You don’t have to be a Kinesiologist to understand that HipHop music makes you move.
Since kids started repurposing cardboard boxes in the late 70’s and early 80’s, HipHop was the thing to do. HipHop was raw. And for breakers, it was a challenge, with levels of difficulty and mastery. This new art form was the ultimate exercise. While Jane Fonda was aerobicizing disco on VHS, the urban districts of greater NYC were demonstrating fitness in rhythmic agility and mental acuity, in step with the culture as a whole. Driven by attaining the respect of fellow breakers, the admiration of small crowds, and reaching new personal heights. And for b-boy crews, it was survival of the fittest. Acrobatic skills, speed and strength displayed in step to the rhythm of Planet Rock, Rockit, and the Message. On the daily, without video footage, movements were born screaming loud, live on the street. And by the next break beat, the movement was twisted and turned, tweaked and added to, until forms styles and moves became signatures. Until, the music changed.... Breakers truly became more like Olympic athletes, and while breaking could never be a fad, it went beyond any conventional undertaking. Into a new realm of being, where only the masters can dwell. There's no karaoke equivalencies for backspins and windmills, for beginners to rockit. What caused these prolific artists to go beyond what could be first imagined? What was it about HipHop that created space for the brilliance of the breakers? Scientifically speaking....
2 Comments
Eye-Diesel
4/1/2020 11:44:52 am
I feel like hip-hop was finally something that was ours, an urban creation so we could actually put a finger on -where/when it started.. like the DJ of a party at the Polish Home was your boys older brother, Who would interrupt the song to say Miguel’s double parked outside; move your fucking car b.. being a part of it was tangible palpable even & I feel like “In the beginning“ that same spirit of we are all a part of this movement that is being created before our eyes, propelled the dancers to go even further then was ever thought possible. Even my fat ass got into it, practicing with my boys in the projects or little steps that we will bust out at the next boys club party
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4/13/2020 10:51:53 pm
Thank you for sharing this experience. Hip hop is too often underrepresented for all that it has given to the world.
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