Breakdance (AKA B-boying/B-girling or breaking) is most athletic of the element of Hip-Hop. This dance style grew out of the street culture of New York in the 1970s as a constructive option for the kids on the streets instead of being part of the gangs and violence.
Breakdance has 4 major elements to its technique - toprock, downrock, freezes and power moves. Showdowns and contests take place as a battle, were individuals or crews (group) go head to head, taking it in turns to show their skills. I went looking for a video that really encompassed all of these techniques in a battle mode, when a light bulb went off in my head. The film clip for Jason Nevins’ remix of ‘It’s Like That’ by Run-DMC is a fake crew battle that really shows everything. To quote DMC, ‘Check this out’….
Often when people think of Hip-Hop, what comes to mind is crap mainstream rap music that barely has a shred of relevance to the culture that is Hip-Hop. Well, Hip-Hop is not just making MTV videos for millions of dollars so P. Diddy can sell his Sean John clothes and drive a Hummer. Real Hip-Hop culture is about the four elements - rapping; DJing; B-boying; and graffiti.
So, as a brief education in Hip-Hop culture, my next few video of the week posts will be focused on the four elements of Hip-Hop. The first one is of Pose and Ewok ‘dropping a burner’ (no, this is not something you do in the toilet after a vindaloo). The finished piece is a phenomenal artwork that just makes you go ‘WOW’. You can see more pictures of this piece as well as more graffiti at Known Gallery.
OK, the movie Step Up 2 wasn’t the greatest for plot, but when the director and one of the stars gang up on Miley Cyrus the result is great.
Step Up 2′s director John Chu and Adam Savani who played ‘Moose’ team up for what they tout as the greatest online dance battle against ‘teen idol’ Miley Cyrus and one of her dancers Mandy Jiroux. Adam and Chu’s crew is called ACDC….the Adam Chu Dance Crew (yeah, kind of lame). But the team they pull together for the second installment of the battle is incredible, from some amazing hip-hop dancers to big name stars.
ACDC’s second installment is below and surely is the winner. Check out YouTube for the other installments in the battle.
I have the loop from this set to my mobile phone ringtone, but no-one that hears it understands where it comes from. Someone the other day said it sounded like the ice cream truck was coming.
Oh well, some people just don’t understand. They usually also listen to MMM, FOX or similar also!
The People by Common (can’t embed this unfortunately)
Also, videos like this make me want to get on a plane to New York. I just want to see the real New York after seing this.
The brown bear has the mad skillz! I always wondered why my daughter wanted me to make her a hip-hop mix tape, but it turns out her soft toys are break dancing for her after we go to bed.
But seriously, gotta love a bit of DJ Format (hailing from somewhere in the UK). And when he teams up with Chali 2NA and Akil of Jurassic 5 fame, it’s always good.
Apparently I am addicted to Facebook, if you ask certain members of my family. As a result of the addiction, I have found this cool Beastie Boys app that I added to my profile….and now I am adding it to my blog…
