Films & books

Movies

Wild Style (1983): the classic Hip Hop movie, with many pioneers including the Rock Steady Crew.
Flashdance (1983): contains a Breaking scene with the Rock Steady Crew, including Mr. Freeze, Crazy Legs, Ken Swift and Frosty Freeze. The song played, “It's Just Begun” by the Jimmy Castor Bunch, is still an all-time classic and one of the most played breaks in the scene. Crazy Legs also did the backspin as a double for Jennifer Beals.
Beat Street (1984): including the battle of Rock Steady Crew vs. New York City Breakers in the Roxy.
Breakin' (1984): with Shabba Doo as “Ozone”, Boogaloo Shrimp as “Turbo”, Poppin Taco and Poppin Pete. More info: Breakin' – The Website.
Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984): with Shabba Doo and Boogaloo Shrimp.

Documentaries

Style Wars (1983): TV documentary about the New York Graffiti scene, the birth of Hip Hop, the roots of Rap and the Rock Steady Crew. More info: stylewars.com.
History of Hip Hop (1984): TV documentary.
Graffiti Rock (1984): featuring Run DMC, NYC Breakers, Shannon, Kool Moe Dee and Special K.
Breaking and Entering: TV documentary.
Electro Rock (1985): documentary of an event in the Hippodrome in London, with Rock City, Loose Bruce, Broken Glass, London All Stars, Look Twice and others.
The Freshest Kids (2001): Hip Hop legends Kool DJ Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, KRS-One and many more come together to tell the most comprehensive history of Breaking, its evolution and its place within Hip Hop culture and beyond. More info: thefreshestkids.com.

Music videos

Malcolm McLaren, “Buffalo Gals” (1983): featuring Rock Steady Crew
Rock Steady Crew, “Hey You” (1984)
Rock Steady Crew, “Uprock” (1984)
Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force, “Planet Rock”: featuring Rock Steady Crew and Dynamic Rockers
Chaka Khan, “I Feel for You” (1984): featuring Pop-N-Taco, Boogaloo Shrimp and Shabba Doo
Break Machine, “Street Dance” (1984)
Lionel Richie, “All Night Long” (1983): featuring Pop-N-Taco and Boogaloo Shrimp
Lords of the Underground, “Chief Rocka” (1993): featuring Crazy Legs and Ken Swift of Rock Steady Crew, and Quickstep of Full Circle
Beastie Boys, “Root Down” (1995): featuring clips of the movie “Wild Style” with Rock Steady Crew
Wyclef Jean, “We Trying to Stay Alive” (1997): featuring Rock Steady Crew and Elite Force
Run DMC vs. Jason Nevins, “It's Like That” (1997): featuring Animation, WillPower, Asia One, Kujo and others

Books

At the height of the Breaking media explosion in the mid 80s several books on “Breakdancing” were published, although most of them were more ridiculous than really helpful. All of them are hard to find today because they are out of print. These two are highly recommended:

“Von Swipe zu Storm”, Niels Robitzky: written by the German B-Boy legend Storm (Battle Squad), covering his views and experiences through all the years (in German). First print 2000, Backspin, ISBN 3-00-005526-6.
“We B*Girlz”, Martha Cooper & Nika Kramer: documented by photographer Martha Cooper and writer Nika Kramer, the book showcases the dynamic style and nonstop energy of B-Girls in action, in practice, on stage and at home. First print 2005, powerHouse Books, ISBN 1576872696. More info: bgirlz.com.

Magazines

It is not easy to write regular articles about Breaking, in contrast to MCing, DJing or Writing, where you can present reviews and pictures. That must also be the reason why Breaking wasn't and isn't featured much in Hip Hop magazines.

It's striking that magazines which mainly feature the musical side of Hip Hop (or what the industry wants to sell as Hip Hop) are mostly commercialized, whereas most underground Hip Hop magazines are Graffiti related and cover mainly that side of the culture. Unfortunately there have only ever been very few print magazines that feature and unite all elements of Hip Hop and also cover its cultural side. One worth checking out:

Backspin Magazine: since 1994, from Hamburg, Germany. In German. backspin.de