"Passion" - /ˈpaSHən/
noun
1. strong and barely controllable emotion.
"A bboy of impetuous passion throws down the dopest set."
Notes: [Bboying, Bgirling, Breaking aka. Breakdancing]
[Breakdance is coined by the media]
Where it all started
In the bboying community I'm known as 'Wildabeast', 'ILL will', or 'I am will'. I've been bboying for over 15 years now, losing count for sure. For the past 4 to 5 years I've been training and lying low away from any competitions, shows, and certain social media outlets. I would like to share a bit of my personal history with hiphop / bboying and how it has shaped my life.
Born Brooklyn hospital in 1985, a child of the 80's era where NES / super nes game systems were introduced, movies like “Back to the Future”, “The Goonies”, “Breakfast Club”, and "Beat Street" were major hits, and now classics. Events that occured during the 80's, liketotally80s.
A snippet of Beat Street 1984
my child mind was blown, it has never been the same...
A bit of Bboying history
Copied from Bboy history.
Born in the street corner's of the Bronx, where it was an outlet for many gang members for whom dancing served as a positive diversion from the threats of city life. The earliest DJ's in this genre include legendary DJ Kool Herc, check out the video of his history below:
This provided the raw rhythmic base for improvising and further mixing, and it allowed dancers to display their skills during the break. There is no tradition in breakdancing, dancers picked elements from other dances and sports including but not limited to gymnastics, Capoeira, disco, martial arts, etc.
Popular speculations of the early 1980s suggest that breakdancing, in its organized fashion seen today, began as a method for rival gangs of the ghetto to mediate and settle territorial disputes. In a turn-based showcase of dance routines, the winning side was determined by the dancer(s) who could outperform the other by displaying a set of more complicated and innovative moves.
It later was through the highly energetic performances of the late funk legend James Brown and the rapid growth of dance teams, like the Rock Steady Crew of New York City, that the competitive ritual of gang warfare evolved into a pop-culture phenomenon receiving massive media attention. Parties, disco clubs, talent shows, and other public events became typical locations for breakdancers, including gang members for whom dancing served as a positive diversion from the threats of city life.
Where it really all started
Chinatown in the 80s, I'm a first generation ABC (American Born Chinese), raised the in various parts of the 5 boroughs for half my life, and the other half in the Garden State (New Jersey).
I was a shy child growing up, with a younger brother and sister, 2 and 7 years apart respectively. Being such a shy child growing up, I believe being 1 of 2 Chinese kids attending P.S. 192 in Brooklyn attributed to my shyness. That's ok, my best friends were two Puerto Rican kids, a Russian kid who I could never understand and the only other Chinese (cantonese) kid in school.
Fast forward, both my parents at the time owned a Chinese garment producing sweat shop in Chinatown Manhattan, they were doing most of the sweating. They had high hopes immigrating to America from separate parts of China (Shandong Province, and Da Lian). They met at LIU (Downtown Brooklyn campus), where they studied ESL (English as a second language).
I know they worked many many hours, late nights that I spent most of my time playing in the factory. Trying on clothes, messing around with the sewing machines, listening to MC Hammer, Micheal Jackson and trying to dance in secret. I think I was like 7 years old, my memory is definitely a bit hazy, except trying to hammer time with make shift ufo pants. Beat street the movie was pretty popular back then, I saw it on TV, along with MJ and MC Hammer.
Again, another fast-forward... the next time I saw bboying was at a Christian concert with one of one of my best friends from high school Giordanni, 8th or 9th grade.
to be continued...
To me, a "true" bboy is one that is supremely disciplined, to the level of a gymnast or martial artist.