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Big Daddy Kane Vs KRS-One

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Sunday night Big Daddy Kane and KRS-One gave a clinic on hip-hop for their Verzuz session. Their friendly competition was interspersed with appearances from Buckshot, Nice & Smooth, Roxanne Shante, Hakim Green of Channel Live, Masta Ace, Craig G,  DJ Scratch, DJ Red Alert, Mad Lion, Das Efx, Popmaster Fabel, Crazy Legs and Bboy Cha Cha. Kane schooled the crowd on how he became the father of so many rap styles and proved to still have the speed and precision of his Golden Era days. KRS-One reminded fans of his many classic songs and exposed his lengthy catalog to those who didn’t know. The rap legends made sure to let the audience know the history of their friendship even sharing the story of how KRS-One and his late ex-wife Ms. Melodie helped Kane move out of his parents’ house. They were focused on bringing all the elements to the stage; DJing, MCing and Bboying. But the graffiti foundation was the only one missing from the show that took place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.   

Fat Joe was the host for the event and was later seen in the crowd with Busta Rhymes and 9th Wonder. The audience was taken down memory lane to the time before the explosion of gangsta rap. However KRS did perform “Poetry” from his BDP masterpiece Criminal Minded, the one album where he did advocate for violence. Fans saw his evolution from this era to the emergence of “Self Destruction” which he performed in a medley with “Ah Yeah” and “9MM Goes Bang.” Both emcees freestyled and had fun teasing each other between their nonstop lyrical bombs. Kane’s swift flow was an education on the origins of fast rapping and he gave a special demonstration for the younger generations over the ever popular triplet trap beat. He also introduced Shante as the queen of the Juice Crew and let everyone know that the men in the group were introduced to the world by her.  The b-boy dancers were led by pioneers Crazy Legs of the Rock Steady Crew and Popmaster Fabel. Bboy Cha Cha captivated the audience and put the viewers in a zone with his kinetic movements. When the night was over the audience saw master lyricism, breath control, freestyling, b-boying and DJing.

 

 

 



Throwback: B-Boying & B-Girling

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Graffiti Rock

Beatstreet

Flashdance

Malcolm Mclaren’s “Buffalo Gals”


Wild Style


Michael jackson moonwalk

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.