EGO TRIPPIN' 'BOUT GANGS In Can't Stop Won't Stop, Jeff Chang's excellent chronicle of the birth and rise of hip-hop, special attention is given to the early South Bronx street gangs like the Savage Skulls and Black Spades, whose ranks included many eventual young hip-hop creators and whose social constructs affected the way the culture was born. 

Tonight the guys from Ego-Trip, who are very well versed in hip-hop history themselves, are starting a film series at The Maysles Cinema in Harlem, and they're kicking things off with 80 Blocks From Tiffany's. The film from 1979, six years after the birth of hip-hop, captures an era when gang life had changed significantly but was still part of everyday life. After the screening, the director sits down for a chat with Robert Werner, a detective who was featured in the film.

Maysles Cinema // 343 Malcolm X Blvd, Manhattan // 7.30p // $9 // more info // directions