A well known excuse for not writing in a blog is that one has been busy. Then when one gets busy, they start posting random battle videos to their blog to buy some time for the next “serious” post. Well…I refuse to fall into that trap! I have to admit, it did take a little bit of motivation for me to get up and write this. But here we go….
Dancers Who Looked Scary Intimidating in the Circle, but Turned Out to be Cool
I just got back Penn St. University this past weekend for a jam. A highlight of my experience there was speaking to b-boy Gravity for the first time. Gravity is from 5 Crew Dynasty & Dynamic Rockers, straight from New York City. Anyways, I was talking to him for the first time, just small talk for less than a minute, and then had a realization, “Damn, he doesn’t seem as scary-ass intimidating apart from the battles. He actually seems like a nice guy.” I swear my moment of recognition took me into slow motion time, and made me think of other instances where I thought a particular dancer was intimidating at first, but turned out to be really cool after. For people reading, don’t lie…I know a lot of dancers think of this topic, especially the younger b-boys. I guess it has to do with the battle face persona during competitions, compared to a more chilled out persona when not in the circle.
GRAVITY – 5 Crew Dynasty
So without ado, here is my personal list of dancers that I thought were scary as fuck, but turned out to be pretty damn cool after you talk to them. I already listed Gravity above. The reason I said him was because if there is any current b-boy with that raw NYC b-boy mentality, it’d be Gravity. That guy battles like he could chomp your head off, and then some. But after talking to him, I was like, “Damn, you like to make jokes on b-boy Domkey as well? You’re pretty cool.”
WAKA – Brickheadz
When I was a sophomore in college, and had only danced for less than a year, I took a trip with friends to Chicago for City vs City 3. It was there that I saw Waka dance for the first time. Holy crap did he look scary. With his shaved head, goatee, and labret piercing, he had like a battle stare that could turn one into a chicken. I had a lot of friends in the Chicago scene, and they kept telling me that although he was intimidating, he was probably the nicest b-boy in the scene. Fast forward nine years later, I did a short interview with Waka and Evol of Brickheadz, and turned out they were right. But still, I dare someone to compete in a staring contest with Waka. You can’t win. (has anyone done this yet? the Strife person in me wants to challenge him next time for amusement purposes)
BORN – Rivers
When I went to Korea two years ago, everyone looked damn intimidating to me. It was less because I did not speak the language, but more because I couldn’t do airfares like every 12 year old Korean child could. Despite all these power moves, my initial scary ass Korean candidate was Born. Let me tell you, that guy walked around the cyphers like he owned the entire country. He had on his Zulu pendant and vest, and if Charlie Murphy was there, he’d tell you Born had some kind of aura emanating around him like Rick James.
The Korea b-boy scene is not known for cyphers. Friends were telling me it is due to the abundance of stage battles, that the b-boys & b-girls try not to show off their moves or it would tire them out before the competition. And when there would be cyphers, it’d be more like a practice crew cypher: a Gambler cypher here, a Rivers cypher there, and so forth. But Born, with his Zulu influence, would walk around from cypher to cypher, as few as there were, doing his thing, not giving a care in the world what other people thought. If Chuck Norris was a Korean b-boy, he’d be Born. But of course, after getting to know Born, hanging out, partying, and taking his workshops every week, he became a good friend. I love the guys from Rivers and Floor Gangz.
Just so I’m not boring anyone, here is the rest of my personal list of “people in the b-boy scene that I thought were scary ass intimidating, but turned out to be pretty cool.”
–Erwin | BBOYWORLD – For the longest time, I kept picturing like the Wizard of Oz, sitting behind that James Brown avatar of his.
–MexOne | THEBBOYSPOT – Same reason as above, I just kept hearing names of some big dude behind one of the most popular dance websites in the world. Let me tell you, imagining a mystery moderator person, sitting behind avatars, can be quite intimidating. It wasn’t until I met Mex in person that I realized how wrong I was.
–Sick | GAMBLERZ – As one of the senior Gamblerz members, Sick is kinda old school Korean. He wasn’t all too social at first, but turned out to be very nice to me after bringing him a thank you bag of Gatorade & Doritos to their studio. Korean rule of thumb: bring gifts when visiting & practicing at a Korean crew’s private studio as a sign of respect.
–Machine | ROCKFORCE – He’s another example of having an intimidating battle face, but is quite chill afterward. Loan is part of his Machine’s hip hop dance choreo crew.
click on the links in the video to navigate!
4 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION – PENN ST. UNIVERSITY
I was up at State College, Pennsylvania, this past weekend for the 4 Elements of Expression jam. It had a lot of big named dancers, including Morris, Lil John, Bebe, and crews like Ground Zero, Repstyles, Supreme Beings, Dynamic Rockers, and more. Posted above is the interactive menu I made for all the battles.
The venue was quite nice. It was at a club called the Mezzanine. Unfortunately, the venue did not turn on their spotlights for the later battles, thus I was forced to move closer to the stage for the battles, near the speakers. So, I apologize for the rattling bass noise in the latter battles, as well as the dark film grain due to having almost zero light. I should probably buy a condenser microphone in the future to prevent this from happening.
THINGS THAT I THINK I THINK
–How the hell does Gravity do twists & flips in the dark, and still land on his feet?
–The venue owner was lame in not allowing the final tie-breaker to happen.
–But then again, b-boys should try and be on time for the scheduled event, but that won’t happen, at least not in the USA.
–I haven’t seen Ground Zero battle together in years.
–That final World Cup match between the Netherlands and Spain was boring. I almost feel asleep at the bar with Maresco and Rex.
–My favorite battle of the night was Get ‘em Off (LOZ/GZC) vs Dynamic Rockers.
–Morris secretly signed Domkey up for the All Styles battle, 3v3 battle, and Bonnie & Clyde battle, haha. Should’ve seen Domkey’s face when he found out.
–Bars & Clubs should not expect to make much money from drink sales during a daytime b-boy jam. Who battles for $2,250 while drinking?
–Zoob from Ground Zero Crew looked like Borat.
who knew
BREAKBEAT OF THE DAY:
MisLee edited a very nice R-16 1v1 reel
…and this is the song she used
The Incredible Funk League – On & On Feat. Sadat X (Cléon & Jazzy P Remix)
–Daniel
gunjak
I remember thinking Physicx look mad intimidating to meet in person…until you guys did an interview with him and turned out he has pretty shy and modest personality.