Back in ’06 I saw a video of a
group of boys dancing hip hop. I
don’t use such derogatory words now, but at that time I said they all looked
really hot. One of my friends took a closer look at the video and said, “You can’t
even see their faces.” That’s probably when I fell in love with dancing.
Hip Hop is much
broader than what most people think. Unfortunately, it’s usually associated with noise, delinquents, violence, sex, drugs, drive-bys and a
lot of other foul things. Let’s take a moment and thank mainstream for that…
The Hip Hop I know is a rich culture, meant to empower the powerless
and promote unity, peace and community. It provides a means of communication
that transcends any form of language. I hope that for anyone who holds
prejudice or stereotype against Hip Hop
will become enlightened in this post.
What is Hip Hop?
Most people have preconceptions
that Hip Hop is simply a multi-billion dollar music industry and everything else attached to it, like blings, rapping, ladies, fly cars,
boom boxes, graffiti etc. That’s not entirely true and it’s not a good idea to
put those under what we call Hip Hop. Hip Hop is a culture which consists
of four sub cultures; dj-ing, mc-ing, graffiti writing and bboying.
(Actually traditionally there are four elements in hip hop, but now there is an additional three; beat boxing, popping and locking).
Like every creative form of art, these skills also require the highest form of dedication and discipline. Honestly, it’s no different to someone picking up ballet – the only distinction is that hip hop is nurtured in the streets and not some fancy high class school that teaches you how to do it the right way. The only way for me to explain this better is to look at one of its subcultures – bboying.
What is bboying?
Bboying is a form
of dance developed from many different influences, such as salsa, rumba, kung
fu and gymnastics.
Bboy came from
the terms beat boy, Bronx boy, boogie boy or break boy. When you’re practising you’re either breaking or simply bboying (or bgirling). These are
terms derived from dancers who dance to the beat or dances when the DJ breaks
down the beat in the middle of a song. Probably the most amazing thing about
bboying is that almost all the dancer’s movements are improvised! So when the
DJ changes beats, the bboy finds his way to adapt somehow.
The term breakdancing came much later when the dance entered mainstream and
became commercialised, and exploited. Purist bboys don’t want to be called breakdancers
simply because some believe its commercialisation led to the watering down and
belittlement of their rich culture. It’s like taking something that don’t
belong to you, reproducing it, recycling it and claiming it as yours. Thus,
being called a breakdancer is an
insult to some as it connotes that they lack originality or creativity. So when
you see a totally awesome bboy dancing in public, don’t go throwing it around
saying how he’s such an amazing breakdancer.
Where are its origins?
Bboying emerged around the 60’s-80s
in the ghettoes of Los Angeles and the Bronx in New York, USA. Actually, if we go back even further, it
originated through the drums and dances of Afro-African slaves practicing their
music and celebrating their African culture. Similarly, Latino immigrants who
came to America looking for work also practiced their music and danced away from
home to celebrate their culture. These two marginal cultures at the bottom of
the socio-economic ranks experienced high unemployment rates which meant a lot
of time and energy were used doing unproductive illicit things.
Hip Hop sort of
emerged as the safe haven, a means of escape, for most people as it allowed them to use their time
and energy doing more creative things. Some people are creative orally, some
visually, and some physically. Literally at times you have people drumming on whatever instrument they find and have bboys dancing to the beat. The godfather of Hip Hop, Kool Herc, brought music and dance, and created a community through his bloc parties. Hip Hop
is not a thug thing as most people see it today, but a way to funnel all the energy in the streets into something creative. It is a culture that promotes positivity and creates a community of shared identity. "Hip Hop is the name of our creative intelligence" - KRS One.
Hip Hop also provided
a community where disputes are settled peacefully, allowing individuals to
release their anger without actually touching the other person. In mc-ing and
bboying, these come in the form of rap battles or bboy battles, where anger and
frustration are expressed in verses or dynamic movements. That sounds a little
cheesy, but there is that same intensity offered at the table, that same drive
to win, to not back down and keep fighting to earn your pride and place.
Guns and violence should not exclusively be categorized hip hop as it is just one of those ugly things that exists in every society today. Guns and violence are everywhere else, so why blame hip hop for it? True hip hop promotes peace and despises any kind of violence. The forefathers of hip hop had only wanted to unite people from every kind of denomination under a cultural identity where colour, language, class and gender are invisible.
Guns and violence should not exclusively be categorized hip hop as it is just one of those ugly things that exists in every society today. Guns and violence are everywhere else, so why blame hip hop for it? True hip hop promotes peace and despises any kind of violence. The forefathers of hip hop had only wanted to unite people from every kind of denomination under a cultural identity where colour, language, class and gender are invisible.
By incorporating salsa, rumba, capoeira, kung fu, gymnastics and more into their dance, there is no boundary between cultures as all kinds of people find a way to relate to it. The winner of the battles are decided by none other than the spectators; whoever moves the crowd more is ultimately the winner.
But how about all that dissing in the lyrics or on the floor? The point of these battles are to express feelings; to be angry and diss each other is alright. It is how we communicate and express our anger into something creative. Better let it all out than keep it in, right? But off the mic or off the floor, these MCs and bboys have only the utmost respect for each other. There's no hate - and if there is, it will all be resolved in battle. Admitting defeat is the most humble thing one could do, and it takes a great man to take a loss and walk away with only respect for their opponent. Hip Hop teaches such values.
What it looks like now
But how about all that dissing in the lyrics or on the floor? The point of these battles are to express feelings; to be angry and diss each other is alright. It is how we communicate and express our anger into something creative. Better let it all out than keep it in, right? But off the mic or off the floor, these MCs and bboys have only the utmost respect for each other. There's no hate - and if there is, it will all be resolved in battle. Admitting defeat is the most humble thing one could do, and it takes a great man to take a loss and walk away with only respect for their opponent. Hip Hop teaches such values.
What it looks like now
Despite that little stint in its
history, appearing like a fad and being thrown away like every other
commercialised product, bboying slowly revived itself. There are some who kept
its true culture alive and reignited its flames to grow into an even bigger
phenomenon. Bboying had now reached even greater heights in techniques and power moves.
Today, bboying exists in Europe
thanks to the pioneer bboy crew, Rock Steady Crew. Eventually, it also trickled
into Asia where some of today’s renowned bboys reside, such as the Jinjo Crew. Each nation have different strengths and styles. For example, United
States’ strengths lie in individual battles as opposed to Japan who have
amazing choreography and team work. France have many forms of eloquent dancing,
unique styles and creativity, whereas South Koreans have dynamic movements that
require a lot of strength, balance and endurance.
Every year these different styles
are exhibited through an array of competitions bringing a whole universal
community together. These competitions include Battle Of The Year (BOTY), Red
Bull BC ONE, The Notorious IBE and the B-Boy Summit. Having gone international does not mean it has forgotten to look after its little communities, take Mexone for example.
Favourites?
Born. He has style. A lot of it. I also like bboys that are foundational, clean, got style and originality, like Zeshen, Dyzee, Roxrite and Katsu (Ichigeki). I always admired boys from the Skill Methodz crew too, particularly Luigi, Venum, Abstrakt, Cloud and their young gun Lil Demon.
I'm not even dickriding or conforming to anything when I say South Korean bboys. Besides, I'm a bgirl and that sounds completely wrong. These bboys are so impressive in terms of growth and endurance but the most fascinating thing about them is their mindedness of the culture. They may have started out as phenomenal power bboys who knew squat about hip hop, but the way they're digging into foundations, style and musicality lately have been quite the movement that's shaping the culture over there.
Finally, Bgirls! Although I respect most bgirls, my favourite are the Japanese bgirls.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the above images.
