More Than A Stance » Weird

“2 Hard 2 Bite” Isn’t 2 Hard 2 Parody

Calvin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:28:36 +0000

Nothing like a good parody to kick off the new year.

Check out the original viral hit below.

Chris Brown to Star in “Planet B-Boy” Feature

Calvin — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:31:39 +0000

Let’s just ignore the fact that there are a million possible Rihanna jokes that could result from this — according to The Hollywood Reporter, Chris Brown, Josh Holloway (“Lost”), Laz Alonso, Caity Lotz, and Josh Peck (“The Wackness”) will star in the feature film version of “Planet B-Boy.”

Shooting began in Los Angeles and continues in Montpellier, France.

The film is said to be “about an all-star American b-boy crew training to compete in France at the Battle of the Year (BOTY) International Championships. After a decade of defeat, the crew and their coach must go up against the best and greatest b-boys in the world: the Koreans, the Russians and the French who have dominated the original American dance form for the last 10 years.”

Well, alright.

While I personally can’t help but imagine Chris Brown smiling a lot and Josh Peck saying things like “Oh word? That’s dope!” while people do headspins in the background, I like to think the film is in good hands.

In a 2008 interview we had with director Benson Lee, he spoke a lot about the importance of persistence in gaining the trust of dancers like Ken Swift, Storm, and Trac2.

He also had the following to say about the current state of dance flicks:

“After everything that I’ve learned from making this documentary, the last thing that I wanted to do was make a movie about a b-boy who falls in love with a ballerina. And it’s really important that I take everything that I’ve learned from this culture and try to portray it within a fiction context.

“And it’s going to be challenging, and one of the things that I have to do is I have to work with real b-boys. There’s no way I can get a studio dancer to portray authentically what this culture is about. And so right now, I’m working with consultants who are actual b-boys and b-girls while also working with a writer.

“I made a promise to myself that I can’t come out there after making Planet B-Boy and make another hip-pop movie on street dance. I’m really dedicated to making a movie about b-boys and try to make it really correct.”

We’re excited to see him run it, run it.

UPDATE: The following message from Lee can be found on the Planet B-Boy Facebook page:

“Dear peeps, I understand your concerns but I want you to know that Chris Brown is just one of 13 main characters in the crew. The other 12 are real b-boys including Do-knock, Kasper, Kid David, Abstrak to name just a few. We also have an additional 20 characters who are ALL played by some of the best b-boys in America. In addition, we will be filming our movie at the real Battle of the Year at the end of this month in France. We are also including Top9 from Russia, and Pockemon from France, and a star studded Korean dreamteam made up of the best b-boys from Korea. As the director of Planet B-boy, I am proud to work with Chris Brown because he has a deep respect for b-boys, and the truth is he’s the only mainstream dancer/actor who can legitimately dance b-boy moves. We are making a fictional movie (w/o corny romance) and we have to work with actors. My principal cast is awesome period. We’ve already begun filming and they’ve killed it by playing real characters with a real story. So before you judge our film, I ask that you wait and see it first because as the director of Planet B-boy, I guarantee you that this is going to go above and beyond what you will expect of the fictional version of my doc. Anyway, thanks for being fans of the doc. I promise you that I wont let you down!”

SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter

Jalen and Lil Demon vs. American Apparel?

Calvin — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 23:45:17 +0000

Most people will probably either love or hate this spot by Tony Kelly, but all I know is I can’t stop watching it.

Jalen and Lil Demon have been killing it for a while — and slow motion and bow ties and Debussy? C’mon!

Dance Assassin: Taking B-Boying to the Streets, Kind Of

Calvin — Wed, 25 May 2011 22:32:00 +0000

Now that the hype on this has died down a bit, it’s worth showcasing this bit of b-boy comedy gold to those of you who might have missed it the first time around.

While it’s certainly entertaining in its own right, what’s really weird about this video to me is how it illustrates a lesson that has been popping up a lot for me lately: the b-boy community is really small.

Even with how widespread b-boying has become, it’s always a pleasant surprise to realize that b-boys and b-girls almost always have a handful of close mutual friends even with people across the globe.

In the case of this video, my first “break-dance” lessons came from an amiable blond guy who taught out of a ballet studio in Birmingham, Alabama. He was an accomplished dancer, but all I knew of his b-boy background was that he occasionally practiced with Birmingham’s BMW Crew. He tried to teach me how to swipe, but he abruptly disappeared one day, leaving nothing behind but the studio’s vague explanation that he “moved to California.”

Well, here he is now, scaring the crap out of babies when he’s not Tasering girls or creating viral dances.

Had I known Rob was this weird when I was I middle school, I would have either avoided him entirely or worshiped the ground he waacked on.

The Best of B-Boy Bowling

Calvin — Tue, 17 May 2011 18:39:06 +0000

I mean, what else are those slick floors really good for?

For the sake of variation, you can try a backspin instead of a headspin:

Or you can rock the beat of the pins:

Apparently, this whole bowling alley bowling phenomenon is ubiquitous to the point where battles can spontaneously break out in front of the snack bar:

Or you can blend the activities by instating a “one roll, one run” rule:

Have you done this before? Is b-boy bowling the new b-boying at Walmart?

What if People Treated All Athletes the Way They Treat B-Boys?

Calvin — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 04:58:14 +0000

Alright, these Nike Skateboarding commercials are a) kind of old and b) not about b-boying.

But they are hilarious, and their relevance toward b-boying is readily obvious.

It doesn’t take too much of a stretch of the imagination to see the word “skaterboarders” replaced by “b-boys” — especially when you consider that many b-boys are hoping to see professional b-boying emulate the model set by professional skateboarding.

Amazing B-Boy Light Painting from Around the World

Calvin — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 03:33:59 +0000

First, a brief history: light painting — otherwise known as light graffiti or “that stuff that your photographer friends do that made you ask, ‘How did you do that?’” — has actually been around since the 1930s. Typically, a light is moved during a long exposure shot, creating a streak of color.

While Man Ray is credited for being a pioneer of light painting, Picasso (!) popularized the technique after being introduced to it by Gjon Mili, a photographer who shot pictures of ice skaters with lights attached to their legs.

Fast forward several decades, and now you have videos like the one above featuring Japanese b-boys Snack and Suke doing sets with lights attached all over their bodies.

Having the lights on the actual dancers themselves can yield interesting results (click here for more from Oregon-based Ben Canales), but there are also more conventional methods for marrying light painting and b-boying.

Below are examples of a French director and photographer using the stop motion technique of light writing to complement b-boys’ shapes and moves.

Houlk from Jerry Miller on Vimeo.

And hey, look. B-boys drawn in light painting form by Julien Avignon.

Yeah, France is killing it.

Adidas Megalizer: Make Music with Your Moves

Calvin — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 22:40:34 +0000

adidas Originals – MEGALIZER featuring les Twins from Twins on Vimeo.

Above is every lazy dancers’ dream: what if the music matched itself to you, instead of you dancing to the music?

It’s the premise of the latest spot for Adidas Originals, for which France’s Vagabonds crew’s Lamine and Mounir teamed up with Les Twins, YAK Films, Sid Lee, coder Didier Brun, and a number of famous French rappers.

As many commenters have pointed out, the concept is nothing new — Nike even ran a similar spot using shoes to make music. The difference is, in this case, dancers are wearing the shoes and creating the music through their steps.

Unfortunately, though the advertisements imply that the shoes will be made available to the public, it seems that only three pairs were made for the films, while a limited number of installations were built in Paris for people to try. Furthermore, according to Brun’s blog (which is worth checking out if you want to see the science behind it all), the shoes seem to be a challenge to master themselves moreso than a shortcut to beat rocking mastery:

The dancers that operated on the video clip did train a lot to succeed in synchronizing to play the actual song.

In any case, it’s a fun and nicely executed series, and the beats beat the sound of b-boys panting, grunting, and crashing against the floor. Who wouldn’t at least want to try some toprock-tap-dancing-beat-making?

Thanks to Bboy Insiders for the heads up.

Marcio: If Bruce Lee Were a B-Boy

Calvin — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 01:01:58 +0000

As RoxRite recently blogged, it’s getting more and more difficult to have your b-boy clips stand out when there are so many dancers with cameras and computers constantly uploading new content.

The Portugese-born French b-boy Marcio takes on a different approach, memorably showing us what kung fu flicks might have looked like if Bruce Lee could airflare.

It’s not the first time a b-boy has donned the iconic Bruce Lee costume — check out Profo and the guys of Atlanta’s Lost in the Gym. Crumbs is also said to have repped that black and yellow. To make matters even more confusing, there’s the Korean b-boy who goes by Bruce Lee who, as far as I can tell, does not wear the outfit.

Who’s your favorite b-boy version of Bruce Lee? Do these isolated incidents hint at a bigger trend that warrants a Stuff B-Boys Like post?

It’s Official: We’re Famous

Paul — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 19:13:06 +0000

This is not our shirt, we didn't make it, don't buy it. I mean, you can if you want.

If getting ripped off is any sign of success, then we’ve finally hit the big time.

We found this shirt on accident through a random Google search. Whoever designed it really knows who we are. I mean, they got all the elements right: we love cities, we only speak through a megaphone (which we share), we listen to our music on cassettes, and we like to stack up our water bottles sideways until they reach a height of 70 feet.

I suppose it’s our fault for dragging our feet on our official shirts. Don’t worry, the store really will be up soon.

The Most Derogatory B-Boy News Report Ever

Calvin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 02:46:09 +0000

What makes this especially awesome is that a lot of the mentioned stereotypes are either a) actually true or b) untrue, but a lot of b-boys themselves still think they’re true.

The lesson from this? Never trust a man named Doug Curlee.

Nude B-Boys Go Viral: An Overview of Naked Breakdancing (NSFW) *Updated

Calvin — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 00:46:11 +0000

Tosh.0
Tags: Tosh.0 Videos,Daniel Tosh,Web Redemption

Wow. They’re really taking “cocking” to a whole new level.

The routine above probably isn’t worth trying out at a jam, but it does bring up an interesting topic: naked breakdancing. Let’s count down some notable examples after the jump.

The first thing to come to many b-boys’ minds is probably the trailer for Knuckleheads Cali‘s “Filthy Beast.” Like a Jackass for the b-boy crowd, it juxtaposed next-level dancing with gratuitous shots of screaming, puking, and yes, naked handhops.

The guys would later go on to do actual battles as the Bucho Bros., whose further near-nude escapades you can watch here.

Of course, there has long been a precedent set for nude b-boying, probably since the beginning of b-boying itself. (“Sure, you can do continuous backspins, but can you do them naked?”) Other notable examples include:

Omar (MZK) doing airflares with his pants down, then serving his opponents with his actual penis (through his underwear) at IBE
Boo Rok (GZC) pulling down the pants of a Japanese b-boy at Freestyle Session 7, who then in turn took his pants off and did an entire power set in whitey tighties.
And it seems that there’s an entire series of clips of Japanese b-boys who like to get completely naked during actual battles. Shout out to the guy who did fully nude halos and ended it with a headfreeze, one hand holding the tip of his penis straight out. (Sorry everyone, YouTube removed the video.)

It’s obviously not being lost on future generations either, as is evident from this recent clip from the jam Deuces Wild in Georgia.

Performers The Cuban Brothers incorporate an entire naked breaking bit into their performances, and apparently nude b-boying is high enough an artform to be featured at museums.

So, what essential naked b-boying clips are missing here? Is this phenomenon a product of nature or nurture? Most importantly, are you so disgusted that you’ll never come to this website again?

UPDATE: Thanks to Gusan for sending in the following clip. Keep the comments coming!

UPDATE #2: Thanks to El flo for the heads up and Jota for the following video of an event that takes place in Madrid.

UPDATE #3: Thanks to Robin for sending in the Beat Fanatics‘s trailer for Battle of the East 2008 below. Wow.

Wrestling + Hypnosis + B-Boying

Paul — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 16:20:32 +0000

I kept expecting to see the Bucho Brothers pop up.

Thanks to Rufus J Squirrel and Caleb Soon for the tip.

B-Boy vs. Little Kid on Bike

Calvin — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 18:57:47 +0000

Some days you just feel the music and fly off and do all sorts of stuff you didn’t know was possible.

Some days your body just feels sloppy and heavy, and no matter how hard you try, you keep dragging your feet and crashing.

And some days you’re just sessioning and minding your own business when you get run over by a little kid on a bike.

Have a safe Monday, everyone!

B-Boying vs. Commentating vs. Rapping

Calvin — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 20:18:55 +0000

Too good. I lost it at “Oh… skip… Tribal shirt. Is that a Tribal shirt?”

Now someone needs to make a b-boy trailer like this, and we can put all these “Should b-boying have commentators?” debates to rest.

Thanks, Jaykups and NSTUFF1.

You Can’t Teach Instinct: The B-Baby

Calvin — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 20:00:47 +0000

Ladies and gentlemen: the future.

He’s got the matching colors, and it was probably on beat. Just get rid of the crash, and he’s going to be breaking YouTube hearts in no time.

Thanks, imgur.

B-Boy Santa Terrorizes North Carolina

Calvin — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 00:58:23 +0000

B-boying in costumes is cool, but a lot of times the fun soon wears off when it starts to feel gimmicky.

Almost inevitably, someone gets too excited and starts yelling “It’s one of them Jabberwokees I seen on M-Tay-Vay!” or a security guard comes waddling out with idle threats. Or, even worse, people don’t understand what’s going on, so it just gets awkwardly quiet while the dancer finishes and walks away.

Thankfully, none of those things seem to happen in the video above. Santa’s got moves, sure. But the really impressive thing about this ad campaign is how everyone seems to be legitimately happy. People aren’t rolling their eyes, and security guards aren’t mumbling, “You can’t do that here.” And apparently, b-boy Santa himself has become a local celebrity.

Obviously, that really is Santa using some kind of mystical holiday cheer, or this Asheville place really is the friendliest place on the planet.

Link: Dancing Santa – B-boy Santa Sneak Attack in Asheville, NC

Thanks, Evan.

Stuff B-Boys Like: Hand Props

Calvin — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 04:06:14 +0000

Must be one of them powermovers

One of the most exciting things about first entering the world of b-boying is that it has its own language. There’s a lot of vocabulary to learn, whether it’s b-boy lingo or cypher body language.

But there’s also the language of the spectator. Across hip-hop, the hand prop is the sign language equivalent of the WOO (which, in case you don’t know, is the high-pitched sound b-boys make when they get excited). It’s one of those rare cues that b-boys enjoy giving and receiving, like a Facebook “like.”

Though execution differs from person to person, it generally goes like this: an arm is outstretched up and forward at about a 45 degree angle. When the hip-hop climax is reached, the uppermost part of the arm is fluttered up and down as if fanning away an annoying insect.

There are several variations. Some people just flutter their fingers. Others just bend at the wrist or elbow. If it’s something really crazy, like someone tripping on beat, it might turn into a full-fledged fist pump. You might also run into people who flutter different fingers in different directions. The point is, you are excused to go ahead and practice in the mirror. No one will judge you (to your face).

Am I doing it right, Eminem?

Silly as it might be, there are several advantages to hand props. The hand prop exists somewhere between the solitary head nod and the ecstatic jump for joy. It allows the stoic b-boy watching a battle to give props without breaking his I’m-a-mean-as-crap-dude-who-never-smiles character.

It’s also handy when you’ve just taken a bite of food, and someone asks you how it is, and it’s delicious, but you don’t want to be rude and talk with your mouth open, but you feel kind of self conscious giving a thumbs up, but you also don’t want to sit through that awkward silence while everyone waits for you to finish chewing. You know.

On the downside, keep in mind that people who are dancing will rarely see you give them props, which kind of defeats the purpose. It will, however, look impressive on trailers, especially when accompanied by WOOs. Just don’t make a habit of giving hand props to things you see on the Internet (unless you really, really mean it.)

Photo from three frames

Dickspin: Not Just a Dream Anymore

Paul — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 22:09:22 +0000

The dickspin is a move that every b-boy has probably tried at least once and joked about at least 70 times. But no matter how hard (heh heh) they try, the dickspin attempt always ends up just being a hip bone spin/chafe.

Until now. On the Dutch version of So You Think You Can Dance, a Transformer who dabbles in mediocre b-boying manages to pull off the most epic dickspin in history.

I can only hope that he was using some type of prosthetic penis. Otherwise I’m left feeling very inadequate.

Milky vs. Lil Demon Goes Viral

Calvin — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 20:17:33 +0000

It’s always hard to tell what’s going to be the next viral sensation. As far as b-boying videos go, the average person doesn’t always see eye-to-eye with the b-boy community in terms of what makes an interesting b-boy clip.

For instance, in the past few years, non-b-boy message boards have been captivated by clips of b-boys hurting themselves and really old footage of Junior.

So we’d like to congratulate Milky and Lil Demon for their induction into the viral video hall of fame.

First, some context: the clip was filmed at Romeo’s B-Boy City Hawaii, which took place on September 25 and 26 of this year. Lil Demon was already quite the Internet celebrity, with appearances on Ellen and showcase battles against Jalen at Freestyle Session. Milky is best known to the common public as one of the protagonists of the documentary Inside the Circle; he also intimidated the hell out of me at the first jam I ever attended.

The original video (shown above) has already racked up over 345,000 views on YouTube. But the versions you’re most likely to get sent by your aunt or neighbor are on Break.com or World Star Hip Hop, which have collected over 690,000 and 140,000 views, respectively. That means at least 1,175,000 people have watched this battle, not including other assholes who’ve ripped the video and posted it under their own accounts. It also doesn’t hurt that people are writing really horrible articles like this and this.

So why, then, do people like this video so much?

Well, there are a number of factors that make it irresistible to the average netizen. You have a cute child prodigy. You have bright colors. You have what is perceived to be a classic, David vs. Goliath underdog scenario (though by the end, it is debatable who the underdog really is). And you have a crowd completely losing it, fist-pumping and all.

Aspiring Internet b-boys, take note. Everyone else, stay prepared to receive this video countless more times over the next decade.

In closing, here are some of the best comments from the YouTube page:

Why was the young boy making a homophobic oral sex gesture towards the other competitor?

Life lesson: Whatever you are good at, there is probably an 8-year-old out there who can do it much better.

the chosen one is here, the son of Jackie chan and Chuck norris..

of cource this lil nigga can beat POCKET DAMNNN

Thanks to Ryan for sending this to me and starting a b-boy debate on my Facebook page.

The Crazy C Special: Two Elements for the Price of One

Paul — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 16:28:46 +0000

Gets really good at 1:10.

In the News: Girl Cures Her Own Scoliosis, Celebrates by Breaking

Calvin — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 23:47:20 +0000

It's a backyard b-girl miracle!

The news service Mail Online — which upholds the highest degrees of journalistic integrity with headlines like “Nurse ‘has eyes gouged out in horrific sex attack by her own son’ after police visit home” — is now reporting what seems like a breaking miracle.

The story goes that doctors told some 13-year-old girl that she had scoliosis and that she needed rods placed in her back. So she did the most logical thing and completely disregarded their advice. Instead, she did yoga, and it seems to have healed her back. The rest of the article is pretty much doctors and yoga people talking shit about each other.

Wait — what about the breaking?

Considering that the first word page’s title is “breakdancing,” there’s not a lot unless, you count the part about shit-talking. Out of the story’s 34 paragraphs, we get these two:

The sporty teenager has now taken up breakdancing – bending her body into all kinds of awkward positions.

Just 12 months after she was diagnosed, Mia can now perform a routine of body-popping moves similar to those performed by Britain’s Got Talent star George Sampson.

“All kinds of awkward positions”?

What does that mean? is this girl developing a new style of breaking where she gets caught picking her nose? Maybe a chair freeze where she checks her armpit with a quick sniff?

To summarize:

Even if something “amazing” has happened to you, you should try and work in something weird like “breakdancing” into the headline just to make sure it’s spicy.
Nike Huarache Dance Mids are kind of weird looking.
Yoga might help you with your breaking. Or save your life.

B-Boying Gorillas

Calvin — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 06:27:44 +0000

Hot off the heels of the b-boy cats! It’s probably safe to assume that this is proof that the desire to do powermoves is inherent in all living creatures.

Can we all at least agree that the gorillas’ windmills look better than Justin Bieber’s?

A Collection of Photos of B-Boying Cats*

Calvin — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 22:53:03 +0000

Saying too much now would only ruin the moment.

*Not to be confused with Bouncing Cats.

Click here for more.

How to Impress Girls with Your Moves

Calvin — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 16:16:54 +0000

We typically don’t post how-to videos very often, so hopefully you’ve been putting our recent string of videos to use in your day-to-day sessions, cyphers, and battles.

In any case, commenters on a recent post raised an important issue. If powermoves are sweeping a girl off her feet in all the wrong ways, what is the correct way to impress a lady through dance? (Females, pardon the exclusivity — the fact that you are a b-girl should singularly suffice when it comes to attracting potential romantic interests.)

Well, the answer comes from some bored (or desperate) psychologists from Northumbria — Northumbrian b-boys, stand up!

The story goes that 19 male volunteers between the ages of 18 and 35 danced for 30 seconds to a drum beat. Their moves were monitored by sensors and then made into avatars so that their size and looks wouldn’t create unfair advantages.

Then 37 straight women in the same age group watched 15 seconds of each video and ranked them. The results?

The head, neck and upper body come out as the key features that are important for good dancing and that surprised us … When you see brilliant dancers, you’ll see their bodies, heads and necks are all doing ever so slightly different things in time to the music.

So what does this mean for b-boys? It might be a good idea to try some different variations of the basic toprock beyond basic steps and hand motions; try playing with the rhythm and the melodies between the basic kicks and snares. Maybe. Or just offer to let girls carry your sweaty kneepad — we hear they really like that.

LINK: The Guardian: Scientists identify killer dance moves for men (with a video demonstration!)