Soundtrack Saturday: “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo”

You knew this day was coming and now it’s arrived: after a few mentions in previous posts, Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984) has finally, officially invaded Soundtrack Saturday.

Released only seven months after the first Breakin’, Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo (FYI: You can’t just say “Breakin’ 2.” The “Electric Boogaloo” must always follow. It’s a rule.) brings back our heroes from the first film — Kelly (Lucinda Dickey), Ozone (Adolfo “Shabba-Doo” Quinones), and Turbo (Michael “Boogaloo Shrimp” Chambers) — who use their breakdancing skills to try and stop a greedy land developer from tearing down their beloved community center.

When we join our heroes, we find that Kelly is working as a dancer and apparently hasn’t seen her buddies Ozone and Turbo in a while. She decides she misses them, so she makes a visit to Miracles, the community center where they work. Turns out a developer wants to bulldoze it in order to build a shopping center. Ozone and a few of the other volunteers, including Byron (Harry Caesar), the man who runs Miracles, go to City Hall and find out from the city commissioner that they have 30 days to raise enough money to save and renovate the center or the developer will have his way and the building will come down.

Ozone, Turbo, and Kelly, along with the other volunteers and kids who use the center, decide to try and raise money by holding a car wash. When that endeavor doesn’t raise enough funds, they decide to throw a big street festival to raise more money. Later, as the group is doing maintenance on the community center, Kelly tells Ozone she’s up for the lead in a show in Paris. He questions her loyalty to the community center and whether or not she’ll stick around to help save it.

But before she can address Ozone’s concerns, a rival breakdance gang throws a can of spray paint through the window of Miracles, forcing a dance-off in the middle of an alley (which is the best place for a dance-off, if you ask me). Upon returning to the center, the dancers discover the developer and his crew surveying the property on which the center sits. They confront him, telling him that he won’t succeed in driving them away.

Now, as this whole situation with the center is going down, Ozone and Turbo are facing another challenge — their love lives. Ozone’s ex-girlfriend, Rhonda (Susie Coelho), wants him back and tells him to stay away from Kelly, to which he replies, “Girls are whacked.” Meanwhile, Turbo has fallen for a young Latina he’s seen dancing at Miracles, prompting him to ask Ozone and Kelly for advice on how to approach her.

Kelly auditions for the show in Paris and is pretty close to landing the gig, but because of Ozone, she questions whether or not she wants to take it. She suggests to him that they ask her wealthy parents for help in saving the community center, but Ozone says that idea is “whacked” (a lot of things are “whacked,” apparently) and he doesn’t want to ask rich people for help. Kelly quickly convinces him that it’ll be fine and she suggests that the two of them, along with Turbo, have dinner at her parents’ house to discuss the matter.

When they arrive they discover that her parents have also invited her ex-boyfriend, an obnoxious, preppy lawyer named Derek (Nick Segal)t. The dinner turns out to be a wash — Kelly’s father is rude and condescending to Ozone and Turbo, forcing Ozone to storm out.

Later at the Radiotron club, where all the cool kids in the ‘hood hang out, Ozone attempts — and fails — to get his chief breakdance rival, Strobe (Steve Notario), to join him and his crew to save Miracles. Then Kelly tells him that she got the part in the show in Paris, which pisses him off even more, so he storms out of Radiotron too. As she tries to follow Ozone out of the club, she’s confronted by her rival, Rhonda, and her crew (which includes a young Lela Rochon). Rhonda tells her she doesn’t belong in the neighborhood, so Kelly decides the best thing for her to do is take the job in Paris, much to her parents’ delight.

The day finally comes for the hearing that will determine whether or not Miracles is torn down in favor of building a shopping center. The city commissioner decides to rule in favor of the developer, a decision which all the kids declare is “whacked.” She gives the Miracles crew two weeks to vacate the building, but Ozone tells the developer that he’s not going to win and his group won’t give up until they save the center.

Back at Miracles, Turbo gets in a fight with some of the developer’s construction crew, which lands him in the hospital. As Kelly is leaving for Paris, Ozone shows up at her house to to tell her about Turbo. She starts to leave with him to go to the hospital, but her agent is there and tells her that if she misses her plane she’ll lose the part, to which she replies she doesn’t care. Hells yeah! She then exits with Ozone.

At the hospital they find an unconscious Turbo, who has a broken leg and a broken arm. After a kiss from his Latina crush, he wakes up, and the entire hospital starts dancing. (I’m pretty sure “hospital staff and other patients dance when you get well” should be added to the controversial health-care reform bill.)

To celebrate Turbo’s recovery, Kelly and Ozone spend the night together (okay, so that’s probably not the reason, but the transition from the hospital dance to them at her house the next morning is pretty terrible), and the next day her father comes over to confront her about turning down the job in Paris. When he finds her with Ozone, he offers to bail out Miracles if she stays out of the neighborhood and goes to Princeton (wait a second — I thought he wanted her to go to Paris). Kelly considers it, but Ozone tells her he won’t let her do it because he knows she doesn’t want it. He tells Kelly’s father that they don’t need his money, but they do need Kelly. When she declares that she’s staying to help out Miracles, her father tells her she’s making a huge mistake.

Meanwhile, Turbo decides it’s time to bust out of the hospital, and enlists the help of his crush. The rest of the group is preparing for the street fair, and when Kelly arrives, she and Rhonda get in another fight, which is interrupted when the developer’s bulldozers arrive. This prompts another dance-off against the bulldozers — and why wouldn’t it?

The ruckus attracts the attention of a local news reporter and potential negative publicity. A representative from the city, who’d previously been on the side of the developer, tells the reporter that the city plans to help the kids save Miracles. The developer then pulls the city rep aside and asks him what’s going on; when he’s told that the city is pulling out of the project, he announces to the reporter and the rest of the group that he too plans to pull out of the project. The developer also declares that he’ll donate $10,000 to Miracles to help the kids renovate it.

After this announcement, the street fair/dance festival begins. The reporter continues covering the event, which Kelly’s parents see on TV. After hearing that the kids have raised $150,000 but need at least $200,000 to renovate Miracles, Kelly’s parents decide to help out as well. They head down to the street fair to tell Kelly they’re proud of her, and her father writes the center a check for $50,000, allowing the Miracles group to reach their fundraising goal. The movie ends with a big dance party and Carol Lynn Townes performing “Believe in the Beat.”

Along with the return of most of the original cast (including Ice-T), the breakdancing, the amazing dialogue, and the brilliant acting are also back for a second round.

And the clothes. Oh, the clothes. I wish I still lived in a world where everyone dressed like this …

And this …

And this …

Okay, so maybe not everyone dressed like that, but wouldn’t be great if they did?

Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo also sees the return of Ollie & Jerry, who had a top-ten hit with “Breakin’ … There’s No Stoppin’ Us” from the first film. While I don’t like the Electric Boogaloo soundtrack as much as I like the Breakin’ soundtrack, there are some really fun songs on it.

I’ve compiled most of the soundtrack here (and just so you know, I have this album on vinyl), but there are quite a few tracks I couldn’t find, including some Ollie & Jerry instrumentals and a couple Ice-T/Chris “The Glove” Taylor songs (I did find one of those on YouTube and have provided it below). As I dug around the Internets looking for these missing tracks, I discovered that no one else has been able to find them, either — it would seem they’re unavailable. Sad face.

All right then, off to plan my Halloween costume — I’m going as Shabba-Doo!

Carol Lynn Townes – I Believe in the Beat
Ollie & Jerry – Electric Boogaloo
Firefox – Stylin’ Profilin’
George Kranz – Din Daa Daa
Firefox – Radiotron
Steve Donn – Gotta Have the Money
Midway – Set It Out
Rags & Riches – Oye Mamacita
Jeff Tyzik – Jammin’ in Manhattan
Mark Scott – I Don’t Wanna Come Down
Ollie & Jerry – When I.C.U.

BONUS TRACKS:
Ollie & Jerry – Electric Boogaloo (Dance Mix)
Ollie & Jerry – Electric Boogaloo (Instrumental)
Carol Lynn Townes – Believe in the Beat (Dance Mix)
Carol Lynn Townes – Believe in the Beat (Instrumental)
Midway – Set It Out (Instrumental)
Midway – Set It Out (Long Vocal Mix)
Midway – Set It Out (Bonus Beats Dub Outro)
Rags & Riches – Oye Mamacita (Extended Dance Mix)

Ice-T, Chris “The Glove” Taylor, and David Storrs, “Reckless Rivalry”:

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