Rubble Kings screens DOC NYC
November 19th, 2014 by Mr. C
Rubble Kings was a great documentary film on the state of gangs in NYC during the 1960s & 70s. It primarily focused on why they came to be, their rights of passage, & their savageness in the streets when someone, anyone who stepped on their turf who didn’t have the same colors. Most gangs formed because of the social movement going on during those times of socio-economic upheaval and inequality. It was a way to protect themselves in their own neighborhood. Meanwhile, unfathomable amounts of gangs formed in the urban jungle across all boroughs of NYC. The scene didn’t look too far fetched as depicted in the movie “The Warriors”. Actually the film was tame compared to the battle cries of the real scenario. Some gangs that were noted in the film included the Savage Nomads, the Black Spades, Savage Skulls, The Harlem Turks, Dirty Ones, The Chockos, and the Seven Immortals to just name a few of the players. All would turn for the worse regarding turf wars as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and John F. Kennedy were assassinated. Civil rights and the Vietnam war brought even more social & political unrest to the concrete slabs. The 1970s was a turbulent time in the streets of NYC. Heroin was being introduced to the streets and the zombies took over as well as the irrational fight between the inner city gangs. This was the time when the magic word of “urban renewal” took flight as modern NYC architect Robert Moses instituted a plan to create the Cross Bronx Expressway which unfortunately meant wiping out established homes, businesses, & hearts of the folks in the bronx. This was the infamous time when the bronx was in decay. Landlords would burn down their own buildings to try to collect insurance. The wealthy in the Bronx fled to the burbs. The city was just an urban wasteland. As you can imagine gangs would continue to flourish in order to just survive the day to day in this urban decay.
Documenting the nasty side of this chaos was just part of the story. Rubble Kings went on to inspire as one particular gang in the Bronx called The Ghetto Brothers looked beyond the infighting between all the gangs in NYC. They wanted to get more education and wanted to stop the drug epidemic. They fought political & social injustice. In the Ghetto Brother territories which spread beyond the Bronx, they made sure to push the pushers out. They tried to rehab the junkies in their area by looking after them 24×7 so they can go cold turkey off the dope. The Ghetto Brothers in turn tried to influence other gangs throughout NYC by promoting stop the violence as all gangs are one and that they should fight against society, the government, and the City instead of spending energy fighting themselves. This is exactly what the government wanted, the gangs to desecrate themselves. The peace treaty that the Ghetto Brothers would organize in the YMCA on Hoe Avenue in the Bronx amongst all leaders of the gangs in NYC would be a game changer going forward.
Another layer of bringing community together to heal was music! The Ghetto Brothers besides being the peacemakers, were talented jamming out as a band. They played latin funk and it really brought out the fun and sense of brother & sisterhood to ALL when they opened up the party to EVERYONE. Bring out your bongo or your favorite instrument and just jam out was their motto! The mastermind behind the peace sign in the Ghetto Brothers was founder ‘Yellow’ Benji Melendez. The muscle behind the clan was Karate Charlie from the Marines!
Afrika Bambaataa would also play a big part in the film as he eventually morphed the badass Black Spades gang into the Zulu Nation promoting peace, community, and Hip Hop. Bambaattaa had his part in using DJ’ing and block parties as he blended music into the new gang culture as a way to battle amongst each other using tunes instead of fists. A whole segment in the film gave props to Kool Herc and other DJs in uniting the community and using Hip Hop, though the term probably did not exist at that time, as an outlet instead of gang banging. The new battle cries would be in the form of b-boy’ing, graffiti, EMCing, and DJ’ing. These competitions against each others crew with dancing, rapping, DJ’ing and tagging art in public spaces would prove to be more productive as it formed a new culture! Grandmaster Caz,Flash,AJ amongst others were mentioned. DJ Red Alert and Jazzy Jay had a few talk back moments in the film as well.
Folks, if you get the chance, please see RUBBLE KINGS! It’s an eye opener and just part of the history of New York City! Appreciate! Rubble King’s screens today at DOC NYC at 5:20pm at the IFC Center on 6th ave.
As a note, another film which documents street gangs in the south bronx during the 1970s that is worth seing is 80 Blocks from Tiffany’s. Rubble Kings and 80 Blocks from Tiffany’s really brings the subject matter to context.
Tags: doc nyc, documentary, new york gangs, rubble kings
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