breakin,’ a Los Angeles-based film derived from Topper Carew’s documentary Breakin’ and Enterin.’ While New World Pictures had a hip-hop themed film in production starring Lorenzo Lamas called Body Rock. Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier were both trying to develop their own projects. All would be set in New York City.

Harry Belafonte tapped Stan Lathan to direct his Orion Pictures feature tentatively titled Street Beat, slated for a June 8th, 1984 release. He also reached out to renowned producer Arthur Baker to handle the music. Sidney Poitier would pivot his project to deal more with a group of aspiring dancers from the Midwest seeking fame in NYC, pushing its theater debut back to early 1985. He reached out to Quincy Jones’ Qwest Records to handle the soundtrack for his film, which was finally released as Fast Forward.

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