We all hear it time and time again: b-boying started as a way for rival gangs to settle disagreements without violence. It’s a nice little idea. Even OG’s like KRS-One reference it in the video above with lyrics like, “We started breakin’ so we could stop fightin’.”

But something about it always seemed a little idealistic and borderline-sugarcoated to me. B-boying is now a worldwide phenomenon, yet scuffles and fights are still no rare occurrences at jams, battles and cyphers across the globe. How the hell, then, would have a group of pissed off, disenfranchised teenage minorities from the slums been able to stop a street fight long enough to settle through dance?

We can find the answer on Mr. Wiggles‘s Misconseptions page:

HELL NAAAAA!!! SH#T WE GOT INTO MORE FIGHTS FROM BREAKING THAN ANYTHING. THAT WAS A MEDIA HYPE STORY THAT WE AS YOUNG BBOYS( WHO NEW THE TRUTH ) EVEN FELL FOR. DEFINITELY FAR FROM THE TRUTH

Though a bit dated, the entire page is definitely worth checking out; Wiggles goes to talk about how b-boys never danced on cardboard, why you should never uprock in a b-boy battle, and why the concept of four elements of hip-hop is outdated.

And of course I can’t forget to mention his argument that the term “b-boy” should be reserved for people who actually b-boy — it is more than a stance, right? Happy relearning!

Check out Mr. Wiggles’s entire hip hop history page here.