Contributed by NINO* on 10/22/07

When people ask me if I’m ‘one of those breakdancers’ – I don’t know what to say anymore. I used to give them a full on lecture about the difference between breakers and breakdancers. Rockin of course was the original term. But the different to the term breakdance is the same. It takes an athlete to breakdance. But an athletic artist to bboy. The ‘b’ stands for break boy, beat boy or Bronx boy. Originally termed by Kool Herc. A bboy learns the basics by practising and the rest of their style is developed personally. B-boying is a lifestyle rather than a hobby. Bboying is dance that is a combination of many other dance forms, it emphasizes originality and creativity in your dance moves and routines. As well as mind blowing acrobatics that requires tremendous amounts of balance, but it’s always about feeling the beats and rhythms.

Here I should also point out that although some rappers may call themselves bboys THEY ARE NOT. As Ken Swift said ‘this is a dance’. Just having the ability to Top Rock doesn’t make you a bboy/bgirl. It is not a sport. The foundation all bboys work from is that they must be on beat, be dancing to hip hop beats and include one of the core moves. Other than that it is open to your own interpretation. Bboying is evolving like the rest of hip hop. A bboys ability to improvise and experiment is what has expanded the artform we see today. Bboying is one of the 4 original elements of hip hop. I know many people have moved past the ‘4 elements’ phase. But it’s the truth. Saying that, bboying also has it’s beautiful own subculture.

I am bgirl. I break for myself and no one else. I don’t do it to look cool. Get guys. I do it because it feels right and I love it. Hip hop is my escape, my way of expressing myself and releasing my soul into the world. It’s the only place where I am an equal. I’m a part of a worldwide community where I can still be an individual.

I’m not a breakdancer. Because I know, I respect and I appreciate the history of hip hop and breakin’. I don’t come up with an impressive move in front of a mirror in some posh uptown studio. I cop the latest promo discs and hit some concrete where I let the music take over my body to create the moves.

But my views have been redirected slightly. A few months ago, I was lucky enough to have a chat with Donald D (Rhyme Syndicate) and Alien Ness (Zulu Kings, Rock Steady) when they came to the U.K. to play at Fresh Jive in Leeds. I asked their opinions on this idea of ignorant middle class kids stealing our faith and biting our style with such a lack of respect and understanding of hip hop and breakin’. I mean – what’s up with these so called ‘hip hop’ dance classes, taught by dancers who haven’t lived hip hop?! And they flipped the whole idea into a completely new colour for me. Alien Ness, seeing what was in my head, broke it down perfectly. He basically said ‘I’m going to tell you something KRS-1 told me. It’s something that has had such an impact on my life and the way I think.’

And this incredible thing?

It’s not about what you want, it’s about what you need.

And it had a similar effect on me. Everything I say and do, I consider this idea beforehand. Is it worth me even stressing about this? Is it worth me acting on it? Clearly. To Ness it isn’t. And I can see why. Why waste time stressing about thing’s that are impossible to change?

Hip hop is all about peace unity and having fun (Zulu Nation). It’s for people who weren’t born with their heads on platinum trays. People with any colour blood, or every colour blood. It’s all about involvement – releasing your soul in order to utilise your passion. Guns, bitches and bling were never part of the four elements and they never will be. The reason mainstream hip hop – which is pure gangster pop, has got so big is because the government want Fiddy Cent and Young Jeezy instead of Public Enemy and Outlandish. The reason is simple. Fiddy perfectly fulfils the stereotype the white middle class have of the Afro-Caribbean working class. He teaches kids how to hustle. As though there is no other choice. So the gun culture grows. Kids don’t see or are too afraid to approach opportunities that could pull them out of that. Opportunities in the colourful form of hip hop. Which, conveniently, is just decreasing in sales. This way, the government have a reason to block immigrants, a reason to discriminate against ethnic minorities and working classes – because they’re destroying themselves and all those that come in contact with them.

And you have magazines like Hip Hop Connection. Who are blatantly gangster pop. With minimal decent hip hop content. These magazines cannot call themselves hip hop mags till they cover hip hop equally and in it’s entirety. It seems ridiculous that the press, the government and the parents do not research this fully before turning against it. They take each other’s word for it. When will they finally look into these claims and stop acting like they know what is going on in the inner cities?

It’s also a well known fact that the police have always been against bboying. They act like dancing is a criminal offence. And when they do, the kids who are moving away from criminal activity because they have got involved in bboying, go backwards to that previous graftin lifestyle. And their compassion for society is even less. Their crimes even worse. And their opportunities for something better is lost. It is as though any time it looks as though we are stepping further forwards and away from our stereotypes, some fool who was born with all we have worked so hard for, on a gold plate; will do their best to get in our way and push us back down, further and further.

The truth is, when it comes to bboying. These fools are jealous and intimidated by what we are capable of. Back when it kicked off, they loved using little street kids for their own amusement and entertainment. The media lens was focussed on breakin’. Years ago you had kids who were breakin’ on street corners instead of getting zooted. Now? You have all these prissy reality shows, dancing competitions and pathetic fakeass films. The entire culture eventually became a target for ridicule. Insecure people are always quick to make fun of things that are different, especially when they’re being shovelled in the face with them 24/7. I think the beginning of the end was when the movie “Breakin’” hit #1 at the theatres.

Bboying has begun to be popular again. But it needs to stay underground. It was never meant to be formalized and to be a popular form. As long as the underground aspect is maintained in some manner then, if some bboys try to formalize bboying it becomes popular then it’s all good. Yes, I have begun to see so many aspects of media eating up hip hop culture and in result snacking on bboying also. You can see bboys in music videos, movies, commercials, magazines etc…

Since we’re talking about media feasts…I find myself bringing up the bboys marmite – Krumping. Either we’re for it. Or we hate hate hate it. First of all. Let me say that I do not belive that krumping is a part of original hip hop. But as we have moved forward, evolving from the 4 elements. With beatboxers, basketballers, skaters, aniimators and flatlanders entering the culture. Krumping can still be involved with the music. But never in the same status as bboying. As an original hip hop art. The thing is. They are both street arts. Bboying is true school. Krumping takes elements of bboying. However, the physicality is seen as different. Several ‘buck’ moves such as beasty and caddy do reflect an original bboy style some people seem to have ignored. Their crews are called fams. Their biters are called HiPolymers. And their battles are called battles. They do not use core bboy moves. However they are influenced by personal bboy’s style. But krumping is also being ripped by the glodal media and middle classes. And just like bboying there are tons of hardcore krumpers, following a lifestyle that is only angered by it’s publicity. Krumping is still an art. And it’s fun. Bboys and krumpers need to stop hating on each other. We’re combating the same problem. We need to unite and ignite. If not for hip hop… then for street dance, individuality, soul and faith in the beats and our bodies.

The thing that krumpers really do have. And the reason I find myself incorporating krumping moves into my bboying (I was doing the beasty before I even knew what it, or clowning or krumping was. It’s my style) is the music. The grime in England is incredible. It’s dirty, hardcore, fast and it makes you krump. Nowadays there are tons of incredible hip hop artists. However there seems to be a laziness and lack of real break beats. It’s like they stopped making music for the bboys. Hip hop is morphing into R&B. DJs are playing for the hoes. Not the bgirls. Seriously, we’re way hotter and we create masterpieces on the dancefloor. We have dignity, soul and energetic expression. WAKE UP. For real though. Speaking as a drummer as well. Where are the drums? The beat? The funk? The word break in bboy came from the break of the record – i.e. the percussion or drum solo. Without the true breaks. There are no true bboys.

Whatever. This is just my angle of something that means everything to me. Bboying defines who I am. Why I am. So naturally, it burns to see it being thrown about and mistreated. I’m just hoping it stays strong in the right places. And it can be put to the uses it was meant for. To all the true bboys, and to all the kids who have yet to discover and be saved by bboying, y’all keep me going. Everyday. The only thing that can fully destroy the world’s most solid community. Is the community themselves.

As Crazy Legs said – “Bboying will not die because it wasn’t started for fame and fortune. It began when inner-city gangs needed a new form for proving physical prowess and a style of expressing their originality.”

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