“BREAKDANCING” is NOT hip-hop! That’s right, Whats good ya’ll? The Street Space dot com got to the bottom of this issue with the one and only “godfather” of b-boying, CrazyLegs – President of the ROCK STEADY CREW!
Richard “CrazyLegs” Colon grew up on the streets of the Bronx, and instead of getting sucked into gang life, he chose to help create and master the elements of a genre that didnt even have a title yet – “HIP-HOP”! His list of credits is off the charts…
If you aint up to date on your history, you better go get up to date, cuz I could be here all day explaining this to ya’ll… in the words of Crazy: “Some people get it and some people dont”. But even the mayor has proclaimed July 26th to be “Rock Steady Day” in NYC. Tight! Which means the 29th annual Rock Steady Crew Anniversary is on its way! So get up on your hip-hop history… Lets ice this…
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Whats good Crazylegs! Hard to find a place to start with a legend of hip-hop… you’re the face of “break dancing”, b-boying… You were learning and defining the dance as it was being developed… First I have to correct you. The name of the dance is b-boying/girling or just breakin’. The term BREAKDANCING doesn’t come from Hip Hop. It
was a term that was created by with media in the 80’s.
Aight thanks for clearing that up for us. B-BOYING! This was something fresh and new you helped to create and master, so who did you look up to back then, who or what was your motivation? My idol as a child was b-boy Spy from the Crazy Commanders Crew. Other people I looked up to were RSC members Lenny Len, Jimmy Dee, Mongo Rock, Jimmy Lee and Joe Joe.
Being a legendary veteran of ‘hip-hop’ I know you must have answered this question a million times, but I’d like to go straight to the source and ask you briefly for our readers, how did RSC get started? RSC was formed in the south Bronx in 1977. The original crew members were Joe-Joe, Easy Mike, Jimmy-Dee, P-Body 170th, Jimmy Lee, Chrome, Boo-Ble, Pauly, Lime-5, Rubberband, l-Mack (Weebles), Doctor Ace, Slick Rick, Popeye, Trace 2, Trac 2, Rim 180th, Tito 183rd, Me 2, Green Eye Joe, Braces, C.N., Les, Angel Rock, Bon 5 Lenny Len and myself. It was basically a crew of
dope b-boys that wanted to compete against the rest of the talent in the city. Most people think what they saw on TV, the movies and in the magazines as the original RSC, but that was about 3 year’s after the original squad started. Lenny Len and I were actually the last 2 b-boys to be a part of the original squad in the Bronx. The rest is too long of a story to get in to and I’ll save that for a book deal!
Haha… Aight and back in 77′, I guess it would be hard to imagine how much of an influence RSC and yourself would have on the Hip-Hop industry today. Can you let us in on your thoughts about the industry today and how it’s evolved? Evolution is relative to how much you know about history. Some people are under the impression that some of the things that they’re doing are new
just because they don’t know the history. In general, people think that doing something off beat just because they want to express themselves is evolution. But this is a dance and it’s done in response to music. Music should rock your soul and take you on a ride. Some people get it and some people don’t. The difference between now and 1977 is that we all got it back then and many don’t get at all now.
Right, and even now, some people know the names Q-Unique, Rahzel, Tony Touch and don’t know they’re also RSC members…. Exactly how many members does RSC currently have and as President do you continue to add members in the same manner it took to be a member of the crew back in the day, by battling?We have about 65 members. We still seek out new talent and sometimes well seasoned up and coming b-boys to hold down the legacy of Rock Steady Crew’s history, by hitting the frontlines in jams and taking it to the cipher.
And you guys have appeared worldwide, everything from the movie “Flashdance” to performing for Queen Elizabeth II. Is there anything RSC has not done yet and would like to do?I think one of the next steps is to set up a RSC dance studio or academy.
Word, speaking of that… For all our NYC fans, (i’m a Bx resident) i’m hoping the Bronx is still home!
I moved from the Bronx, but my heart is still there. I live in the NYC area, so I get to the Bronx pretty often to see mom dukes, the rest of the famila and check out my peeps form the old areas.
Well, a dance academy would be great one day, so what about dance-classes, are there any projects along those lines you’re involved in right now? I’ve been teaching through out the United States at different universities. I’ve been signed to Red Bull as a life style athlete and we put together the Red Bull B-boy Master classes, which we just finished up doing for the spring semester. We’re working on the fall schedule and we’ll be back on the road with the rest of the RSC members to continue. People can check out http://www.bboymasterclass.com for schedules and signing up.
Endorsements are big and often not talked about. Most people don’t know that the 1st sneaker company to honor a b-boying group was FILA. They debuted the “Rock Steady Crew 77″ sneaker in April 2004. Are you guys still associated with FILA? We’re not with Fila any more, but it was an honor to get the deal. It would be nice to get another real offer.
Haha… I see a *hint hint* there… Aight so what about the Zulu Nation? Back in the day a lot of crews helped contribute to the dance culture. The term “selling out” didnt exist, cuz all the stick-up kids came from the same ghettos forming together avoiding the violence of gang-life. THE ZULU NATION had a HUGE influence. As of this 2006, I’m no longer part of Zulu Nation. There was an issue with a member that was not being put in check for his actions towards me and I felt like the best situation for me was to call it a wrap and keep my focus on RSC. I have all the respect in the world for the Zulus that live by the Zulu guidelines and will never look at my involvement with Zulu as a waste of time. The ideology that Afrika Bambaataa has set for Zulu is a great one for people to look in to and learn from. I just wish that the people that try to get in for the wrong reasons would stay away.
Aight, I respect that. Any seperate projects you’re working on right now that we should know about?I’ve done a game with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. It comes out in Europe in September. The final details are being worked out with a U.S. publisher for the game and we should have more information posted on http://www.bboythegame.com as soon as the deal is completed.
Aight, gotta take a big breath here. You’re the President of RSC, the President of Backspin Productions, you defined breakin’, coined the phrase ‘motion bombing’, won numerous awards, been nominated for all your work in choreography, organize annual events and programs that benefit the youth, inducted into the Hip Hop Hall of Fame, honored as the National Godfather of the 2003 Jersey City Puerto Rican Day Parade, and appeared in many commercials and movies, the list is endless man… so what do you do in your spare time? My spare time is for my family. I look forward to spending time with my son Sypher as much as possible. Helping to coach his baseball is pretty dope. My son is a pretty gifted player. I make sure that I’m there for him. I actually don’t consider that my spare time. That’s probably my most important time.
Ya know alotta people gotta get up to date on their hip-hop history but even Mayor Bloomberg proclaimed July 26th to be “Rock Steady Crew Day” in NYC. You host and organize the annual Rock Steady Anniversary and the 29th one is coming up, can you give us dirt on the details?Nope.
Aw, c’mon man, not even a lil bit? Nope. Every one will have to go to http://www.rocksteadycrew.com for details on that. Let’s just say that it will be the Satellite Radio of hip-hop events. Don’t miss it!!
Aight, so I guess that means you’re not gonna give us a taste of the big 30th Anniversary, even though i’m sure it’s going to be off the hook!I’m so excited about the 30th. I wish I didn’t have to do the 29th anniversary. It’s hard to stay focused on this year. I just want to get started on next year!!
Word, well I guess we’re just gonna hafta wait and go get our tickets NOW for the 29th! Thanks for hookin’ it up with The Street Space dot com! Check out http://www.rocksteadycrew.com for info on the biggest hip-hop anniversary to hit the streets of NYC! And don’t forget to check out http://www.bboythegame.com and http://www.bboymasterclass.com and of course keep it locked here on thestreetspace.com for all things hip-hop! ROCK STEADY CREW 29th ANNIVERSARY SCHEDULE
son 4:15 am on August 2, 2006 Permalink |
he aiight
we need more michael jacksons tho… more michael jordans, more – aaliyah’s
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too many ciara’s