bboy 101
toprocks
if you cant rock to a song, you aint bboying
period
Ness
April 13, 2009 • 9:21 pm 0
Ness On Toprock
April 13, 2009 • 6:22 am 0
Ness On Fame
April 13, 2009 • 6:15 am 0
Dyzee On Flava
Flavor doesnt equal creativity. But being creative can also be having flavor.
Everybody does the same steps. The same moves.
But some people that do those steps choose to make it look good. They add something (even subtle) to those steps and moves to make it look more dope… hence, adding their own flavor to the steps or moves. Its the attitudes and expressions within the moves and steps that we do that give you flavor. For example, doing any type of burns without putting flavor into it makes it look wak. But the simplest burn or step, or smallest move added with a little bit of flavor (attitude, eye contact, etc) can make anything look dope.
Dyzee
April 13, 2009 • 6:13 am 0
Rush On Flava
April 13, 2009 • 5:22 am 0
Rush On Judging
I think what people have to accept is when you enter an organised competition you are submitting yourselves to the judges decisions who ever they may be from a respected bboy to somebodies aunty, if you lose you shouldnt whinge, you knew what you were getting yourselves into, even if everyone believes you won it doesnt matter…..what the judges say, GOES! in a competition.
In no way does that mean the judges are right, or wrong! its just their opinion/personal preference/what they like….doesnt mean you need to go back to change your shit up to suit them, cos the next jam could be a totally different judging panel, totally different perception, just do you.
Ive entered jams and judges said we lost, everyone was saying we won but i aint expecting every judge to think the way i do about bboying.
“Real recognise Real!”
peace
Rush
Filed under: Judging
April 12, 2009 • 4:00 pm 0
Kid Freeze On BBoy
We were creating these moves, trying to get what nobody else had cause when we went out there, we wanted to be different. We didn’t wanna be like anybody who went to clubs, looked to see who was doin what, then went home to bite it. Nowadays, you got these video bandits that wait for you to do a move on video, then they do it
Kid Freeze
April 12, 2009 • 2:13 pm 0
Ken Swift On Judging
I see it as a competition really. Every event I go to has a criteria, if I go to a battle and you are throwing the event, I ask ” How do you want me to judge this battle.” Because you have to understand that, if I do it my way, lot of people will be like “get out!” But I ask first, because a competition is a competition. If I go to the Breaking championship in Korea, and I sit down and judge, and one guy does House and Breaking and one guy does Martial Arts and Breaking, and these are the two competitiors, I go and say you are both out? No! I have to watch them and determine who won. So I have to watch what they bring to the table. What if two Bboys don’t got any Top rocks and Foundation and they are battling, I have to take what they brought and I have to judge! Many times I see people that I don’t like and they look whack but I have to judge them. I have to say well he did it better than he did, they both don’t know what they are doing, but he did it better, he did something a little more. And there are competitors they know exactly what they are doing, they are both really exceptional and both really good, and what I’m looking for in that moment is the confidence and the domination of that moment, the consistency of that battle. If you come in with a certain pace, I want to see that consistent. If you come in fast and in the later 3rd of 4th battle your energy is going down, I’m looking for a consistent balance throughout the whole competition of who you are and who your team is. I’m looking for people that Dance, looking for people that got moves with their personality, looking for people that spins, Air moves, Footworks, Freezes, Balance moves, Top styles, Sliding moves, I’m looking for everything. I look for people that are slipping and tripping, I’m looking for that because that helps my job out. For example, yesterday I saw these two teams that I was like ” God Damn,” both dope. At that point, when the battle are really close, I’m looking at everything, and if I see a little slip, which I saw a lot yesterday, then I’m like “Thank goodness somebody messed up,” because it’s very hard to judge. I have one look as a judge, everybody goes to their homes and watch the videos but I have one look, I can’t rewind my mind. So I have to make a split second decision and it’s very difficult. Back some times when I go back and look at the tapes I’m like “Oh Shit..” I make mistakes as a judge. Sometimes you make mistakes. But you have a split second decisions and you can’t stop and you have to make a decision. I’m looking at everything. Sometimes the dances I see are really incredible, and I can’t be personal. I don’t care who you are, I know mostly everybody. Not here but, when I judge back in the states, I know mostly everybody. I like a lot of people but as a judge, I have to be fair. I don’t care who it is, can’t be personal. I can only do that good because I’m older and I’m not competitive. I’ve been on the table with the judges that are young, they were consciously hating on some of the Bboys and they don’t even realize it, and I’ve seen it. Favoring some of their friends and that’s why I don’t like to judge with the young Bboys because they don’t even realize that they are being biased. If you are competitive and you are judging and you see someone you might be battleing next month, there’s already something inside of you saying…. So you have to be fair. It’s a really difficult thing to do. Judging is a bitch because then you see people that wants to battle you after, I’ve battle 15~20 times after the battles. I’ve judged about 50 to 60 competitions and just the top of my head, 10 to 15 times I battle someone after just because they were pissed off. Some of them really came up to me crazily and I felt like we were going to fight and some of them were really aggressive and after 3 or 4 moves they were like “Oh! respect!” Respect what? Some of them just wanted to have the ability to say ” Oh I battled Ken Swift.” But now I don’t mind any of that, I understand why people get mad when they lose. But if they really look at it you know, if they feel like they are going to win then they don’t care what I say. Like, if you were in a battle and you know that you roasted someone and you really do, it doesn’t matter if you won or not because you know it in your heart. It’s like a fight, if you know somebody and you know that you won, you know you won, nobody has to tell you that you lost. You can look at them and you can see. So. if I tell you that you won and you knew that you lost, you are going to go home sad and say ” No, I didn’t win that.” You know when you don’t win. So if the judge votes for you, it doesn’t matter, the whole thing about it is like so what so what. Judge is only a human being, everybody make mistakes.
Ken Swift
April 12, 2009 • 2:11 pm 0
Ken Swift On Style
It’s fine, I mean there was only one Bboy style, everything that’s being done across the border, all the different styles of the approach to Dance, they are all acceptable and dope. There are conscious Breakers and conscious Bboys and Bgirls all around the world. I’m very pleased with the scene right now, because I know that even though I can be opinionated and see someone and I can tell them that they don’t get it, that’s okay. I know that there’s people that will telll them ” maybe we can let you know about something, this is what you are lacking and etc.” You have to support those people not disrespect them, you have to approach it like ” Yo that’s dope what you are doing man but you know what? Check this out!” As a pioneer that’s your responsibility to share with the young kids, but a lot of the young kids don’t like to hear them. I think everything’s fine across the border.
Ken Swift
April 12, 2009 • 1:54 pm 0
Ken Swift On BBoy
Anybody that thinks they are Bboys are very excited about the lifestyle and kind of like models them selves to somebody. So somebody has made this young men or young lady want to be so bad a Bboy and they dress it and they Break it, learn everything they can about it, but a lifestyle of a Bboy or a Bgirl is very simplified but it’s intense. You need to understand the whole philosophy and mind state of the art to become a Bboy. Bboy is a lost art, lost terminology because everybody calls themselves a Bboy. And it’s a cool word but that doesn’t mean you are. The way you dress, they way you dance. They are so much involved to it with the lifestyle and I can say that because when I was 12 or 13 years old, I was living the lifestyle. Not knowing that I would be sitting here right now. So it’s okay to everybody wanting to call themselves Bboys, but at the same time always understand that you always have to be a student and the more you research( Bboys tradition, New, Old) you get more information, the more you might get closer to become a real Bboy. Because a lot of people aren’t Breakers, they call Breakdances and that’s okay because Breaking is about understanding the history, understanding music, the way you dress, the way you approach the dance to it, they way you approach your Toprock and they way you approach your text, the way you finish and the way you leave, you have it all day. Just put on a Bboy hat and then go home and put the pop corn hat on and put your stripe socks and then next week you got your House shirt but.. a Bboy is only a Bboy. A dancer is a dancer, I consider myself a Bboy that I dance the style of Bboy, I don’t consider myself really a dancer. A Bboy is a dancer but I don’t do all the dance styles. I think a person that Locks today, Pops tomorrow Boogalooes next day, Breaks, Uprocks; that’s a great dancer because you can go and put on any hat and do any dance. I never had that ability. The only dance I ever lived and always studied is Breaking. So I see myself as a Bboy, I don’t have an identity crisis. I’m not trying to like I don’t know who I wanna be, I know who I wanna be. It’s okay to dance all the styles, but that’s not me. In order to be a Bboy, you have to live it everyday. Break Life!
Ken Swift
April 12, 2009 • 1:53 pm 0
Ken Swift On Music
Music is the key to everything that a Bboy or Bgirl does and has ever done. Music should be the first intent for you to want to actually move. Without music there would be no dance, and if there is no music and you are dancing then there is a problem. When I share what I know, first thing I talk about, the biggest thing I talk about is dealing with music. Music is the key to everything that you would want to accomplish, music should define the way you dance. When it comes to the art form, a lot of people think they are Bboys but they are not. Music has to define the way you Top style and Toprock. The song should dictate the way you are suppose to feel. There are songs that make you feel very relaxed, there are songs that make you real funky, there are songs that make you real aggressive. Every song that comes on should define the way you approach the song and that’s what people are suppose to do. If I see you attacking a song that says when you listen to it “chill~get funky~” and you are aggressive, I can tell that you are not understanding the art, art is about letting the song dictate they way you should dance, and the music is the key. But there is a time for Breaking and there is a time to chill. The Bboys does not have to Break to every song that comes on. The Bboys should Break to the song that they likes; that he likes to Break. So, the misconception is like “we go to the jam and we break all night.” NO. You should chill, and when you hear your song then you should Break it. If you like every song, then you Break every song. But back in the days, parties; there were maybe 3times that would play Break only. Maybe 3 or 4, because mostly it was Disco parties, playing Disco music, people hustling, ladies and men dancing, they having a nice time and then they might do a one of those… MFS beat(뭐지??), Love is the message(노래제목인듯), they might throw something like ‘Give it up or turn it a loose’ or ‘Just begun’ and that was the moment for the Bboys and the Rockers to come out, but when that record was over, that was it you stopped. Because the music will change back to Disco, Hustle or whatever so the music dictates everything. If the DJs are playing ‘Apache’ and you are doing House music, we can already see it. They are playing a nice House song, and you are spinning on your head, to me it’s about context, so music should define what you are doing.
Ken Swift
BBoy Knowledge 