Step Up 3D just not cutting it for you? The good folks over at Complex Magazine recently compiled their list of their favorite b-boy-themed movies.
It’s a solid list, but it’s definitely worth keeping in mind that it seems to be a plug for the aforementioned Hollywood blockbuster. The classics are all there, plus a few noteworthy underground and foreign gems.
But if you’re planning your end-of-summer b-boy movie marathon, you’ll want to take the time to hunt down unmentioned titles like The Freshest Kids, Inside the Circle, or Turn it Loose — and then when everything’s winding down, hit them with something over-the-top like Raging Phoenix. It’s all about that end freeze, son.
What are your favorite b-boy films and documentaries?
(For all you international readers who can’t access Hulu, the first LXD episode features the narration of an old man, lots of slow motion b-boying at a high school prom, and Cloud wearing a scarf and being a bad guy. No, really.)
This clip from Morocco is one of many showing T.I.P’s friends and fans’ support from around the globe.
As we reported earlier, some members of South Korea’s T.I.P Crew have run into some trouble for avoiding the mandatory military draft. The Korean media took it as an opportunity to publicly humiliate the crew as the newest targets for gossip fodder. As a result, the crew lost its jobs, sponsorships, studio, and its reputation as a source of pride for the entire country.
And sure, it’s not impossible to find a decent b-boy who’s also talented at rocking — the same way that b-boys were originally hip-hop renaissance men who often juggled several, if not all, of the elements of hip-hop.
On the other hand, there is also no shortage of b-boys who are dead set on the belief that they are the next King Uprock. You’ll see them snatching any opportunity to show off their jerks and burns, whether it be a battle, performance, funeral, and so forth.
TheCypher, the wiki project by the man behind BreakerNYC, has a new interview with Jiggz from NYC. Among other things, he gives his opinion on the NY scene and tells how a trip to Florida in 2000 helped influence his approach to the dance. Good stuff.
In addition its YouTube hype and performance at the Oscars, the group was featured on a recent episode of TEDTalks. The private non-profit TED (which stands for technology, entertainment and design) devotes itself to “ideas worth spending.” In other words, it’s a bunch of geniuses sitting around being, uh, geniuses.
The video above shows a live performance as well as short interview snippets. And this, readers, is how Kid David joined the ranks of Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Bill Gates and Richard Dawkins.
As we learned in our interview with him, there are few people on Cros1’s level when it comes to the business of b-boying.
In his latest venture, the man behind Freestyle Session and Armory is putting together the world’s first ever b-boy flash mob, choreographed by Flo Master. It’s set to go down in LA at the end of this month.
If you’re not familiar with the concept, hit the jump for a video of one of my personal favorite examples.
Although there seems to be some debate about it, I thought that the LXD’s performance at the Oscars was pretty fun, especially the part set to the UP theme music.
Of course, that could have been due to me shouting out the name of every dancer I recognized under the assumption that it made me look cooler.
The Adidas track suit has been inextricably linked to b-boying since the battle at the Roxy in Beat Street. A group of guys in red track suits on the street can only mean one thing: TRACK MEET! B-BOYS!
Pat La Rock, the guy who brought us the Fog City Nights series (which ended recently with this dope last episode), put together this spot featuring some track suited b-boys getting down outside of an Adidas store and then stealing someone’s wheelchair (in a nice way).
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
I’m pretty excited for this to come out. I don’t have a lot of knowledge about European b-boy history, so I’m glad that someone is out there trying to document it. Even if it is just one crew at a time.
I spend most of my days in front of a computer at work, and occasionally (all the time) I get to fool around and watch YouTube or browse some forums. Some stuff catches my attention more than others, so I figured why not share those things here. The following are some of the most interesting things I’ve come across this week.
Powerful Pexster posted a pretty long rant on the Bboyworld.com forums calling for Alien Ness to be banned. The post was complete with different sized text and a video, and prompted some really interesting responses from both Alien Ness and Erwin.
