Highland, CA – When Henrietta Han saw her son off to Iraq, she prayed. A 20 year old Marine, Anthony Hector Vargas was a proud young man, wanting only to serve his country. Upon his return home after seven months in Iraq, Han, like any loving mother, exhaled. Her son had returned home on leave safely from Operation Iraqi Freedom, before being deployed to Afghanistan.

Just a few short weeks later, however, a few blocks from their home, he was tragically taken away from her, killed in a senseless street fight. In an incident that rocked their Redland, CA community, families mourned. Be it the war in Iraq or the war on the streets, where does the violence end, where does the violence begin?

Twenty three year old rapper, Invinceable lost his cousin and friend when Vargas was taken away from him that sad day in March of this year. An unfortunate phenomenon sweeping urban communities across America, young men and women, are the street soldiers of our times. They are losing their lives, dying like flies. Invinceable knew he had to do something. His cousin’s short life could not, would not be in vain.

“A Soldier Never Dies” is his hip hop tribute to not only Vargas but to all our young soldiers, fighting the war not only overseas, but also to those falling victim to the war here in the streets daily. Produced by the west coast’s legendary Battlecat, whose platinum credits include Snoop Dogg, The Game and Xzibit, with the hook sung by R&B/pop crooner sensation Jon B, “A Soldier Never Dies” rings as an anthem for today’s youth in these troubled times.

Invinceable is no newcomer to the rap game. Originally from Pomona, CA, he has been honing his craft on the west coast working with Battlecat and rappers like Suga Free, Kokane and Chino Brown for several years now. “A Soldier Never Dies” marks his official foray as his makes his own indelible mark. The single will be released digitally mid-November with a video to be shot around his neighborhood of Redlands in San Bernandino County, CA with both Battlecat and Jon B slated to participate. In addition, a portion of the proceeds from the sales of the single will go to the Anthony Vargas Organization, a foundation being established by Vargas’ mother, Henrietta Han. The foundation will work to send care packages to our troops.

“When my son was taken from me, I no longer wanted to live,” recalls Han. “But I knew God had a plan for me to fulfill. It is my vision to see not only Anthony’s memory live on, but the memory of all of our fallen soldiers, our children, who are dying everyday, every moment, here and overseas.”

“Hip hop music is our voice,” explains Invinceable. “Rapping about money and women is cool, but I felt like I had to rap about what was on my heart and what was real to me. My cousin lives on. His spirit was in the studio with us while we were recording. He’s an angel in heaven now, and I’m just trying to be an angel for him here on earth. I want the world to know, a soldier never dies, never.”

To find out more about Invinceable go to http://www.ASoldierNeverDies.com and http://myspace.com/oginvinceable . For more information about the Anthony Vargas Organization, go http://www.AnthonyVargas.org.

Graffiti Rock

Beatstreet

Flashdance

Malcolm Mclaren’s “Buffalo Gals”

Wild Style

Michael Jackson

B-Boying started in the late ’60’s and ’70’s in the Bronx section of New York City but like so many Black cultural products was heavily influenced by James Brown. The ‘B’ means in most cases the boy who would dance to the break part of the song cued up by the DJ. The dances were called top-rocking, up rocking, power moves and the suicide or freeze started by Frosty Freeze and the west coast contributions of popping and locking. The backslide was a dance that b-boys were doing and it eventually became commercially known as the moonwalk when Michael Jackson learned it from Jeffrey Daniel and Geron “Casper” Candidate and did it on Motown’s 25th Anniversary show. Early pioneers of b-boying include The Rock Steady Crew, The New York City Breakers, LA Breakers, The Electric Boogaloos and The Lockers. There were B-Girls such as Bunny Lee who was the first female to join the Rock Steady Crew, Debi Mazar, Baby Love and Suga Pop.
‘Xanadu’ was the first film to show locking with an appearance from the Electric Boogaloos. Fred Berry who was a member of The Lockers is best remembered for playing Rerun on the TV show ‘What’s Happening.’ ‘ Wild Style’ was the first hip-hop movie and The Rock Steady Crew are captured performing at their best. ‘Beatstreet’ from 1984 was directed by Stan Lathan (Sanaa’s dad) and produced by Harry Belafonte and it features the famous clip of The Rock Steady Crew and The New York City Breakers facing off in a battle. Malcolm Mclaren’s “Buffalo Gals” video has dancing from The Rock Steady Crew and it helped hip-hop become popular in England. Michael Holman hosted the first hip-hop TV show in 1984 called ‘Graffiti Rock’ where The NYC Breakers also get camera time. The movie ‘Breakin'” showcased the dancing of Shabba Doo who was a member of The Lockers and Michael Chambers who was a well-known street dancer. This movie gave the media license to call B-Boying breakdancing which is a term most purists detest.”Flashdance” from 1983 also gave The Rock Steady Crew another display for their talents. Most people know that Jennifer Beals had a body double to do most of the dance scenes but they don’t know that Crazy Legs put a wig on to do the famous continuous backspin on the floor during the audition scene. Like the other elements of hip-hop culture B-Boying spread to the entire world. Contemporary b-boy crews that are recognized include Flying Steps, Massive Monkees, Gamblerz and Last For One.