B-boy

A B-boy/break-boy (male) or B-girl/break-girl (female) is a term for a person who is devoted to hip-hop culture. The term "B-boy" has come to refer more specifically to a male who practices what the media refers to as breakdancing, i.e., an individual who has the ability to express his feelings through rhythmic dance combining a variety of dance forms with gymnastics and original body movements. These stylized movements are commonly known as "breaking" or "breakdancing," and B-boys are often called breakdancers.

Etymology

DJ Kool Herc is commonly thought to have coined the term B-boy in 1979 in New York City. During his DJing performances, he would yell "B-boys go down!" which cued the dancers to begin breaking. (However, the original dancers who performed with him were part of a crew called "The B-boys" before they started dancing with Herc, so it is unlikely that he coined the term.) Ten years prior, in 1969, James Brown recorded "Get on the Good Foot," a song promoting high-energy, acrobatic dancing, and that Afrika Bambaataa (founder of the Zulu Nation) claims led to B-boying (Toop, 1991). ^{[citation needed]}

The term b-boy comes from break-boy, a term for those who would dance during the "break section" of a record. Originally, there was no "break dancer" term, there was just b-boy.

The "B" in B-boy is commonly thought to stand for "breaking" as in "acting wild," or what happens when you have reached your breaking point. (There are many other theories, such as one which posits that "Beat Boy," when pronounced with a Bronx slang accent, sounds a lot like "B-boy.") An alternative definition of 'break' in this context is as the part of a song where instrumentalists take a break (to clear spit valves, or rest) while the drummer plays a solo. The need for a break was initially created by the high energy style of funk and jazz played in the early 1970s. The word was co-opted by B-boy culture given that breaks in songs excite a crowd because of their punctuated rhythm. For this reason breaks are ideal for the B-boy style of dancing: when a song reached a break, the skilled dancers in a party would begin dancing very aggressively, while others gathered round and cheered. B-boys would, effectively, "break on the break."

Regardless of the fact that B-boys are in essence dancers, serious B-boys dislike the term "breakdance" because this label was originally a journalist's misinterpretation, not a name created by people who created and innovated the dance form. Though "breakdancer" is now a better-known label because it has been used regularly by the media, "B-boy" is the original term for culture and is preferred by those who are truly involved in the scene.

Overview

Although several philosophical analyses of the elements of B-boy dance exist, the following is the most widely accepted and is generally the best suited for teaching beginners. There are four foundation styles of B-boy dance. The first is Toprock, a term referring to the upright dancing that B-boys do when they enter a circle. The second style, Downrock or Footwork, refers to dancing performed on the floor. The third style, known as Freeze, refers to poses that B-boys throw into their dance sets to add punctuation to certain beats and shock the crowd. The final element, known as Power, refers to moves that involve spinning or fast rotations.

A related dance form which influenced bboying is Uprocking / Rocking / The Rock Dance, also performed while standing, and a style of dance in which both dancers fabricate ways of beating the opponent using fictional weaponry and embarrassing situations in rhythm with the music. This style involves moves called Yerks [pronounced Jerks] which are a set of motions executed to the break of a track and are where most of the battling occurs, outside of the break of a track is where the freestyle element of the dance is executed with great musicality throughout.

B-boys

Notable early b-boys included Klark Kent, The Amazing Bobo, James Bond, Harrison and Tom Krew, Sau Sau, Ricksy, The Nigga Twins and El Dorado Mike. These dancers predated what we now know as the B-boy foundation, but they created the backdrop that inspired younger dancers to develop the moves that are used today.

Second-generation B-boys include Pow Wow, Beaver, Rob Spy, Sundance, Bos Jojo (Spiderman), Trac 2, Mongo, Off, Vinnie, Spivey, Cadilac Mel, Weeble Rock, Blue eyes and Joey. These B-boys developed much of the uprocking, footwork and freezing now recognised as integral to B-boy style. Their early spin moves led to the first power move, the backspin.

Third,generation B-boys include Ken Swift, Frosty Freeze, Rip 7, Take One, Ty Fly, Flip Rock, Chino, Kid Float Crazy Legs, Kid Freeze, Mr Freeze, Icey Ice, Doze, The late Buck 4, the late Kuriaki and the late Kippy Dee. These B-boys created most of the basic moves which are today considered foundation.

B-girls

Notable b-girls include the late Bunny Lee (the first female member of The Rock Steady Crew), Baby Love, Roc-a-fella (not the record label) and Asia-One (the organizer of the legendary B-Boy Summit in California ^{[citation needed]}). 'Blaze' is also a well known b-girl from the Dynamic Rockers crew. She appeared in an episode of MTV's 'Made - I want to be a breakdancer.'

Actress Debi Mazar started out her career as a B-girl in New York City before turning to acting.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1940s, 'b-girl' was used as a slang word for bar girl, a woman hired by a bar to encourage men to drink more.

Crews

When two or more B-boys dance together, either simultaneously or separately, they are called a crew. Two of the more famous crews are The Rock Steady Crew and the New York City Breakers. (Although both are based in New York City, crews can be found around the world.)

Every year, crews meet in international dance battles. One of the most famous is the Battle Of The Year, which thus far has been held in Germany. Also well known is Freestyle Session, held by promoter/bboy Cros-One, Bboy Summit, held by Asia-One, Red Bull BC One (held in a different location every year), Out For Fame (Regional Breaking events), IBE, and Mighty 4.

B-boy Fiction

The first B-boy-themed novel, Kid B, was published by Houghton Mifflin in 2006. The author, Linden Dalecki, was an amateur B-boy in high school and directed a short documentary film about Texas B-boy culture before writing the novel. The novel was expanded from a B-boy-themed short story The B-Boys of Beaumont, that won the 2004 Austin Chronicle short story contest.

B-boy Styles

There are many different styles one can use to break, usually stemming from a given B-boy's area of origin and dancing influences.

Examples:

Bronx Style (Foundational) - considered to be closer to the original forms of breaking/rocking. Deals more with intense style and flow within the context of foundational styles. Currently the trend now is reverting back to a more foundational style.

Power - When people ask bboys if they "breakdance," usually this is what is coming to mind. Headspins, backspins, windmills, babymills (munchmills), flares, airflares, airtracks, 1990s, 2000s, jackhammers, turtles, halos, etc.

Abstract - A very broad term of a bboy style, but may include the incorporation of threading footwork, freestyle movement to hit beats, the inclusion of house dancing, broken link styles (made famous by bboys like Paranoid Android), and "circus" styles (balance, tricks, contortionism, etc.)

Blowup Style - A type of dancing based on the "wow factor" of some power, trick, and circus style. Blowup styles are made to pile as many difficult trick combinations together right after one another to "smack" the other bboy. Usually comes after becoming proficient in other styles first due to the amount of control and practice needed.