Illjaz - Europe x America - Noise of the Broke Boys Episode 015
Manage episode 279346361 series 2835172
Illjaz of the Ruffn'x crew talks about the European breaking scene, coming to America, and various other important topics in breaking.
A broke degenerate hooligan documents conversations about being a Bboy, Breakin', Hip Hop, Dance, Art, Music, Creativity, Innovation, and the slow subtle crumble of society in audio form.
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[Music]
this episode of noise of the broke boys
is brought to you by math are you an
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you operate on a higher plane of
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after losing that dance competition
congratulations you are officially a
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math can change your life and now onto
the show
[Music]
in this episode I talk with a b-boy who
has significant experience in both the
European and American breaking scenes
this guy really puts me on game about
life as a dancer in Europe in the early
90s I had a great time learning about
his history and picking his brain about
various topics please enjoy the episode
with ill jazz or Elyas of the Roughnecks
hello everybody welcome to the disaster
show that I just fucked up Dana press
record so here we are hopefully I can
salvage something from what we recorded
with my boy ill jazz
he's from Switzerland we are talking
about break dancing and you know how I
don't know how to record podcast so ok
how long have you been dancing oh I so I
started dancing with my younger brother
he's one and a half year younger than me
and we started in 9899 okay and it was a
good time I'm happy we started still in
the nineties yeah and before that we
played soccer we did inline skating like
halfpipe and everything and then we tie
and then one day we we saw like the Run
DMC it's like that music you know and
that was like dope and shit you know but
when when to use scented they have a
halfpipe and we went with the inline
skates yeah and then we look inside
there was a zombie voice you know
underneath no it was a halfpipe and
there was a building right next to it oh
and there were windows and I looked in
the windows and then I want I needed to
go to the bathroom I go inside and I see
somebody doing 90 oh I didn't know what
90 is you know and that was a shit I
want to learn that you know and then
since then we threw out the inline
skates and we started breaking and so
how old were you I was 15 15 that's
probably about when I start
to us and 14 or 15 em and I had no
flexibility because of Socratic like
Xena almost like I was pretty flexible
when I started because I did Taekwondo
for a long time and so we would you know
you'd have to kick really high and stuff
so I was kind of flexible from that but
I used to skateboard actually um so I
knew about half pipes and stuff I had a
lot of friends that did inline skating
and so we would go to those lots of
skate parks and I wish I had been
braking at that time cuz I totally would
have done windmills on it because it was
just so smooth yeah I didn't break I
quit I kind of quit skating to break
yeah because it was waiting let's I just
felt like skating was so dangerous
no it's I saw so many people just fall
and break the wrists my cousin broke his
wrist actually but I had another friend
who broke his ankle and they were doing
like you know shitty tricks yeah you
know kickflip and they like mob and it's
like if you did a windmill and broke
your arm like you know what I mean it's
just the generic you know beginner trick
sort of like the sport and you just
break you know I I started with skating
first actually yeah and then I went to
the mini ramp and I went there the
skateboard stayed there
oh do back oh yeah I tried I tried
inline skating I picked it up pretty
easily actually but I just never was too
into it um I was just more into
skateboarding yeah but I had some
friends they would like you know jump up
and grind on stairs they showed me how
to do that so I learned kind of some to
do that stuff man like 10 years after I
haven't done anything on the inline
skates mm-hmm I stand on the halfpipe I
couldn't go down it's scary yeah I was
like man how did I do that yeah
you know what I mean yeah no shit we're
not yeah when I was in she wouldn't I
was skating I think I started when I was
probably like 11 and I went till
probably 15 or 16 maybe and yeah I used
to go on half pipes and stuff and now I
look at him like holy yeah and it would
go off like stairs and stuff and go onto
rails and I'm like what the heck how did
I even do this I mean I wasn't really
good at it or anything but I just I feel
like I was maybe less fearless yeah
yeah now yeah yeah back then we just did
it man yeah I remember when I started a
little bit braking and still a little
bit in Nice skating
hey they have like this ramp going down
and then this little island yeah I flew
you know I started breaking I had so
much energy and different I flew over
that thing and I landed like two meters
away from it you know and that was like
shit whatever I gotta do I just roll the
really coin drop and then you know what
braking has saved my life a couple times
good yeah there was times when I went
snowboarding and you just you're going
so fast down a hill and you just hit
like something and you just eat shit and
I'm like you know I probably should have
been wearing a helmet but I wasn't and
it's just like woop and then for some
reason it kicks in I'm like oh I know
how to like land and I'll do a coin drop
or something in like you know so my head
doesn't get hit and you know I kind of
rollers or whatever to roll out and then
I stand up and people are like I got
something from cats yeah cuz I mean in a
way braking is just like falling but
showing off at the same time sort of
smooth so it's like you got you you got
good at jumping on the ground yeah
but fun fact is when we started breaking
we thought it's a sport oh you did yeah
like so we yeah before we started
breaking with inline skates we we
listened we discovered to puck and we
knew that hip-hop and Cypress Hill yeah
you know to pass episode exhibit NWA a
little bit you know so all that made
their way to but I thought this is
hip-hop yeah yeah in the nineties men we
listened all the golden era yeah and we
thought that's hip-hop but we didn't
know about
we knew graffitis somehow mixed with
hip-hop you know DJs they have the
rappers have a DJ you know but we didn't
know breaking is part of hip-hop you
know but when we started we learn all
the four elements and yeah knowledge the
culture and everything you know yeah
yeah but first we we did it because we
like this sport yeah yeah yeah I mean
it's it's definitely cool and I first
saw I mean I I don't know when I first
saw I think I first saw it when I used
to watch pro wrestling and there was a
group - cool and the one guy his special
move was he would just throw you on the
ground and then he would just dance
around you and then do the worm she all
the way across the ring and then just
whoo and like elbow using the base I was
in probably in middle school I was
probably maybe 12 years old when I first
saw that so I thought breakdancing was
wrestling that's crazy but so yeah but
maybe because we stop breaking in only
music videos you know back then you know
and it was all kinds of music it wasn't
only like hip-hop music yes like house
music dance music you know techno you
were always saw a b-boy somewhere you
know yeah so we didn't connect it with
hip-hop yeah I think in the 90s that was
when house music started really like
colliding a lot with with hip-hop yeah
yeah yeah
but yes so I'm interested in like how
hip-hop looks in Europe compared to here
cuz just like I've seen hip-hop as I
grew up here and I imagine it's way
different in Europe because like here
hip-hop was always associated with like
gangs and like you know people mischief
causers he's done you know I mean I mean
I don't know there is two ways of
hip-hop like people that are passive and
there are people that are active you
know they like back in the 90s hip-hop
in Europe was like you're not hip-hop if
you're not in an element you know if you
beatbox you okay you when it's not like
really official apart or of hip-hop but
you're still hip-hop you know okay but
if you break or beatbox or MC or DJ or
graffiti you you part of hip-hop and
then there is other people they just
friends and they hang out with and they
dress a pup listen hip up and whatever
but they're not active you know okay
that's how you us okay I guess it's kind
of like that now yeah yeah I know but
more back in the day it was like you
gotta be super down like b-boy was your
life you know you you lived that life
yeah we used to go like to Germany you
know like 16 I told our parents that
we're gonna go to a friend we're gonna
practice and then stay over there but we
went like 500 that's the way you know we
train and we go to a different city to
Johnny go to hm next day practice and
then come back yeah you know it wasn't
good timing yeah like when we went first
time bad luck year 19 2000 or 2001 we
train it was like five six hours away we
train and then you go to the Battle of
year cipher everything and event
everything and then you go the event is
over after party is over and then you
have to wait for the Train the first
train that starts going back home you
see like a hundred of b-boys at the
train station just inside for practice
chilling some people sleeping in the
corner starting practicing and
exchanging you know people like peoples
from France Germany Holland Switzerland
Italy you know you connect you know
exchange and practice that's cool and it
wasn't backed and it wasn't like really
a cypher and or calling out somebody but
it was more of a circle
somebody practiced something you know
and you go there and exchange and hey do
this like this or ain't look try like
that look I do something similar you
know so was it like a pretty friendly
scene in Europe in terms of like because
because what I'm used to is like I've
come from Sacramento in you know we just
get all jump in a car and we'd go to the
other city to do a jam or something and
everybody calls us out because it's like
hey you're in our neighborhood and we
would just get battled so that's nice
man it's like it was almost I mean it
was definitely less friendly now it's a
lot more friendly I can come you know
like me moving to LA if I had done that
when I first started breaking I probably
would have got battled for like a solid
you know three or four months and people
were like okay I think this guy's cool
you know cuz dude the first time I think
I went to a practice in Sacramento like
I was in high school and like we just
show up and they're like who are these
there's me and my brother that we just
show up and they're like who are these
two kids and we like couldn't even do do
anything really like my brother could do
in vert and like I think I don't know
what I could do like a head slide and
freeze or something and that's like our
only moves I guess we seriously we're
breaking for maybe like six months and
it's like the whole like room is a
psycho fuck these comments we on the
title you know and then I think you know
after you battle a couple times then
they realize okay
trying to cause harm or like because the
thing was that everyone was scared that
you're gonna like bite their moves steal
their yeah so it was like you know
they're automatically sort of hostile to
you but imagine you guys would have
stopped dancing because of that you know
yeah what's up it wouldn't ya know I
mean yeah there was a lot of reasons to
stop I mean for sure but it but it's it
was all the way it makes you stronger
you know to not give up and you stay on
it you know motivate you maybe you know
I just yeah it was just I had to learn
what the scene was like you know what
what was acceptable in the scene and go
with that you know like well I think I
remember I told this in another podcast
but I remember we brought this this
shitty camera because me and my brother
used to we used to make a lot of home
videos we used to make like skits we
were really into MADtv do you remember
MADtv it's like Saturday Night Live's
okay so we used to make all these stupid
skits and stuff so we had our parents
got us this like really crappy video
camera so we can make all these stupid
skits just for fun and then we brought
it to go practice cuz we were just gonna
film ourselves and stuff and then people
are like what are you doing with this
case you get beat up for like bringing a
camera to practice and stuff because you
know because they automatically think
you're filming these guys to take their
moves on amou say yeah we learned real
quick don't bring the camera there
we brought the camera yeah very early in
our training you know to see what they
do wrong because we were the youngest
too and there were all the generation
you might know buzzer City attack oh
that's the older generation they battled
rock four screw in the 90s
yeah so control so Cujo and there was
the older generation and we look up to
them and but we didn't get like help you
know so oh we got this ourself you know
he was looking me and I was looking him
and then we see the older generation and
what what's the difference between him
and you you know
yeah that's how we learn you know then
bring the camera and see what we do
wrong yeah that's how we stop we were
the youngest and our first battle was
also about a six month in her making in
the first round we won against all the
guys yeah keep going you know you're
good we're good
that next round we battle younger guys
the nose and the smoker so yeah then
yeah and then it's like man we need to
practice was a good wake-up call and
then we from then on we started
practicing every day you know some days
eight hours yeah our parents didn't
believe that we we practice eight hours
they thought we're doing something
criminal you know yeah exactly
we would do kind of the same thing can
you practice eight hours yeah but it's
just like you get totally immersed into
that that world and you just wanna you
have a focus to get better I think
eventually my parents realize we're not
doing anything bad yeah like and they
saw us getting better at it so it's like
oh they're obviously like practicing
this so yeah like all right whatever and
we we also stole my parents camera you
know you didn't have their camera and
they used it only for a special when
family came to visit us you know so we
just took it and then practice and then
sometimes they would see the tape you
know we just buy a new tape put it in
and then record yeah take the tape out
so they see but we were like crazy
addicted to practice man yeah not even
just battling just practice you know to
learn the move to yeah you know we were
there first and we left there the last
you know people were coming and going
and we're still there yeah yeah yeah I
mean I was the same way just always
practicing always practicing definitely
that's like my favorite part not
breaking for sure is just like getting
getting down playing like your favorite
music and just practicing coming up with
some new movies training some new stuff
training old stuff you know it's that's
that I feel like that's where the real
creativity comes in when you're out
battling when
performing and stuff it's just kind of
showing off you do what you know yeah
you're just I think if you practiced
well and then it's the performance in
the battle is gonna go it's gonna go
well because you did you did the
homework but the the real work is really
when you're practicing and trying to
figure no you know how I prepares for
battles
I never prepared full set oh no like I
never practiced full sets in practice
yeah because then if I'm gonna just do
the same solar what I did in practice
it's gonna be boring it's not gonna have
that fire feeling whatever you know so I
always put like practice only half set
okay yeah and then practice I do only
have sets and then I maybe just add some
power moves just to so I have the
condition the cardio but in the battle I
would mix my small set together you know
like I put three sets in one yeah so
then you know so it's always new it's
always fresh and you can always
improvise it freestyle it and yeah you
know depends of the music moment and
everything you know I used to make full
sets and it just got really boring to me
to do that so what I started doing
instead is practicing those full sets
and then when I go to battle
I just don't think about them I just
totally try to just focus on you know
the battle focus on the music focus on
my opponent and just let it happen and I
you know I practice a lot of freestyling
too so it's like I know that the
material I have this you know the set of
moves I put together I know that it's
good and if I don't do it perfectly I
know how to freestyle out of it and so
on it gives me confidence to just go out
there and basically with a clear mind
and just let it happen and I think that
that's a way better way of breaking yes
before I would go out and go okay I need
a pre-plan everything and it distances
you from everything from the moment from
the music from the battle DJ
and it's just I don't think that's a
good way to do it yeah I but I was
always trying to figure out a good way
to mix you know because there's a lot of
creativity in the combinations that you
put together that you pre-plan I always
wanted to be able to still showcase that
but I don't want it to look so
disjointed yeah and so the yeah the way
that I figured out how to do that is to
just make some sets and be content with
not doing that and by practicing them so
many times and then you just kind of
forget it
it just kind of happens or like piece of
memory and yeah it's almost exactly it's
like I mean like with martial arts a lot
of times you'll train like a combination
like a kick punch combination you know
hit hit to the body hit to the head or
whatever and you train that so many
times going you actually are fighting
you might not do the full combination
you'll do like one two part of it you
might do it twice in a row you might
link this combination to that one just
because you see the opportunities and
you you have to improvise you improvise
to make it happen and so I I took a lot
from that
yeah very good yeah and so since I've
started doing that I feel like it's
helped me a lot but then for example I
wanted to say some bash beam for example
that meets in German for example when we
started performing like performances
shows right it's a much easier than for
us right so because then we prepare a
solo for the show to the music you know
so you can be much more confidence in a
performance yeah yeah yeah because we
are if you think about it in a battle
you are in so many uncomfortable yes
inaudible but somehow you practice to be
comfortable you know and in a
performance you're fully comfortable you
know yeah so you can shine much easier I
hope if you go like to a quarry your
world people struggle and are nervous
you know yeah I never understood in the
beginning why are you guys nervous man
we've been practicing this I don't know
how long yeah
you know I think it's just because there
you're in front of a bunch of people you
don't know and you're like you know
you're out in front of everybody and
just doing what you want to do and
there's a little bit of fear that they
might not like what you're doing but you
just gotta go man who cares
you really care yeah you have to do your
thing with you just got it you cannot
change it anymore you know what yeah in
it and really at the end of the day if
that whole crowd says you suck like do
you really care yeah yeah it probably
stings a little bit but then you go like
men I don't give a fuck about these yeah
that's the best thing when you do
something you love you know yes I'm
better because what other people think
you know what I mean yeah I I take the
same approach with like judges too you
know like when you're actually battling
and the judges vote against you or vote
for you really like really I look at it
as they're just they're they're a crowd
member and they're just saying you that
their opinion of you was either you want
or you lost but I I really think that if
you enjoy what you did then you
shouldn't really worry too much about
that I mean you could obviously like to
listen to what they have to say because
they might have some insight into
something you maybe didn't know about
your own dancing um and that's always
good to do but at the end of the day if
you enjoy what you do I don't think you
should let anything holding me hold you
back so like the way the way I always
put it was like if my mom was a judge
and she was like you suck I'd probably
be like okay maybe I gotta practice well
like if some random dude that I don't
even know it's like oh I thought you
lost and I honestly thought I won I'd be
like okay well whatever you don't
yeah it's mean was totally different in
the beginning you know I when I was
young I was getting mad when I left the
judges men you have no idea and but that
comes with maturity you know if you lose
and you take it easy
yeah but yeah yeah I would get mad too
eventually you get to the point where
it's like win or lose it doesn't really
matter that much like cuz again it's
just three people three or five people
you know judging on this thing and they
just said you want are you lost
I mean I'm one battle is that I thought
I lost and I was like I want I remember
I there's a couple of them where I was
like dude I walked to the judges I was
like dude you got this wrong and I gave
my prize money to the other guy cuz I
was like dude I didn't win and I'm not
just cuz these dudes say that I want
that's correct I'm not gonna keep the
money because I thought you you know
this dude one or this crew one so I just
gave it to them there I've done that
like a couple times that I can think of
probably two or three times it's crazy
man but it's just cuz you know I don't
break to like make to get money or
anything it's like I just want I just
want to do it and I like battling but
the competition part of it I don't
really care that much about it it's it's
fun to win but I don't like I don't like
winning when I don't think I'm that's
crazy man that you gave money you know I
never heard that before
I mean I know people and I used to be
one of those yes I needed to win money
to pay rent and yeah you know what I
mean so because I didn't do performances
ie back in the days I battles was more
important to me than performances you
know K so and I needed to win that
battle too yeah you know to pay some
stuff up and then years later I judged
competition and in the final I judge and
against one guy and he told man yeah you
know it came to me like what okay I
understand but man I need the money man
I need to pay bills and there was I said
man I was to say like you you can never
rely on winning palace to pay your
person I think
yeah I I I mean there was times when I
was I could be I could have been in that
situation but I was like what I need to
do is actually cook his job so I got a
job instead of like I mean there'd be
times where I I needed some quick money
or something and so we would go and do
some street shows and stuff so that was
good to kind of and that's always been
my back-up plan in a way if like you
know the world blew up or something and
I don't have any money
I'd go do a street show I know that I'd
survive for at least one day yeah cuz I
could do I could at least do some
windmills and someone might give me a
like but ya know I was always like okay
I need to just go get a job to actually
pay ya there's been times when I needed
to win again but I I really hated the
idea of like needing to win - yeah and
and well and also - I was always scared
of the idea that you know I might be
winning and don't deserve the win and so
I was it always made me feel like crap
to even think of that situation in this
moment I with the time I learned to
understand that you know it's in soccer
for example you take the ball and put it
in the net that's a goal that's a point
yeah but in art it's hard to to give a
point here or here you know it's an
opinion if those charges think you want
you know it's it's their opinion even
you did maybe just a baby freeze and the
guy did the baby freeze - 90 baby freeze
you know and they liked your form bit
better maybe you know yeah so it's it's
hard to judge art you know it's very
hard so that's my yeah that that
actually is a good segue to a question I
have because now breaking is becoming
kind of more of a mainstream sport
eventually getting into the Olympics you
see like big sponsored events and
stuff and my fear is that we are doing
this but don't have a solid way of
judging it because it is an art and you
know I think the way that we've always
judged it makes sense for the small
community that we have as b-boys but
like when it comes to the mainstream
stage where there's like lots of money
lots of sponsors involved if you think
about white yea H and you know comparing
it to you know soccer for instance or
like basketball or any kind of sport
that's on a huge main main stage that I
don't think the judging system we have
right now is is gonna cut it because
what's gonna happen is a sponsor is
gonna look at it and be like ok why did
this guy win over that guy and you go oh
because these three judges said so okay
well what exactly made them say that you
know he's got you know 50 years in the
game and he thought that his backspin
was better than this guy's windmill and
then the sponsors gonna be like no that
doesn't make any sense
I'm out look for me it's how I compared
how I compared breaking to mix martial
arts right you remember mixed martial
arts in the beginning yeah nineties it
was like a karate guy versus of wrestler
yeah jujitsu guy was kickboxer you know
there was like we had Shawn versus like
yeah and that is a Wild West that's
breaking I would say most of the time
that's that's it right because there is
all right now but it's been four years
that you have a guy that does more like
foundation style or a guy that does more
blow up style or a Power Move guy or mix
guy you know but a complete mixed
martial artist is somebody that can do
like kickboxing wrestling jujitsu take
one toe karate whatever you know and
that should be with be born into men
like if you want to be an Olympic
champion you cannot just
roll around and do Foundation and the
fries and that's it you cannot be
Olympic champion with only that you have
to have all the elements you know in
breaking and you have to put it on a
level you know so everybody understands
otherwise it's gonna be like you said
you know people will not understand it
you know yeah I think with mixed martial
arts it's a good example of this because
yeah back in the day it was just these
styles versus each other and eventually
it evolved people were seeing that
certain styles were just dominating
every everything and so then it evolved
to where now the fighter isn't just this
one style he takes a little piece of
this other style and it makes them
better but and so like eventually you
saw everybody now doing that same thing
all taking out different pieces of it so
now you see guys that I mean basically
and I'm not like a an authority on this
or anything but like in general like
usually a good fighter would have some
good striking some good grappling and
some good crown stuff and so and that
would make them somewhat effective
against anybody and that's what that's
the type that's a style that flew to you
know to the to the top of it mixed
martial arts in I mean Zee right let's
take Conor McGregor right he's a
stand-up guy
yeah southpaw very effective yeah but he
had to learn takedown defense grappling
you know he had to learn because you
guys would do that yeah you know he's
got to but now or maybe the last couple
years
there is people like young people they
come up with the full game they don't
start they don't come from karate or
from rest oh yeah they come and train
everything right away there is MMA gyms
and like from 2:00 to 3:00 it's
wrestling from 5:00 to 6:00 is
kickboxing from 7:00 to 8:00 is Muay
Thai and then jujitsu from 9:00 to 10:00
you know and they train all at the same
time so it's a complete fighter that
should be with be going man yeah see
like a standard that would be a standard
with mixed martial arts
I see how it makes sense
do it because it's the most effective
way of fighting and like having this
broad range of ability to combat against
all these different things it makes
sense for fighting but like with
breaking I think there's an argument to
be made that you're not you're not
necessarily you know the the the full I
guess how do you say maybe like full
package of b-boy one who has like every
single Power Move every single like
footwork move every single whatever I
think there's an argument to be made
that somebody who maybe doesn't do that
but has a strong certain part of you
know one of those styles and can be
effective against them because there's a
lot of creativity and artistry that
comes in with it and that's what you're
really being that that's what you're
that's that's the main way of I guess
winning a battle I guess is what I'm
saying like cuz in fighting you get
punched in the face and you get knocked
out or you get yes submitted you lose so
the best way to get to that is to be
able to defend against it and go and
attack that way right but in breaking
there's not like there's not a there's
not like a I guess a relation to
fighting in that way because you don't
necessarily need to do a specific power
move or whatever to win a battle or
whatever yeah I mean we don't have to do
5-1 and our flare so yeah and 90s you
know but at least have some basic power
moves you know because that part of
breaking you know if people say if you
don't do food work you know the b-boy
hey if you don't do windmill backspin
head spin thank you another b-boy - yeah
they were here before cc's you know what
I mean but I know what you mean with
like artistry and just own style you
know and everything
Maina for example yeah you know so yeah
yeah like Meno for instance he's does a
lot of like footwork and flowy type of
minutes not a lot of power
not a lot of top rods not a lot of I
mean that's kind of really the only
study he doesn't do a lot of freezes
either and then compared to let me pick
somebody someone who's missing one final
huh let's bc one final did you see that
who was in kazakhstan guy Oh
k2 lost something khaila
yes yeah yeah that guy is really good
you know you know I could see how it was
close I think actually men will probably
thought he lost too and that's why I
called him out four more rounds um I
mean I thought it was pretty close if I
was a judge I probably would have voted
Killa koyla me to it you know I'm not
judging because I personally just
thought that he he had brought more to
the table and had unique style he
suppresses doing was a lot of unique
freezes and stuff and he came out every
wrong with some new stuff easily you
know yeah he's a pretty well-rounded
b-boy but I would say he still airs on
you know more of like a thread type of
style and um like a freeze type of style
I'm trying to think of a b-boy that
would be like very very well-rounded and
that's it like um he's better soon he
has power I think which flips yes the
less food work yeah okay so let's go
with him yeah so him versus menace so
someone who's well rounded versus
someone who's very specialized I could
see how it could go either way with that
to those and that's also one round he
depends what round but you know let's
let's say they both throw their like
dopest around though right
you know Meno does some crazy like
loop-d-loop
spin around thing one mean the flowing
waves yeah and it's a really dope round
in their little zoo duck comes out
doesn't flip does power moves us some
freezes does some footwork hits a solid
round
I think there's an argument to be made
that either one of them would have won
you know it's awesome depends on the
music but I think this was mixed martial
arts he probably would have been like oh
the new well-rounded guy would win you
know but you know such distance
sometimes in MMA you know and then
judges take it yeah decided wrong but I
guess I guess if you in mixed martial
arts if you had a guy who's very good at
multiple styles versus one guy who's
maybe just good at let's say kickboxing
yeah you know I mean this is a hard to
predict example or anything but I would
say you probably would put your money on
the guy who's more well-rounded just
because he can like attack from multiple
angles
right and he could get this got the
other guy into a situation that that guy
cannot defend in whereas the other guy
is banking on being able to like keep
him in his in his world where he's the
best right whereas in breaking I feel
like the guy who's very specialized he
can still like blow you up the same
thing that the gut the guy who is very
well-rounded can still blow you up and
so the the moves are just as effective
in a way you know what I mean and the
strategy is a little bit different
because this guy doesn't need to keep
you in his pocket anymore he just needs
to perform and kill it right and this
guy needs to do basically the same thing
keep it in his pocket and do what he's
good at you know visually better yeah
that's been important but yeah what's
gonna make it look visually better is
the music you know the music I think
that's breaking what plays a big factor
that's the biggest compared to MMA oh
yeah yeah really breaking is hard too
but compared to any I think it's the
closest thing sports wise to compare
breaking with MMA I would say a decision
you cannot compare with soccer or
football there's not really a good
there's a sport I can think of that
everyone compares to the things that I
think make the most sense
is somewhere between mixed martial arts
and skateboarding or like something like
that there's a sports 3 the reason I say
like sporting because in a lot of that
has to do with like they'll they'll make
up a trick knee and go like this is what
I'm gonna do it's like yeah it's it's
just like making up your own breaking
yeah you know but then skateboarding
kind of it doesn't quite match up
because then you see okay
he's he says oh I'm gonna do this
tricking and they judge you on how well
you hit that trick but in breaking
you're not telling any judge what you're
gonna do you're gonna surprise them and
probably surprise them with the move
that they've never seen before
yeah and so you have this surprise
factor too so it's really hard to you
know nowadays I I miss the exchange
sometimes in battles you know yeah yeah
back in the days when I talked to storm
you know they they would do like and
that's how I grew up you know mm-hmm I
consider him the only master line
breaking it I never took his class or
something but I took his locking class
yeah but I I learned from him just by
listening you know okay and
conversations with him yeah I just
remember him you do like a six-step you
can go like no you try like Big Brother
and T you can learn so much and I can
listen for days to him you know yeah
when he talks III don't talk man I just
listen and then I ask something you know
but how I grew up with bounces exchange
you know for example he tells me like he
has somebody do flare windmill baby
freeze and then he goes footwork and
then ends it nice you know I have to go
there and I have to do flare window
flare windmill turtle and then go in a
freeze and then go up and you know what
I did better and then he has to come and
bring it never that's how we yeah you
know a burden that's like exchange you
know ace yeah
yeah on the podcast like a couple weeks
ago a couple of months ago actually um
he and he told me a story about when he
he doesn't call it battle but I would
say it probably was a battle between him
and storm mm-hmm when storm was visiting
and I guess they just went they you know
battle like 30-something rounds or
whatever and it was like that they were
just exchanging like they would just one
up each other each time and it wasn't
like they weren't you know you know
talking smack to each other it was they
were respecting each other and he would
be like oh that was dope let me show you
that I can do now did it do to do and
he'd go oh that's cool too and then this
is how I would do that boom and so they
just went back and forth for 30 rounds
it may seem I mean that's that's crazy
but it's also like back then it was like
practice you know yeah each other you
exchange and you know but when you
battle inside for like ladies generation
yeah and when the people start talking
when they're unsecured and then they see
that they're losing I have to talk to
him that so he messes up and you know
what I I hear that I made this rule with
shit-talking is I'm not gonna say
anything unless they say it but if they
do talk I'm gonna say the wildest thing
so that they feel terrible and so
because like I don't know I've always
been good at like talking shit to people
because I just I have a lot of friends
that we would do that to in battles it's
it's you know I always try to be very
respectful but as soon as somebody says
something I'm like okay I got I can make
and I usually don't make fun of their
breaking I usually just make I don't
like that part of breaking I think I
think it's I think it's kind of it's
it's taking the focus off of your
dancing and putting it more on your like
mind games which I don't you know I mean
I guess this in a way that's kind of how
great how battling is but I don't know I
and I don't like I don't think it's true
and I to to what it should be
yeah but like I said if somebody's gonna
take a shot at me I'm like well I'm 32 I
got I got nothing better to do let me
just talk yeah of course maybe you have
to defend yourself yeah but man my best
memory of call outs is I had a crew
member back in 2003 yeah thing around
Troy Kehoe was his name and somebody
called him out you know because he was
talking smack and he said yeah come on
okay now you you know give me 10 minutes
[Laughter]
because he was flexible he didn't want
to get the injury you know he needed to
warm up and then what yeah man give me
10 mins how did he call you is he like
no no another guy called my friend out
you know my friend said give me ten
minutes and then he he lost one time he
lost a battle and then he calls out boom
you know their friend you know it's fun
to get called up as long as like it's
not it's not fun when there's like beef
someone's trying to like cause some
trouble I think that gets kind of crazy
because in but you usually just turns
into a fight which I really don't like
in breaking there's like there's really
no room for violence
that's why you break right yeah so we
don't touch each other there's been a
lot of times where there's like
definitely my old crew flexible Flav we
would get into some crazy battles cuz
you know some crew would be beefing with
us and so then we'd get into a new
get crazy crazy cut everything escalated
and people with ok crew it start pushing
each other and then it's like you know
as soon as that happens it's like oh
this is gonna turn into a ok crew bells
yes we got many colors in crew bad ok
and we are like my crew and me we are
like produce most of them don't dance
regularly ok but we still like brothers
you know yeah but back then we crew
belts we belt like almost a lot of crews
almost many crews here yeah we go to
friends would bail like whoever is on
the opposite side you know we go to yes
America or Germany whatever whoever is
across us and they do something that we
do better we go inside and show way yeah
yeah and then it starts so so actually
this is something that probably got
deleted from because we didn't record
but you were talking about we first came
to America in 2007 for freestyle session
in 10 with my whole crew yeah and we
stayed the machete hostel on Hollywood
Boulevard
everybody talks about yeah it's funny
cuz like outside of Hollywood people are
probably like oh Hollywood's is great
dude it's like freaking bums pooping on
the streets and stuff it's all bad crazy
Hollywood yeah but yeah there's a lot of
shit was crazy em and to come here
freestyle session we grew up with those
tapes yeah yeah and so then once you
were here it was probably a big like
culture shock huh yeah that was the
first time you came to America second
time I came first time was 2003 in San
Diego okay it was like there is like a
heap of community company called culture
shock yeah you know if you know and that
was in the soup Switzerland culture
shock oh and we came to San Diego to
perform at the culture of showcase oh
that's cool okay then back then I bailed
actually I bailed rainin yeah raining
and
a long time yeah he's in Vegas Vegas and
all Cutshaw peoples of San Diego and my
friend that was a b-boy he didn't find
the way to the circle you know so I was
there alone
and I bet like three four B voice oh you
know but I did like my thing you know I
did like already elbow one and a half
and I need some car plates you know
because men in Europe I never started
dancing like on the street you know we
had a nice youth center we had nice wood
floor yeah you know so I came to shit
carpet oh man no it's been no 90s yeah
that was the first time it was a good
experience and then second time my we
came with my crew 2007 please let's I
shouldn't ten when did you decide to
live here
we came in 2010-11 new year when it was
very cold in Switzerland we came to LA
it was nice weather so my brother me we
came here to to practice and see how is
the industry because we take also
hip-hop classes also hip-hop and we saw
how how it is they industry you know and
we see b-boys here and they poke chop
movies and commercials and stuff like
man we can do some good stuff here you
know we decided to move here okay I want
to move here since a long time but 2014
was the time to move yeah make your
brother 2015 I don't know if I felt him
it was like a seven to smoke in that fit
Expo in convention center yeah that's
right he did surprising he doesn't
really battle that often so yeah we was
having fun man I like to start because
III I could see like yeah yeah he's
having fun you know it's not like trying
to kill that other guy in a bell you
know
yeah
that's good like when there is a big
difference if you have a funny style but
there is I I always watch the skills you
know if you have a funny character or a
serious character you watch how it
matches with the level of the skills you
know yeah and I said she has a level of
skills and he is having fun you know he
doesn't take it too serious you know he
doesn't need to take it too serious to
win around you know so that's why I like
it and I remember him like his style is
like kind of goofy and then him as a
person he's like more like serious and I
think that my style as a breaker is more
serious and my personality is probably
more goofy than him swiss-style
I always ask people can you tell that me
and him our brothers buy our style
no it's yeah I think if you look close
enough you can tell because we do a lot
of the same moves it's just he doesn't
we do them differently from and but we
you know we learned from the same people
we you know practice like every day
together
so it's weird how our Styles diverged
like that but I don't know yes more
flexible right he's he's more flexible
than me and I think I'm more like flowy
than him yeah and so and then I probably
do more power moves than him he does
more freezes than me but that's maybe
the main differences I mean my brother
my brother does everything more than me
[Laughter]
yeah so I guess in terms of like break
breaking for you now are you still into
competing or you just I haven't battled
in many years okay yeah I belt I think
maybe once or twice since I moved to
America oh really
yeah because I didn't move for battling
yeah yeah you know for the industry and
even my like last serious bad that we
you know with my crew and everything was
left year 2011 yeah because I had like a
crazy surgery I tore my biceps and
triceps ligament oh yeah I miss my arms
you know and that was a thing how do you
do a thousand 90s on that arm a lot of
physical therapy and yeah but in it was
actually in June it's gonna be ten years
ago that I thought I'm gonna stop
dancing yeah I'm gonna work a regular
job and that's it for me I lived a good
life and I enjoyed my hobby for many
years and that's it that's why I enjoy
now what I don't have to practice sets
or you know that I don't prepare for
social I just have fun you know yeah you
know I don't mind doing competitions
once in a while because it keeps it
keeps me like I don't know I guess it
keeps your both sides of the brain
working yeah yeah but for the most part
I just break to like you know relieve
stress and it's like a meditation for me
you know cuz training yeah it make it
make it forces me to stretch my my
creative brain you know so like when I
go to a practice a lot of times I'm just
I try to go into my own world and just
make up whatever I can and it's hard
it's hard to think about all the like
you know whatever stuff is going on in
your life when you're so focused on just
yeah cuz you can't really dance well if
there's something else on your mind you
know and a lot of times you feel like I
dance better when there is something
that was on my mind because it's like it
may it makes me try harder to like focus
on the music and everything you try to
get that out of yeah excited you by
getting this out of you focus here yeah
and then verse writer yeah well in a lot
of times it's because you go like I
gotta focus on this and if I don't I'm
gonna think of something crappy oh I
don't wanna think about that let me just
do this
it's like kind of a nicely practice yes
before I started talking to you and you
always practice for yourself and do ya
know yeah I think in I yeah and a lot of
times I just focus on that and then you
know if someone wants to talk to me or
whatever I'll talk about like most of
the time I don't really go too far out
of my way to like talk to people I mean
cuz I used to just practice alone I
wasn't living in Sacramento and in
Oakland I would just go to the gym and
practice by myself like maybe once or
twice a week I'd go practice with some
other people but most of the time I'd
just be by myself where do you get the
motivation from to practice by yourself
I think it's just I like creating stuff
okay and so you can practice like hard
stuff just to create I mean I'll
practice hard stuff sometimes but yeah
it'll be it'll be a lot of times
it lets me I don't have any other
distractions anymore so it's like I can
go okay I really want to get this move
so I can practice you know what I need
to do and then I can like adjust my hand
position or whatever when I'm with a
bunch of people there's always like it's
more playful to me where there's like a
little bit of I need to perform I need
to you know react to what they're doing
too so it's it's always it's more of an
exchange kind of environment going on by
myself it's just I'm only doing what I'm
doing
you focus on yourself yeah it's I have I
have a lot of fun doing that
yeah it's probably my favorite part of
breaking actually my favorite part is
practicing with my crewmen uh-huh yeah
because like everybody like pushes each
other you know yeah and we don't have to
worry about practicing anything so
anybody else could practice that or
that's how it goes you know we push each
other you know oh um okay well dude
we've been going for like 56 minutes oh
shoot probably wrap this show up there's
a lot I can still talk to you
I don't want to go too long probably
yeah well is there anything else you
want to say before we close the show
where can people find you here oh yeah
it's the old one it works pretty well
though and I got that too
Oh yep go for a - it's not there yeah no
I I bought this because I told myself I
need to start filming myself breaking
more yeah because I seriously had like
no footage of myself because I never
really filmed myself cuz ya know it's
just I don't it's just not something I
normally do so I bought that to film
myself in it
maybe you filmed for like a couple weeks
and then I just got sick of it and so I
don't I don't really use it and then
when I started this show like oh I got
an extra camera now so I have the DJI
pocket Pro no pocket and the small DJI
fits with the camera and everything okay
and I used it a couple times yeah
okay it does also have white you and
everything okay but I know minutes I
record with my phone most of the things
my phone doesn't have any space in it
because I have a ton of music in there
so it's like but you can put an extra SD
card no I have extra I got I'm like
really into music oh you to beat I make
yeah I make music and then I just listen
to lots of music I guns I love you know
man I seriously can talk that's another
man I mean for now yeah I like jasmine
you do yeah yeah
since everybody calls me ill jazz in
America I know but for me I don't know
man I think I like martial arts I always
liked like Jackie Chan Bruce Lee John
yang and then music wise I always liked
Stevie Wonder Tupac
oh yeah yeah that was like my LL Cool J
yeah you know and then
he was dope sports-wise and human is
Muhammad Ali's Muhammad Ali okay those
are your influences this is my
combination of what I yeah and but
before that God
I've always loved Jackie Chan cuz I got
just mr. past he doesn't give off man I
think he's gonna be appreciated more
when he dies oh yeah dude he's already
appreciated yeah God that guy but man
his legacy I feel like man needs he same
with Bruce Lee yeah yeah you know uh you
know because Bruce Lee's kind of you
know I think we made mixed martial arts
because the idea of it kind of it was
already around but it wasn't mainstream
by any means but he just kind of that's
that was what he was all about was this
is or the I guess it wasn't called mixed
martial arts at that time but it was
just like the idea of pulling pieces of
every martial art that makes you better
that was he kind of brought it to the
mainstream yeah but I think Jean Van
Damme is the best fine Johnson what's
that freakin movie kickboxers was it
breaking oh yeah breaking he was like
each he's like that's his first step
into Hollywood it was like I mean that
movie sucks but yeah I never owned it I
there was a bunch of b-boys I knew back
in the day that would say you'd ask him
what their favorite movie was and
they're like breaking and I was like
breaking and beats me they would say
break in do you like them
like it's like a parody of hip-hop like
it's so freakin goofy I mean I don't
know I just wanted to make some money
man I don't see some producers they saw
some kids seeing something where they
can make money okay throw some money
money back yeah it's it I mean all I can
see is I don't wanna hate on it but it's
so over-the-top goofy they're like I
can't get me how many movies are there
of this breaking one day there's only
two or to break into electric Boogaloo I
think that's it there might be a third
one I don't know I honestly watch them
once and I was like what am I doing with
my life I need I need to go practice
what am i watching this crap and I grew
up with Battle of teir VHS tapes
yeah yeah right that that was the stuff
I'd rather watch it's not all the year I
watched one of the old freecell says
yeah yeah when you could only get the
VHS tapes it wasn't any YouTube so there
was like a man fuck VHS man I still have
a lot of VHS tapes yeah my god all right
so I switch on it okay I got I've got a
bunch here I think um yeah like Lords of
the floor I have and they're the old
style elements video there used to be
like absolutely made b-boys session
Germany it was kind of like PC one man
oh yeah yeah there was like b-boys all
over the world one was swamp battles
yeah that was cool but battle of tier 96
man it's my first yes yes it's very good
it's still good yeah yeah and I miss
quad versus Tyson effect I was a swiss
crew it's the only time is Swiss crew
one rest in peace - nice kid he was
right here yeah he did like that's I do
sometimes the head spin with ball and
peace yeah yeah and me and my brother
met him and we were very young
yeah and his crew came to our city to
train with buzzcity attack and he was
the only guy approaching
us you know yeah and he was pushing us
and yeah you know like teachers liked
how to do better head spin and you know
moves just like the only guy talking to
us even we were just kids you know yeah
and then we from Tenali wow man you are
this guy and you talked to us and was
there another seamless crew that was
really popular back then that went to
battle of the year they didn't win but I
think they got third place or something
I don't remember yeah scrambling feet
scrambling feet yeah yeah yeah that's
his crew yeah that's nice kid with tough
kid he joined them too from bad
Lafayette they bailed South Africa I
think so I should actually go to the
final and battle flying steps yeah that
would have been a crazy battle and when
he came to freestyle sessions Easter
break yeah instant breaks man is now
he's like pushing the community in Basel
you know in our city and they put us
young kids and like a community center
with dance you know can yeah it's it's
there's good things you know okay well
yeah peace well before we do that is
there what's your like Instagram or
where can people like talk my so Grammy
select my name yes I change a Instagram
and anywhere else you want to give any
shoutouts shout-out to my crew
Roughnecks and shout out all my friends
that know me and
all right thank you guys Robinson sorry
this show sucks and I don't know how to
press the record but it's red it's
recording I know at least I got that
right the second time
all right let's everybody eight
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45 episod