Was that a condom he just threw? Yes, yes it was.

“IBE, to me, is probably the most important event on the planet,” Alien Ness says.

Anyone who’s read his interviews, watched his videos or bought his book can attest that Ness is not a man to mince words.

So he’s not hesitant to bestow such a title (with a “probably,” mind you) to The Notorious IBE. He’s even willing to interrupt an episode of Weeds with his wife to talk about it. In fact, he’ll be bringing his new wife with him to IBE as a last stop of a tour of his favorite places.

“You’ve got all these dope events, but IBE is the only one that actually gets who the people want to see or the names that people should see,” says Ness, who’s attended the event twice before.

“And they put them all under one roof. Now, IBE takes place in a whole city. You have about eight different venues with a couple thousand b-boys. You get to see people you don’t always get to see. They have loads of different competitions — you have loads of things to watch. They just really keep their ears and eyes to the street and see what’s hot and extend their welcome to everybody.”

Considering that Ness is constantly traveling the globe as a student and teacher of b-boying, it’s a pretty big endorsement. But he says that even as an established b-boy, there’s plenty to gain — and to look forward to — aside from just the dancing.

“From a business point of view, it’s one of the best places just to go to network and meet and greet,” he says. “Even the biggest name b-boy who doesn’t need exposure can go to IBE and benefit from something like that.”

It is, after all, how he met people he respects like Lamine and the mayor of Heerlen, the city where IBE takes place.

According to Ness, the mayor told him personally that though the city was initially wary of hosting a bunch of hip-hoppers and b-boys, everything went so smoothly that the okay was given for this year’s event even before last year’s IBE ended.

It’s even more “amazing,” Ness says, when you consider that the whole city, which is pretty small, slow-paced and conservative in the first place, is opening its doors to the culture with smiles.

“I’ve been to events where the event was amazing, but the area wasn’t too hot,” Ness explains. “The hotel managers wasn’t too crazy about b-boys being in their lobby doing airflares, or whatever it may be. But at IBE, the entire weekend is a complete experience from the minute you leave the plane. There’s no drama, no bullshit, no controversy. I think it’s like that because it’s all the love — all that love in the buildling, it’s too hard to break. That’s basically the best thing about IBE.”

Wait. Is Alien Ness — the same Alien Ness who threw a condom, smoked a joint and pretended to chop off heads in cyphers — really talking this much about love?

Well, yeah. People confuse a lot of things about Ness, but it’s clear that he knows what he loves. Need proof?

“I really, really, really, really, love the IBE,” he gushes. “I’ve been really really blessed that Tyrone and Mario have invited me back several times. It’s really hard to explain. I can tell you there are dope battles — thousands from Europe, Korea, The USA — in one spot. But certain things you have to experience to understand.”