final post: recap

just a review of my presentation and a place for you to put your comments, questions, and ideas.
first things first,

topic of choice: bboy culture and musicality: an "ethnomusical" approach to the breakbeat
a link to my prezi: http://prezi.com/x6dybbbwkzhh/
a link to the video i used: http://youtu.be/jbSw_FDw3w8
title of the song i played was "funky drummer" by james brown.

final conclusion:
the breakbeat as a direct embedded derivative of freestyle dance (the first and "original" hiphop dance being breaking) has stayed true to its function and remains an integral part of the culture and scene. nevertheless, it has somehow managed to break away from its roots and establish itself as "sub" subculture in itself - i.e. break dance culture. the bboy and bgirl now has a say in the music being made, produced, and played. jams are no longer being thrown so much by dj's and mcee's, but by bboys and bgirls. the dancer is no longer simply a partipant, but an active listener ... a member of this global phenomena called hiphop. it used to be that the music drew in the bboy, now its the bboy that draws in the music. the extension of the breakbeat was made specifically for the bboys, these "break" boys ... the favor is now being returned in that the bboy is now an integral part of what keeps the culture and its elements (djaying, mcees, graf, etc) alive. breaking is no longer something kids just "do" at block parties and jams ... it has become an artform - a means of preserving the idea this concrete idea that "something good can [still] come from the bronx" ... that originality and style can exist anywhere - even during the roughest times and in the toughest places. it is a preservation of the original hiphop mentality. it is the notion of positivity in the midst of negativity. it is the creation of something from nothing. it is an expression of individuality within the masses. without the bboy, there would be no hiphop. and it all started with the breakbeat.

for your viewing pleasure

a part of one of my rounds from the 2v2 battles:

i entered both events with my crew (organicS) ...

made it to semis at footwork fiend and top 8 at skoolyard.

(sorry, you gotta look sideways haha)

skoolyard skrimmage + footwork fiend

ucsd bodyrocks' biggest public event of the year. this is the second annual jam ever hosted by the ucsd breaking community. it was done in collaboration with "footwork fiend" which is also a more recent "phenomena" put together by dyno rock of sd's own "cypher city kings"

the event took place at "the loft" on campus and featured (as mentioned in the flyer) dj's saratoga sake and kid riz ... there were also 2v2 bboy/bgirl battles with a 200 dollar prize. judges were eddie styles from "rock so fresh" (san diego), shyism from the "calamities" (san diego), and cre8 from "suicide kings" (los angeles). prior to this event was "footwork fiend" which took place outside in the price center plaza. "footwork fiend" is a location based footwork battle. the host (dyno rock) names the place and people gather for 1v1 footwork battles. entry costs 5 dollars and winner basically takes all. it was during these two events that i did most of my interviews.

the scene today

a couple of california based channels that stay updated on the bboy scene today:
STRIFE.TV - http://www.youtube.com/user/strifetv
YAK FILMS - http://www.youtube.com/user/YAKfilms

some more worldwide channels:
THE BBOY SPOT - http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBboySpot
BBOYWORLD - http://www.youtube.com/user/RONATOUNE
ALL THE BREAK (KOREA) - https://www.youtube.com/user/allthatbreak?feature=watch

also a fairly useful blog i'm following with some related material:
http://www.frockclothing.com/

beat street excerpt

famous battle scene from the movie: rock steady crew vs the nyc breakers

movie of interest: BEAT STREET

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086946/

is a fictional account of how the scene looked during the era of ROCK STEADY and NYC BREAKERS ... i.e. the revival of bboying and its big media boom.

in this video, dj skeme richards talks about how the role of the dj and the importance of the music in hip hop (and in particular, breaking culture) has changed and evolved over time. he hints at how breaks are only a very small portion of a broader picture and culture. one cannot separate breaks or "breakdancing" from hiphop. to do so would contradict its very existence ...

so at this point, the "what" has been established. just for re-clarification and to bring this study around full circle and back to home, DJ Mane One (a local San Diego DJ) defines a breakbeat as "any part of the record where its like a drum solo ... where the drummer gets a solo ... you can find breaks (breakbeats) on any type of record - rock, soul, jazz, whatever ..." why is the breakbeat important? because it led to the creation and evolution of bboying and rapping. how is it extended? through the use of turntables. if you have two copies of the same record it is possible to perpetually loop and shift between the two - thus extending and emphasizing the break part of the record ... when was it first used? for the purpose of this particular study, it began in the late 1970s during DJ Kool Herc's block parties in the bronx, when he saw that dancers particularly enjoyed getting down and "breaking" to the break portions of records ... so its origins are tied directly to dance and the first "bboys" ... my search now is for the break and its relationship with the bboy, not only historically, but in community and local culture. how is the breakbeat relevant in san diego scene?

african drumming trip [5/1/2013]
time to do some cross-researching ... who better to go to than someone who is currently researching the subject (i.e. amy nguyen)! here is the flyer to the djembe drumming class the two of us attended as well as some pictures from our trip to the world beat center in balboa park:

the class was extremely fun and insightful. we learned a number of traditional african drum beats and patterns as well as how to properly strike the drum. the instructor was very knowledgable and friendly. the environment was also really colorful, open, and engaging. everything we learned was by word of mouth and through vocalization and practice (my hands and fingers were sore and somewhat bruised after the experience) ... we more or less had to listen to and imitate the instructor and take mental note of the way in which he played take the sounds produced from his drum to "audial memory."amy took more specific notes on the method in which we were taught. she also interviewed our instructor - abdoulahat, or abdul for short. here is a link to her blog. more reflection on the trip to come.

in order to learn more about the breakbeat the the culture that surrounds it, i stated earlier that i would have to dig deeper in order to better understand for myself what it is exactly - what are its origins ... where is it from ... what kind of history does it stem from? although it may sound like a no-brainer to some, my research has led me back to the original "break" beat that people used to "get down" to back in the day, i.e. the african drum beat.

ALL HIP HOP RHYTHMS HAVE THEIR ROOTS IN AFRICAN MUSIC

"in the beginning there was africa, and it is from africa that all today's black american music, be it jazz, r&b, soul, or electro, is either directly or indirectly descended ..." [view article]
http://www.globaldarkness.com/articles/roots_of_hiphop.htm

a book i've been browsing through ...

DJ Kool Herc

When I started DJing back in the early '70s, it was just something that we were doing for fun. I came from “the people's choice,” from the street. If the people like you, they will support you and your work will speak for itself. The parties I gave happened to catch on. They became a rite of passage for young people in the Bronx. Then the younger generation came in and started putting their spin on what I had started. I set down the blueprint, and all the architects started adding on this level and that level. Pretty soon, before we even knew it, it had started to evolve.

Most people know me as DJ Kool Herc. But sometimes when I introduce myself to people, I just tell them that my friends call me Herc. Later on, they might ask, “Are you that Herc?” My thing is: come and meet me as who I am. My head is not swollen, I don't try to front on people. If you like what I do, if you like me playing music or giving parties, hey, that's what I do for my friends and people. It's what I've always done.

To me, hip-hop says, “Come as you are.” We are a family. It ain't about security. It ain't about bling-bling. It ain't about how much your gun can shoot. It ain't about $200 sneakers. It is not about me being better than you or you being better than me. It's about you and me, connecting one to one. That's why it has universal appeal. It has given young people a way to understand their world, whether they are from the suburbs or the city or wherever.

Hip-hop has also created a lot of jobs that otherwise wouldn't exist. But even more important, I think hip-hop has bridged the culture gap. It brings white kids together with Black kids, brown kids with yellow kids. They all have something in common that they love. It gets past the stereotypes and people hating each other because of those stereotypes.

People talk about the four hip-hop elements: DJing, B-Boying, MCing, and Graffiti. I think that there are far more than those: the way you walk, the way you talk, the way you look, the way you communicate. Back in my era, we had James Brown and civil rights and Black power; you did not have people calling themselves hip-hop activists. But these people today are talking about their era. They have a right to speak on it the way they see it coming up.

Hip-hop is the voice of this generation. Even if you didn't grow up in the Bronx in the '70s, hip-hop is there for you. It has become a powerful force. Hip-hop binds all of these people, all of these nationalities, all over the world together.

But the hip-hop generation is not making the best use of the recognition and the position that it has. Do we realize how much power hip- hop has? The hip-hop generation can take a stand collectively and make a statement. There are a lot of people who are doing something positive, who are doing hip-hop the way it was meant to be done. They are reaching young people, showing them what the world could be — people living together and having fun.

But too often, the ones that get the most recognition are those emphasizing the negative. And I think a lot of people are scared to speak on issues. “Keeping it real” has become just another fad word. It sounds cute. But it has been pimped and perverted. It ain't about keeping it real. It's got to be about keeping it right.

For example, rappers want to be so “bling-bling.” Are you really living a luxurious life? Don't you have other issues? What things touch you? That's what we'd like to hear rappers speak about. Start a dialogue with people. Talk about things going on in the neighborhood.

Music is sometimes a medication from reality, and the only time you get a dialogue is when tragedy happens. When Tupac or Biggie or Jam Master Jay died, that's when people wanted to have a dialogue. It was too late. Not enough people are taking advantage of using hip-hop as a way to deal with serious issues, as a way to try to change things before tragedy strikes.

We have the power to do that. If Jay-Z comes out one day with his shirt hanging this way or LL Cool J comes out with one leg of his pants rolled up, the next day everyone is doing the same thing. If we decide one day to say that we're not gonna kill somebody senselessly, everyone will follow.

I don't want to hear people saying that they don't want to be role models. You might already have my son's attention. Let's get that clear. When I'm telling him, “Don't walk that way, don't talk that way,” you're walking that way and talking that way. Don't just be like a drug dealer, like another pusher. Cut the crap. That's escape. That's the easy way out. You have the kid's attention. I'm asking you to help me raise him up.

You might be living lovely. But if you came out of the neighborhood, there was somebody who was there to guide you when you needed it, someone that said, “Son, here's two dollars.” You might have to beat up on the ghetto to get out of it, but what have you done for the ghetto lately? How can you come from nothing to get something, but yet the same time, still do dirt to tear it all down?

Hip-hop has always been about having fun, but it's also about taking responsibility. And now we have a platform to speak our minds. Millions of people are watching us. Let's hear something powerful. Tell people what they need to hear. How will we help the community? What do we stand for? What would happen if we got the hip-hop generation to vote, or to form organizations to change things? That would be powerful.

Hip-hop is a family, so everybody has got to pitch in. East, west, north, or south — we come from one coast and that coast was Africa. This culture was born in the ghetto. We were born here to die. We're surviving now, but we're not yet rising up. If we've got a problem, we've got to correct it. We can't be hypocrites. That's what I hope the hip-hop generation can do, to take us all to the next level by always reminding us: It ain't about keeping real, it's about keeping it right.

DJ Kool Herc, a pioneer of hip-hop during the 1970s, was the originator of breakbeat DJing, or isolating and repeating the “breaks” or danceable parts, of records by other artists.

This essay was written as the introduction to Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, by Jeff Chang, © 

two major influences and innovators of hip hop dance -
mr. wiggles and crazy legs back in the day ...

[from http://www.mrwiggles.biz/hip_hop_influences.htm]

attended a jam in fullerton last saturday hosted by a san diego based rocking crew ... TIME TO ROCK
here's a link to their event on facebook: FUNK THE WORLD

[flyer and some screenshots from the event page]

it was, in my opinion, a moderately successful cypher jam.

there was a mixture of west coast and east coast dancers, as well as bboy, lockers, all-style dancers, and rockers. the atmosphere was very open, noncompetitive, and friendly.

for those who don't know, rocking is a form of dance that originated in brooklyn in parallel with breaking in the bronx. the two dances are different, yet share many similar qualities ... it too is an important original form of true hip hop dance. although it is important to realize that the two each have their own history and are from different schools of dance, the two share the same scene, music, and broader historical timeline. even today, the two are fairly close. 

[some video footage from the jam]

A GOOD WEBSITE I FOUND AND WILL BE BROWSING THROUGH:
http://www.mrwiggles.biz/hip_hop_history.htm

its all underwritten by an originator of the culture - MR. WIGGLES

for most hip hop heads, knowing your history is considered the be all and end all of knowing your culture. you are the result of things that have happened. if you don't know your past, how can you expect to represent and carry forward on into the future? if i want to study and follow the bboy and the breakbeat, it only makes sense that i start with its roots and the historical beginnings of hip hop.

TOPIC OF CHOICE: BBOY CULTURE AND MUSICALITY - AN ETHNOMUSICAL APPROACH TO THE BREAKBEAT

i suppose i'm pretty set on this subject. although i do understand the problems that come with the fact that i am relatively close to the culture, i feel like the potential positive benefits of taking a closer look at something i personally love outweigh the negative.

THE FRESHEST KIDS (2002):

one of my favorite documentaries of all time is free on youtube!
here is the link to 1/10 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uizp9UYdKKw

in my own personal life, music and culture come into contact in breaking. this form of dance is a huge part of my day to day. it is (arguably) one of the four primary elements of hip hop culture along with emceeing, deejaying, and writing (graffiti). it is, in a sense, the physical representation of hip hop ... the dance of hip hop.

bboys and bgirls dance to "breaks" or "breakbeats" ...
an example mixtape is the following (with a short sample from the documentary film the freshest kids explaining the origin of the breakbeat) https://soundcloud.com/dj-lean-rock/renegades-r16-1

first bullet point on the agenda:

• figure out a topic

what should i research and write about? 

last class period we discussed music and culture.

how are the two defined? what kind of relationship do they share?

i still don't have a straight and simple answer. 

whatever my topic ends up being, i want it to springboard me deeper into the discussion. how exactly are music and culture related? 

and so the journey begins ...

i figure most blogs start like this.