“It’s obvious that Jesus was a b-boy because the tradition is carried on to this day … So basically, when it comes to hip-hop, I think our hip-hop pioneers are basically the closest thing to a Jesus-like person.”
– Alien Ness

In the beginning, there was the Bronx.

And the spirit of hip-hop moved over the streets, resounding off speakers and alleyways into the ears, hearts and minds of the party people.

And Kool Herc saw that it was good.

And James Brown commanded, “Get on the good foot!” and the dancers obliged, and the entire world saw that it was good.

And Kool Herc called the dancers b-boys.

And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
– John 1:46

Luis Martinez has a lot of names, and most people don’t know him as Luis Martinez.

There’s the “Kid Ness” part, given to him by Ness of Grandmaster Flash of the Furious 5; and there’s the “Alien” part, given to him by Afrika Bambaataa; and “Ness4,” a tribute to Buck 4, one of his mentors; and finally “Rusty Shank,” a name designed to complement a b-boy partner of his.

But Martinez is known around the world as Alien Ness – or just Ness.

The 41-year-old’s b-boy résumé includes accolades from respected hip-hop authorities ranging from Wyclef Jean to Grand Wizard Theodore to Kurtis Blow.

He’s the president of the Mighty Zulu Kings, which boasts members from across the globe including Omar, Born, Casper, and K-Mel.

He’s the originator of the Octagon – a unique battle method that restricts dancers to a limited floor space, disqualifying them if they touch or cross the boundaries.

But before all else, Ness is undeniably a b-boy.

And just as importantly, he’s from the Bronx – not from the Bronx in the way that he was just born there, but he’s from the Bronx – meaning he is a walking, living, breathing, dancing embodiment of that furnace where hip-hop was forged.

You can hear the Bronx dripping from his voice when he answers his phone from his current home in Switzerland – “Who is this?!”

“If you go to the Bronx, you don’t even have to hang out with breakers,” Ness later explains. “You don’t really got to go to the events. It’s the energy behind the events. I recommend that people just go to the South Bronx and just study the average Bronx person. The way they walk, the way they talk. They talk with their hands. The snapping. The whole part of that energy.

“When you see that and witness that,” Ness continues, “you truly understand the energy behind the dance. When you understand the energy, it’s easy to take it in and look within yourself and pull out the same energy.”

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
– Matthew 28:19-20

Though nobody may be able to take the Bronx out of Ness, b-boying certainly has taken Ness far from the Bronx.

Case in point: what was originally planned to be a three-month trip to Switzerland for Ness has now turned into two years of touring across Europe.

Between events, Ness fills the weekdays with reading, writing, doing laundry, working on his projects, planning his next move, and helping his daughter with her homework via Skype and MySpace.

He spends his weekends in countries across Europe attending battles, jams, workshops and competitions.

Luckily, we’ve caught him the day before he’s heading out to Madrid, Spain.

As he usually does before his weekend trips, he’s relaxing and meditating – his own Sabbath.

Ness says that though it can be difficult to be so far from home, his family acknowledges how blessed he is. After all, he has a special opportunity to make a living traveling the world and teaching people Bronx style.

To get in such a position, however, was by no means an easy task.

“My mother used to always tell me, ‘You gotta watch what the poor people do, and don’t do it.’”

After seeing workshops where students were merely taught choreographed routines, Ness became fed up with teachers who encouraged their students to simply look and move like other b-boys.

When he began teaching in 2001, Ness decided to create his own method. After about 20 minutes of drilling all the students with toprock and footwork, he’d meet with each of the individuals personally and help them with their strengths and weaknesses.

This meant that students wouldn’t all have to learn the same routine – which, in turn, also meant that they wouldn’t be laughed at if they decided to show off their moves in a cipher or battle.

Applauded by b-boys and b-girls such as Machine, Kmel, and Asia One, Ness’s training techniques gained a notoriety that prepared a path for him around the globe.

“My mother used to always tell me, ‘You gotta watch what the poor people do, and don’t do it,’” Ness says. “I use that philosophy in life. If I want to be good at something, I watch everyone else and go somewhere different with it.”

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
– Matthew 5:15-17

Ness doesn’t really take compliments well. Not certain ones, anyway.

“I’m not a legend,” he adamantly declares. “I am not a pioneer. I am not an innovator of the dance.”

It may seem like a strange thing to say, especially from someone who so strongly espouses expanding and furthering the b-boy culture (“You have to add something to the game,” Ness says. “That’s what’s been making dance so big. Shit is futuristic how. Triple one hand airflares – when I saw that, I looked at Ivan, and I said, ‘I thought I had seen it all.’”)

Rather, Ness has taken on the lofty task of serving as a sort of historian, teacher and journalist for the b-boy culture.

In his search to provide his students with something more than mere choreographed moves, he found himself consulting some of the world’s most influential b-boys and soaking up all the moves, names, and history they had to offer.

But, serving as a testament to the old saying that nothing in life is free, there was a catch.

“In 2001, that’s when I really started asking Trac 2 to teach me,” Ness says, “And one of the first things he said was, ‘Okay, I’ll teach it to you. I’ll teach you anything you want to learn. But you gotta give me your word that you’re not going to take it to the grave. This ain’t just for you. You gotta put it out everywhere. You gotta pass it on.’”

So that’s what Ness does.

Finding inspiration in preserving tradition from people like Fabel and Wiggles, Ness has successfully produced and released a web site and DVDs that provide information not only about the moves of b-boying but also their history and significance.

“For me, it was all about creating the move. I don’t think it’s about that anymore,” Ness explains. “I think somebody needs to tell everybody’s story.

“I’ve been blessed to have come across so many people that have honored me with lessons, so it’s like a tradition – I think I gotta keep passing it down. Any of them guys could stop dancing today, but as long as I’m out here, I’m still dropping their names and teaching what they taught.”

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
– Matthew 10:34-36

Look for any discussion having to do with Ness on any major b-boy message board, and you’ll find that Ness is as infamous as he is famous.

Though he’s befriended almost every significant hip-hop OG in the world and influenced countless b-boys and b-girl, it still doesn’t keep him from having the ability to piss off and offend people across the globe.

Ness has smoked joints – while still dancing – in ciphers. He debates b-boys and OGs alike about what he perceives to be misconceptions of hip hop history. He’s known for his seemingly controversial views on true b-boying and its relationship to the Bronx. He recruits the best b-boys and b-girls from all over the world to represent the Mighty Zulu Kings. He no longer enters solo battles because he can’t control what music the DJ plays.

He does not stretch.

But perhaps the most shocking revelation is that Ness does not practice. At all.

“That’s a part of Alien Ness that people don’t know,” Ness says. “Because I just jump out and dance on command and be the Alien Ness that people expect him to be. I never practice, and stretching is very painful to me.

“To keep tradition and the name alive, I still have to run out in a jam and take every challenge that comes. That puts such an abuse on my body. If people knew what I look like and how I walk, and how I soak after every jam, they would really know how much love I have for this game.”

It’s a stark contrast to the persona Ness has become known for in the cipher – an arrogantly aggressive warrior with endless burns. Away from the music, however, his invincibility fades as he lets his walls down around his disciples.

That vulnerability became frighteningly real for Ness in 2005, when he had to have one of his students carry him out of the 10th anniversary Style Elements battle.

After arriving at the event late and battling Bebe, Roland, Brysen, and then Juse Boogie, Ness was no longer able to walk on his own.

Four days would pass before Ness realized he had fractured a rib in the third round of the finals.

“I’m gonna be honest – I’m not really supposed to be able to do all the things I do with the life I live,” Ness admits. “I don’t recommend it to anyone.”

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
– 2 Timothy 3:16

Ness is not a practicing Buddhist. He does not practice b-boying.

But he does study Buddhism and meditate. In fact, among other things, he meditates for dance.

So it’s not much of a surprise that Ness has a more strategic, psychological approach to battling than most other b-boys.

He has, after all, been dancing for longer than some of the other Mighty Zulu Kings have been alive. One might hypothesize that after years of competing in and judging countless battles, Ness has obtained a greater patience and a better sense of timing.

In b-boy terms, that translates to the ability to repress the impulse to go completely buck-wild every round of every battle.

It’s the underlying theme of Ness’s upcoming book, “The Art of Battle: Understanding Judged B-boy Battles.” Originally scheduled for an April release this year, Ness has pushed back the publishing date until later to make revisions and await translations.

“I’m not the best b-boy in the world,” Ness says. “I always say I’m not even in my top 100 list. But from the moment I came back in the game and I started watching games, I’ve understood them fully. I’ve been able to beat people I shouldn’t be able to beat.

“The battle is a game of chess. You’re not just gonna smoke your opponent. Know when to hold ‘em and fold ‘em. As I saw more and more contests, I started learning more. I started seeing mistakes in the game. A lot of time people were losing because of their own mistakes, not because they got beat.”

Ness began taking notes for the book in 2001 in the hopes that it would be able to help crews win battles and raise the overall level of consciousness – rather than just skill – in the b-boy game.

Collecting observations from battles, he would dig in his box of papers and scratch and add notes whenever he saw exceptions to his thoughts.

After several drafts, the book is now planned to be published in Korea and Poland, but in the meantime, Ness has plenty to keep him busy. He still returns to the Bronx at least twice a year for a month at a time, and there are plenty of workshops and battles – Octagon and not – around the world to keep him occupied.

And then there’s always the autobiography Ness has begun working on, tentatively titled “Jesus Was A B-Boy.”

“If you look at all the b-boys like Ken Swift, Trac 2, Fabel, Wiggles, Flo [Master], people like that, they’re doing the exact same thing Jesus was doing,” Ness says. “Walking the land and teaching disciples the gospel of what we do.”

And whenever Ness does finish a workshop session, he and his disciples sit down for an opportunity to get candid and ask whatever questions he or she might have, with the workshops sometimes going hours longer than scheduled.

“I think it was the most profound thing,” Ness says. “It was the weirdest thing in the world. I’d be just answering – I remember one was in Sweden with Ghost Crew for verbal knowledge – and one person said, ‘You know what this reminds me of? It reminds of Jesus and all of his disciples.’”

Ness pauses.

“That happened three weekends in a row in three different countries,” he says.

And perhaps that anecdote best sums up Ness. Complex, confusing, or complicated as his character might seem, his faith in his goals and his purpose are simple and clear.

He wants people all over the world to know Bronx style. And if his name happens to get mentioned among other legendary dancers and OGs, that’s fine too – but it’s not all about having a mass following or fame.

“But then there’s the real benefit,” Ness says. “And that’s the opportunity to see all these places, to experience all these experiences, people, places, things, to learn different cultures and different styles. Almost all the beauties of God’s creation. That’s the benefit.”