A trip down memory lane in our bboy
history shows us that almost ten years ago these were the heroes of the bboy
world. The Red Bull BC One was held in Biel, Switzerland. All these videos are
thanks to the courtesy of Red Bull BC One.
So I started watching these videos
and found myself commentating on each one, when originally I only wanted to
summarise the overall video. It took me long to complete this blog and I'm
never doing it again. Heh. Next time, I'll stick to summarising. I just got a
little too excited this time round.
Each battle has a "Show/Hide
Video" button which won't take you to a new page. This is only to ensure
that the page loads properly. Also, you will need to press play to watch - it won't play automatically.
Top 16
Leo: Germany; Rockin' Attack Crew
Bebe: USA; Ground Zero Crew
So here goes the first battle to
kick off Red Bull BC 2004.
Bebe gets down first with simple
tops and footwork. He does some threading which gets the audience excited and
then finishes his set with a freeze. Leo responds similarly, reserving his
energy by producing humble combinations of quick footwork, a pike and a few
hand hops. As Bebe gets into an elbow freeze, on the side Leo disses his
footwork and tops. Bebe retaliates with the simplest diss ever – poke his
tongue out. Heh. Leo enters with some air flares and 90s. Everything is
becoming more elaborate now as Bebe does a shoulder suicide and – did he just
thread his head through his legs? The crowd receives it well and he “kicks
dust” at Leo, who responds with attempts of airflares and 90s which weren’t
executed too well. Thus the judges rule 4:1 and Bebe as the winner.
Sonic: Denmark; Natural Effects
KC: Germany; B-Town Allstars
Sonic opens the battle by popping
and dancing charismatically. With music like that, why wouldn’t you? He gets
through some tops and wow can you feel this guy’s energy? He does a back flip
and mills into a freeze before rolling into some kind of flop move – I don’t
know what that was but his set was impressive enough. KC responds with some
tops, back flip and backwards roll into a pike, then transitions from the floor
to do some 90s. Sonic kills some beats, handstands, flips, then a coin drop
before giving us a crap-load of combos which aren’t crap at all. KC does some
more 90s, footwork and a solid freeze. Sonic’s musicality is just so fine. He
surprises the crowd with a hollow back, and I’m thinking he’s using too much
good stuff in the first round. KC does the shake before executing the
flares-air flares combo and topping it with some head spins. His last blow to
impress the judge just wasn’t enough and Sonic takes the round unanimously.
Extremo: Spain; Adictos
Omar: USA; Jive Turkeys
Extremo starts strong exhibiting
some difficult moves; some tops, floor work and then a head spin that lands to
a freeze. I could say that set was impressive only it lacked actual dancing and
musicality. Omar shows him the meaning of dancing by doing clean tops, threads and
ending with a shoulder hop into an elbow freeze. Extremo does some 90s only to
crash and not recover well enough. He busts some tops before executing more
power moves which aren’t clean. In a freeze attempt, he sloppily lands into a
chair. Omar on the other hand knows his moves well and applies them cleanly –
at least he knows what he is or is not capable of. He goes into some elbow
tracks then slips in the end. Extremo enters with a single spin in a corkscrew,
does some tops and creative footwork showing some musicality a little too late
as the judges rule Omar the winner.
By: France; Fantastic Armada, A
Nous les Moutons | Lil' Tim: UK; The Freestylers
By starts off with simple floor
work then picking himself up with a shoulder roll. Lil’ Tim starts strongly
showing some musicality, back flipping to do more elaborate footwork then
finishing off with a nike freeze. Finally, By shows his true colours and powers
through a series of transitions between flares and windmills. Lil Tim responds
with 2000s and windmills. He does some footwork before propelling himself
backwards to what looks like a flag but spins it leaving the crowd quite
impressed. By does some more flares then air flares in a straight line instead
of the usual circle. Lil Tim enters with one round of air flare down to a mill
then finishing it off with some tops and floor work. By does a few more air
flares-mill combo before Lil Tim enters with a few capoeira moves and crashes a
bit. For me, this round is a tough call. I would say Lil Tim won – he was more
all rounded and had better musicality, though his executions weren’t perfect.
By was a little repetitive and lacked expression of musicality, though his
executions were clean. I guess cleanliness really applied here and By wins.
Ronnie: USA; Full Force, Super
Cr3w, 7 Commandoz, Red Bull BC One All Stars
Kouske: Japan; Waseda Breakers
Ronnie jumps right in with some
threads and amazing musicality. Kouske also has his own streak of musicality
and creative floor formations, he does an original freeze and the crowd goes
wild. He carries on with an air glide then doing an air baby before dropping
for some foot work. The simplest but meanest move so far – doing a baby freeze
with the feet imitating a snake. Ronnie responds with some amazing musicality,
killing beats and creating some unique formations. Kouske returns with some
tops, does a mock fall and carries on with some popping. Kouske sort of reminds
me of bboy Quick from Ichigeki just in the way he mocks falls into a
transition. His extensive floor work, exceptional dancing and unique formations
really won me but Ronnie takes the round. I went to see what the people over at
YouTube had to say about this, and some say because the music had been dubbed
over to create the video, we may not have seen Ronnie killing some beats. So,
who knows?
Eagle: South Korea; Expression | Iron Monkey:
USA; Renegades Crew
It’s rumble in the jungle with these two
animals, and Iron Monkey takes the floor first. He does some tops and spins
before ending the set with a head spin. Eagle battle rocks before entering the
flare + elbow/air flare combo. He hard dives and resumes some more flares
before gliding his nike. Iron Monkey gives Eagle a handshake and Eagle returns
it so sincerely. Iron Monkey does some tops and holds a freeze well which gets
the crowd wild. Then it’s Eagle’s turn again, doing 90s with one hand on his
foot and while locking that position, goes down to a flare, a backspin then
head spins. Iron Monkey goes and gets another handshake only duping the naïve
Eagle and gives him a burn. That was a clever set up. He does some tops and a
freeze but had too much momentum to hold it. He recovers doing floor work but
ends with a few bad forms of 2000s. Eagle gets the crowd on their feet as he
performs some blind air flares then finally killing beats with 90s – mean! Iron
Monkey retaliates by cleanly completing some air flares and flares… only
landing shamefully on his back. He covers his head and laughs – at least he
knows it. Had I been a judge, it would have been a tough call but I would give
my vote to Eagle. It’s a 2:3 decision and the winner is Iron Monkey.
Wake Up: South Korea; Expression |
Wongo: Australia; Illusions
Wongo begins, he does some flares,
a head swipe then using a turtle to transition into an air chair. Wake Up comes
out a bit more polished than Wongo, doing flares and executing an elbow freeze.
Just when I thought his set was done he carries on with a series of moves I
can't describe - he does some coffee grinders and at some point attempts a
one-handed freeze in a pretzel position - except it was harder to hold than
imagined. Nevertheless the crowd still goes wild. Wongo laughs at his attempt
and Wake Up motions with his hands probably meaning that Wongo needs more than
just tops to beat it. So Wongo gets into some flares, air chairs, and a few
rounds of gliding. Wake Up responds with some unique floor work, a head spin
variation then topping it off with some creative foot work and a nike freeze,
earning him a huge applause. Wongo flares into a head spin and completes an
elbow freeze. Wake Up pats Wongo's butt - a sarcastic nice job. He does some really
nice battle rocks and some more floor work. In Wongo's last set you can
actually feel his energy drained, not being able to lock freezes or execute
cleaner mills thus settling Wake Up as the winner.
Junior: France; Wanted | Nuno: Switzerland
Grimmjow Nuno lays it down first.
He does a flip, gets some ooo's, does some clean foot work and finishing it off
with pike + roll back hollow back. Junior's just chillin'. He follows it with
some foot work variations, quite like reverse CCs, and hops with them, then
does a back flip transition into a one handed planche while reeling a film. So.
Awesome. Nuno does some threading that ultimately led to an air chair,
afterwards he does an elbow nike. Junior enters with some battle rock, does
some more amazing floor work before doing a few rotations of virgin flares. He
does some coffee grinders, 3 steps then mills into some 90s. Nuno retaliates
with some flares, air flares and headspins - and ends up outside the camera.
Junior does some house, gets into his elbows and starts interchanging them.
That settles it and Junior wins.
Quarter Finals
Bebe | Sonic
In the quarter finals the boys up
their game. They do a little bit of uprocking before Sonic opens up the battle.
I just love watching his tops and foot work - they are so creative and clean.
He grabs his shirt upwards and does a reverse planche. Then from holding a baby
he does a head stand and keeps it before rigidly falling. Such a lively
performance! I love that he doesn't test the waters - he just doesn't hold
anything back. Bebe gets into some tight munch mills before landing to do some
halos following it with this crazy ill move that I don't have a name for! I
love that Sonic claps for him too. Then he does a head spin with his hands
behind his back. Now that I know the music had been dubbed, I'm pretty sure
that Sonic killed a few beats to have the crowd going insane. He does some more
expressive moves and starts stacking, then ending his set with an elbow pike.
Bebe responds with a V kick followed by a series of foot work, he threads his
legs into an air chair and does a few more moves before transitioning into a
shoulder spin. Sweet move. Sonic calls out a flag he did earlier. It was a nice
round, but Sonic wins.
Omar | By
Omar opens the round with some
tight tops, he battle rocks hitting By on a home run. He does some threads and
a final thread through his legs up on one arm. By enters with some backflips,
some tops and back rolls into a pike. Omar does some tops, mills, coffee
grinders and some more footwork. By enters with some variations of windmills -
then does the flares + mills + air flares combo. Omar responds with his own
mills to air flares, even with variations of elbow flares before doing a mill
technique to get on his feet. Omar points at his feet - he's asking By to do
some foot work, but By gives him nada. By does some flares, headspins, he gets
momentum to do some 2000s but lost momentum too quickly. Omar's teaching By a
lesson - he does some tops, a flag, then some more tops then pointing at his
feet again. Do some foot work. I agree - it's quite fundamental for a complete
overall set. Omar wins 2:3.
Ronnie | Iron Monkey
Ronnie starts the battle - it's not
Ronnie without threads. He shoulder rolls onto his feet, back flips into a worm
then into a cricket position, does a few more moves before finishing his set
with a 4 freeze. Iron Monkey goes in with some tops and a slow reverse hand
stand spin. He knee drops and ends his set with a freeze. After a few unique
forms and threading, Ronnie gets into a bridge and flips himself over. That's
crazy. Then he does some flares into munch mills, a few variations of floor
work. Iron Monkey gets into a windmill, head spins and does an awesome
transition back onto the ground and ends his set with a freeze. Ronnie's set
gets cut short on the clip but I spot a nice transition into a freeze. Iron
Monkey's set has a few more head spins before awkwardly landing. He battle
rocks Ronnie, who returns the favour. Eventually it's 4:1, and Ronnie makes it
to the semis.
Wake Up | Junior
N/A
Semi-Finals
Sonic | Omar
Has there been a round where Sonic
didn't start? So he begins by shuffling backwards, that is until he pulls his
shirt and he launches forward. He backflips, rolls, back handsprings, flips
again, shoulder suicides, headswipes and finally ending with an elbow freeze.
Phew. Omar does an air flare rotation before giving Sonic a diss but saves his
moves by producing only floor work. Sonic also responds with floor work,
slowing down only to suit the music - then topping it off with some stacking.
Omar handhops, air flares, 90s, elbow airflares, spins on his shoulder and
starts hopping on it. The crowd totally loved it - one person even held their
head in shock, heh. Sonic feels the music with some dancing before hand
springing into a freeze which he couldn't hold for long so he uses it as a
transition. Nice. Omar does some coffee grinds, threads, air flares and a slow
spinning glide - I'm not sure if its real-time though. He throws the cut throat
diss. During Sonic's set the camera angle gets crap - whatever he did Omar
called him out on it. A unanimous win for Omar. I enjoyed Sonic's style but his
moves were getting a little repetitive and fatigued.
Ronnie | Junior
Junior initiates the battle by
going straight into air flares. There's no holding back here. He does some nice
foot work and some virgin flares, 2000s and those reverse CCs before finishing
his set with a hang glide + gremlin. Ronnie does a flip, coin drops, hand
springs and does his trademark threading landing him in a nice air chair.
Junior gets bendy, before doing some kind of superman freeze. Ronnie battle
rocks, threads and applies some footwork variations. Junior goes in and starts
killing beats. He does an awesome float. Ronnie enters with some threads, ends
up in a baby and flares. Junior calls him out on the baby – but I think
Ronnie’s was fine? I must have missed something. In the remaining 15 seconds,
Junior does a few more rotations and gremlins. This round went to junior for
me, but Ronnie goes through.
Third Place
Junior | Sonic
Sonic starts as usual. He threads
and does a lot of creative things, coffee grinds before landing a hard drive
from a 2000s, and mills onto his legs. Junior's like oh ye, coo'. He points at
his eyes asking Sonic to watch closely. Junior proceeds to deliver a set that
shows off his amazing upper body strength, he creates a flag/scorpion and
rotates below the waist around and around - oh damn, this means he has to hold
a moving hollowback - then finishes it off with a hollow back. Too much energy
went out and he just couldn't hold it. Sonic responds with some handhops,
stacking then kills some beats with his stacking. Hah, someone in the crowd was
applausing but after a while does a sign asking him to finish his set. The way
Junior does his reverse CCs make it feel like I'm rewinding some footage. He
does some virgin flares and a gliding planche. Sonic dances in his set. Junior
wins third place.
Finals
Omar | Ronnie
Now we have reached the finals,
it's the round where they unleash everything they've been saving. Omar starts
off strong exhibiting his flares and airflares. Ronnie responds with some tops,
elbow flares, flares and mills before doing some crickets and his trademark
threads. Omar enters with some top rocks and back flipping just barely catching
himself. Then he does the most amazing trick - he leaves his beanie on the
floor, does an air flare, picks up the beanie, tosses it and as he turns,
catches it with the other hand. The crowd goes insane and so do I. The
execution was just perfect. To finish off he does some more floor work. This is
it - there's no holding back.
Ronnie threads before landing in a
baby; he does some more intricate threading and freezes a 4 frame. He resumes
with flares and mills back onto his feet. Omar flashes Ronnie the Super Cr3w
sign before doing some threads himself. The does some air flare and mill
variations. Ronnie enters with some tight floor work, entering a form of freeze
only to crash land on his shoulder. Omar does a mill and threads incredibly to
land in an elbow freeze. You can really feel Omar exhibiting his full
potential. He finishes his set with no-hands windmills. Ronnie comes out with a
similar mill variation and gets into some halos, flares, mills and lands on his
feet showing signs of fatigue. Unlike Ronnie, Omar is still pumped. He tucks
his shoes in his shirt and does some 90s. He does one rotation of airflare and
holds it for a glide. The countdown reaches one and there are no grey shades
deciding that Omar had an impressive win.
