When did you start Popping?

I started…young…..1979……

What got you into popping? At what age?

Seeing this dude light up a light bulb…..in his mouth….but doin it poppin….i was hooked…

How did you get your name?

Well,..is my name in Hawaiian….i grew up with a hawaiian family…and been using that name for 15 yrs…before that most knew me as twee’dee……..

Are you in a crew now? if so which?

No poppin crew….i’m in the kottonmouth kings…band..full band member …

Where were you from? Where are you now?

Born in Portsmouth va….but grew up mostly in ..Oxnard,California..Los Angeles for the last 16 yrs

Was there a certain style you were known for?

Freestyling….and poppin….my style is called..HYDRO-MECHANIX….

We keep hearing that back in the day, no one danced like each other. Each crew had their own styles and individuality. Please explain how that was, and what you see in today’s scene. What are the new generations missing? How can we achieve it?

In an opinion…the difference is perseverance…and technology…We didn’t have dvd…video tapes….to learn from…you had..to go search it out…Its like a double egded sword….for the new generation….all the benefits of dvds but it came with a cost….The newer kats…will find themselves eventually…and then they can start progressing…Most are so worried about if you don’t..do it like..this..or like that…then ur doing it wrong..that’s not what dance is about….Now that falls in the realm of choreography…. But not dance persay..

What do you think is the major differences between today’s scene and before?

Less creativity…and no new music….And a misconception of battles are …and what they really mean…..Just becuz a contest is called a battle it..really isn’t a battle…or at least what a battle means to me…. Contest…are for accolades..awards…ego….Battling….is letting one know ur soul isn’t going to be denied……No judges needed just look in one’s eyes……

Who were some known poppers back then? What made them known?

Well all the ogs..were known…Free…skeet…robot prince ,boppin Ronnie, animation ,flattop…one arm bandit….pete..taco..shrimp…smiley..Mario…cooley…casper….Jeffery daniels…Anthony Thomas….c-mo….puppet….jazzy…paul sanchez. They were already og’s….but were still active..and ran into them often…..when I was out…

Who was your inspiration? What did you guys do different back then to get inspiration?

Inspiration……I got from a lot of different places…Ali…..for his brash confidence… Bruce lee …..a lot of his philosophy…and approach to art… The guy with the light bulb…that lit up..in his mouth that …got me hooked on poppin. My life………Free…he taught me ..that precision..and perfection….is required to get to that …..level…I wanted to get to….and I thank him for that because…he didn’t have to..explain shit to me…but saw I truelly loved the art….so shared some of his knowledge with me…Meetin all the og’s that I have met and one’s I hope I will meet….to hear their story … And from the new kats…..that aren’t afraid to be themselves…

Did you train with a certain group/individual/teacher? If so who?

No teacher persay…I had a mentor in …free…..who helped me with the finer aspects of…the art we do….and got me to that next level…..

Can you still find inspiration from the new generation?

Funny thing about this ?….8yrs ago..it would have been an emphatic…NO…….. But I knew it would take sometime for one’s to find themselves…instead of being straight copies….becuz that’s not what dance is about…..choreography …maybe…dance …not so much.. I told a group of dancers back then ..that they need ten..years…just to see how they would react……they reacted how I expected…..but they understand now…what I was talking about…I told them after most of them..got all riled up…that im better than I was 10 yrs ago…thought processes…A couple understood what I was saying back then..but ..still took them awhile to find themselves…and still are finding themselves… But now…..Yes I have seen some of the progression I was hoping to see..from some dancers…which is great…I still think people need to expand their street dance knowledge..after 84…For the younger kats in this scene…should find inspiration from other dances aswell….

How were battles judged back then? Do you feel it is better judged now or before? What are your opinions on contests and battles?

Well contests…are.contests…….preset time ..date…music…ect..politics ..judges…We did contests…. to get beer money…or drink tickets……going to the next club money…Battles….happen on the spot…don’t require a crowd…judges…….just the look in eyes….I wish the newer generation had a better understanding on this……One could go win a shitload of contests…doesnt mean he can battle…or would win a battle….Contest can have an adverse effect on one’s ego…….if they don’t keep themselves in check….Contest are for fun…prizes…ego stroking. Battles are intense…and soul driven….and the truth is known by both parties…..no matter if one..is lying to themselves or..not… That’s on them… Obviously….you can win …contests……doing other peoples moves and soul… But battles you lose right off the bat doing someonelse’s…style..and don’t have ur own…So contests…don’t impress me….Battles do..

Skill level compared to back then to now, what are the differences? Please be specific (musicality, technique, originality, crowd control, character, etc) .

Skill level…..interesting topic this one….i guess..technique wise…is comparible… But everthing else..the new generation is lackin….

Musicality is getting a lot better..but..if one only dances to a specific type of music or rhythm….that’s fairly easy…..

Originality is still to come…….with the lack of their knowledge..after 84….people think they are doing new stuff..but from what I have personnally witnessed…not yet…really

I mean finger tuts have taking a life of their own and this generation…is responsible for that….But with out a new music….its hard….. we had rap..electronic..house….and that’s stll the music ..now…

Character…is what will make you known….every og….has a character…….most underated..aspect of dance…..my character…is worldwide…and in many different scenes..feel me..Some countries….i have police escorts…and have been chased down the streets by a 1000 people,,,with my clothes being torn off me…..Character…highly important

what do you feel about the internet becoming a big part of networkin in poppin community?

The internet…..like dvds is both a blessing and a curse…. I think the good out weighs the bad..but not sure yet…..Exposure no doubt…..But it hurts the drive and perseverance aspects somewhat ..at least in my opinion

what do you think brought poppin back? Who is responsible?

Once again …poppin was never gone…it changed. Once rap emerged..dances changed..but if you were from the westcoast…poppin and lockin….were all ways around…..After the trendy/grooving dance period and freestyle became more to the forefront…but poppin was always involved. So I don’t give credit to anyone..for bringing it back…
Was told directy to my face..poppin wasn’t hiphop…and I said”it is now because I do it to rap”

I remember all the poppers and lockers ..trying to hiphop dance in the late 80’s….it wasn’t pretty….I mean out here you had…free…c-mo..kaloni(rip) …myself….aswell as some of the og’s in the spots occassionaly….they(og’s) like dancing to funk..not rap..ragamuffin..We elevated the game and changed it…If ur poppin to rap music its becuz of me and my peer group…

If you watch…wrekin shop in Brooklyn..stretch and his boi’s had poppin influences in their dancing aswell…..The scene came back becuz …lil ceaser..started up radiotron again…for a place for the bboys and poppers lockers..hiphop dancers had a place like back in the day….at the radio…….

So I guess indirectly…lil ceaser..

There are many debates on what people should be Popping to, what do you feel about the new styles of music out there? Do you think by adapting to the new generation of music, the styles themselves will evolve into something new? What are your favorite tracks?

I don’t think there is new music..when it comes to me…like I said….It ur poppin to rap……house music…..its because of me..and my peer group…

I really wish there was a new music..for this generation……Favorite tracks….hmmmmmmm to many…..i like dancing to all types of different music…punk to rap..soul..breaks..funk..electronic..reggae …hawaiian….

Most of the media knows of you through your group “The Kotton Mouth Kings” how did you get involved? What is your story with them? When did you start touring?

Well I was already in the entertainment industry..did many commercials and few movies..videos,,tv shows …ect…….and was workin occasionally at the wax museum they paid me to practice..that’s how I looked at it and happened to be good…so made great street money…

Well … brad x …founder of kmk..was a club promoter(artist groove network) in la …in the early 90’s I use to go to their spots…and bust… He would always be buggin on me dancing…for hrs on end…
he has always been in music bands..deals with easy e(ruthless) and Hollywood records..in groups b4 kmk..

Asked me if I was interest in seeing this group perform…I said sure….went to this thing in oc..saw dloc..richter..and saint..doin their thing…. He asked me if I was interested in being in the group..i said yeah…..told him that I would need to be paid equally..in show and merch money..though and be a full group member..and having a say in group decisions……….

So a aday lata he drove by..when I was out at the wax museum working..brought by the rest of the guys so they could see what I do…blazed a blunt…they were down… We did shows in la every week..and started to expand down to…oc…sd…. We were opening for someone..we got discovered by our live show…. 12 yrs lata the rest is being written in the history books.

How do you deal with stage freight? What is your mindset while performing on stage in front of millions?

Stage freight….never had it……I think I got rid off that …just surviving parties and clubs that always use to be shot up…I look at the stage as a place I get to release my anger…..and mental approach is…. I dont give a fuck if the crowd likes it or not…but they will respect it….when im done

What is the “Hydro-Mechanix” style?

That’s the name my soul gave it…..its me and how I entertain….the rhythm……its more a philosophy….

I cant teach someone to dance..that’s a choice within themselves….. But we can conversate opinions to hopefully help one reach…the level one is aspiring to be at…..

What advice would you give to anyone who is interested in getting into this dance?

Do it …for the love of it……first and foremost..

What do you think young dancers should do to help the scene grow as a whole? Join the mass media entertainment? Stay underground? Make money off of it? What do you hope to see from the new generation as we carry on this art form?

All of the above……you need to learn the business…..if you wanna be in the business….
If you wanna be underground…coo….What I hope to see..is progression…

Don’t just walk thru the doors that have been open for you….open a new door…so someone else can walk thru and open a new door….Og’s just wanna see ur soul when you dance……….

Anything you would like the readers to know about you? Any other comments?

Well….im running for …president….08……..

Activist for the plant marijuana…..Smokin Word artist…

Check out

www.kottonmouthkings.com
www.myspace.com/therealpakelika10
www.suburbannoizerecords.com

up soon

www.pakelika10.com

yo have fun…….takin all the info….you can…

be you

and stay free

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When did you start Popping?

I started popping in the fall of 1979. The popping scene was very big before I started it in Chicago, Illinois.

What got you into popping? At what age?

I was around 13 or 14 years old when I started Popping. I was already doing the robot dance since the mid 70’s. Back then as a dancer we did many dances. I was known as a dancer in my area, so it was a challenge learning new dances. Popping was a cool dance back then, all the cool guys and gangs used to pop in the earlier stages of this dance. Popping started getting more complex and it started looking more and more like an art form to me.

At the time you got into popping, how many people were already doing it? Can you describe their styles? What kind of music were you guys dancing to?

In 1979, it was a very big scene when it came to popping in Chicago, Illinois. I started popping because the scene was so big and many guys/gals was getting known for being good in this dance. At this time we were mostly dancing off of Funk music and Disco music in 1979. Chicago was more into straight popping in 1979. We were mostly doing different hitting styles with twist-O-Flexes, walks, steps and glides. There were people also doing a lot of Mime movements with popping to.

How did you get your name?

My cousin used to come up with names for everybody that hang with us doing the late ‘70s. He started calling me Capital, when we used to ball at the playgroup. Other people in the community started calling me Capital. I don’t know why he started calling me Capital. When I started getting more into popping I used to perform a lot in the community at all types of events. One day a lady came up to me and say you looked so unreal and space out when you dance. I didn’t have a dancing name at the time, and since everybody was calling me Capital, I added Space in front of Capital and that is how I got my dancing name. From then on, I called myself Space Capital. I always wanted to look unreal when I dance.

Who are some of the dancers that made a real impact in your area? The art form in general? What did they do to take this dance to the next level?

In The Chicago area these are the groups and individual dancers I can remember that made a major impact on Chicago scene back in the ‘80s: Street Patrol (Jerry, and Taurus), Mechanical Men’s (Mechanical man), Venus Electronic (Melvin), Tidal waves (Rubber Ron, and the other member I don’t know his name. He used to dance for the R&B group called the Gap Band. We started calling him Baby Gap.), and Mendoza. These were the groups/individuals that were popular in the earlier stages of popping in Chicago. Street Patrol was very good with hitting and snake movements. Mechanical Men’s were very good with the robot pop style of popping. Venus Electronic in the earlier stage of popping was one of the most popular pure popping groups in Chicago in the ‘80s. They were known for Snaking also, it seemed like the South side of Chicago were very good Snakers, and the Westside of Chicago was very good in stop and go movements (this is just my opinion). Tidal waves were the most popular group in Chicago area. They were breakers and Poppers. Many people were scare of this group in Chicago. They traveled all over the USA performing and battling in many states. There poppers did a little of everything when it came to popping.

I was in a group called the Comic Force. Comic Force and Electric Dominos were more like second generation popping groups. I started in 1979 and I was mostly just a local dancer. I started traveling more around 1981. We both battled against each other many times and we both started getting more popular in the mid ‘80s. There were so many groups out back then and I can’t remember all of them. Here are a few more dancers that were very popular:

Fat Jaw (very good in stop and go movements (ticking, strobin’, 3D, dimepstop), the one I gotten most of my stop and go movements from), Frank (ticking) Scarecrow (he was the one that danced with a lot of character and mime movements, he did a lot of scarecrow movements with his dance)., Karl (he was in the same group I was in and he was very good in tuts and snaking. I learned snaking from him, even thought I’m still not very good in it today.), There are many more groups I just can’t think of at this movement.

Were you in a crew? If so which?

I was in many dancing groups. I was in a crew in the Austin Area of Chicago called the little Muppets; we were the small group of the Muppets. Crescendo was in the Muppets (now he stays in California and host the Street dance competition). This was around the mid ‘70s. In this group I was good in Robotic movements. We were a locking and robot group at the time. Then I moved to the Lawndale area in 1979 at the time that Popping was coming in. I danced solo for a little while and in the early ‘80s we started a Popping and breaking group called Cosmic Force, a name that one of our member gotten from a crew in New York City. I was also in a House group called the Hydromatics. Then I started dancing with other groups and productions in the mid ‘80s.

Are you in a crew now? if so which?

At this moment I’m not in a crew. I would love to join a crew, I just don’t know if I have the time.

Where were you from? Where are you now?

I’m from Mississippi, but I was raised most of my life in Chicago, Illinois. I stayed on the Westside back in the ‘80s and now I’m on the Southside of Chicago today.

How different was the Los Angeles scene compared to Chicago scene? What brought you and your family to Chicago? What were some of the cities that were known for having great poppers?

Chicago poppers danced a lot like California poppers. We were into a lot of stop and go movements in Chicago. I remembered seeing Fat Jaw them for the first time doing stop and go movements all the way back in 1979. California was known for hard hitting back in the ‘80s. Chicago did pretty much all the same thing California did, we just was not as good as them in hitting and animation. We had good wavers, snakers, tutters, gliders, etc, we just could not hit and animate as good as California poppers back in the early ‘80s. As time went on our hitting did get a lot better. Dallas was the other spot that were known for good poppers back then.

You have been in various TV shows and performances, can you tell us more on how you got involved? What was it like? Which one was your favorite?

I danced in a few TV productions, Rappin’ Roots, local Dance Fever Contest, and danced on a lot of local shows via Television. I would have to say that Rappin’ Roots and Dance Fever contest was my favorite. I like the fact that I talked my way on the productions of Rappin’ Roots and became an assistant choreographer for the street dancers. What I liked about Dancer Fever was that we competed against Ballet, tap, jazz, and other dancers. Back then I loved doing performing type competition, and it was something about proving that Poppers were just as good as those other dancers. We came in Second place and were schedule to go on Dance Fever. Dance Fever show was cancelled the following season. I also enjoyed my solo dancing I did at the Fine Art building back in the ‘80s. I did a piece call the Unknown dancing object for a ballet and jazz production.

We understand you are one of the first people to build a popping community online? Can you tell us more about that and how that came about?

In 1995 it was a very small dance community online. A breaking site called “Cardboard Only” was the only site for a while. I was one of the guys that use to help with the popping questions on that site. The webmaster of Cardboard only helped me with starting my popping site. He told me where to go and get information regarding html, how to host the site, etc. In 1996 I started the first Popping site. I received so many questions regarding “how popping started”, and people wanted to know could I interview some of the older poppers. I was one of the first people to start this process. The other person was Thomas from Chain Reaction. I was the first to bring it to the internet. I started interviewing and talking to many poppers from California. I started traveling to California hoping to be able to interview older poppers from that area. Since I was popping for so long, I just wanted to get an understanding of the history. I also was tired of reading articles about dancers from other media.

I started asking other dancers for their input when I started bboy.com in 1997. Bboy.com was my second site, it was a site that me, fresh, Kujo and other worked together on. The mission was to have a breaker and popping site. Bboy.com took off and became so popular. We didn’t know it would take off that fast. From 1997 to about 2001 Bboy.com was the most popular breaking and popping dance site. We helped many sites get off the ground directly and indirectly. We also became a benchmark for many street dance sites. We were one of the first street dance site featured in The Source Magazine, UPN L.A as site of the day, Interviewed by Wall Street Journal, and was featured in New York Times, New York Post and many publication around the world. Due to the success of the site created envy from other dancers.

Was there a certain style your area was known for?

Chicago poppers did many movements, There were a certain hitting style I noticed over the years that I only saw in Chicago. We also focus a lot on stop and go movements.

We keep hearing that back in the day, no one danced like each other. Each crew had their own styles and individuality. Please explain how that was, and what you see in today’s scene. What are the new generations missing? How can we achieve it?

I believe the one thing the current generation is missing is self. I believe they just have to look into self and try to be more of themselves. They are doing very good when it comes to dancing, they just don’t focus on self. Stop looking outside so much and look inside. That is what is missing today, back in the ‘80s we did all the same movements, we added ourselves to it and I think that is the biggest different. Why is it that so many dancers look so much alike? They look so much alike because people don’t want to take their time and truly learn this dance, so everybody is taking the shortcut routine. This is why the unique dancers today standout more, it’s because they are being themselves.

What do you think is the major differences between today’s scene and before?

We danced for the crowd and today dancers are dancing for poppers. We didn’t care what other poppers think of us because we looked at them as our competition.

Who were some known poppers back then? What made them known?

Kelo (Cosmic Force) – my dance partner and a member of the Cosmic Force group. He loved battling, and he was very good in glides (one of the best that I have ever seen), waving, tutting, and he did this Chicago style hitting. He was like a clown when it came to popping and it used this to his advance.

Mechanical Man (Mechanical Men’s) – He was Chicago dancing robot. He was very good in this dancing robot style. He also had a major influence on a lot of Chicago poppers back then. I started mixing robot and popping together after I saw him doing it. He was known for a long time in the Chicago scene.

Jerry and Taurus (Street Patrol) – He was very good in Snaking, and tutting, and hitting. They were also popular for a long time in the Chicago scene. They were very good in breaking down the dance. They are the ones that started me to looking at popping more serious.

Rubber Ron and Baby Gap (tidal Wave) – They was very good in Waving and they was good in the Chicago style of hitting. I really believe Rubber Ron was the one that started that Chicago hitting style. He was part of one of the most popular street dance group in Chicago in the ‘80s.

Melvin (Venus Electronic) I would have to say he was one of the top poppers in Chicago. He loved battling, and he was good in Snaking and hitting. I was told that a guy name JD from California taught Street patrol and Venus Electronic popping. Their style of popping was so close to California.

California Kid – He danced and looked like the California poppers. His name say it all, I believe he came from California.

Mendoza – He was a good all around dancer. He pop, lock, Jack (house), break, etc. He was one of the best all around dancer in the Chicago area. He was also a very good popper, I remembered seeing him and Melvin battled at the Playground in the early ‘80s.

SpaceCapital – (Cosmic Force) I was considered a hit master, and stop and go specialist. I loved to battling, but I was more of a performer type popper.

Others Fat Jaw, Frank, California Kid, Karl, Scarecrow, Marvin, Cosmo, Shabby members from Mechanical Men’s, Venus Electronics, Pop-O-Matics, Electric Domino’s, Tidal Waves, just to name a few.

Where were the hot spots to session/battle at? How often did these things go down?

Battles were at many locations back then. Sometimes at parties and other time we would meet up at playgrounds, block parties, or abandon buildings. Battles or sessions took place very often, we danced all the time. Some of the hot spots were parties like Rainbow, Lawndale Rainbow, The Factory, Bismarck, Outside hot spots Chicago and state, State and lake, Playgrounds, and youth centers through out Chicago area.

I remembered we used to practice in our back yard and people would come in our yard to dance with us or battle against us. I also remembered we got caught by Electric Domino’s one time when we were practicing for a show and they walked in and placed their ghetto box on the floor and busted a long routine on us. It was like we practiced for hours and was completely tired and then they came in ready to battle. Kelo and I did get them back some months later.

Who was your inspiration? What did you guys do different back then to get inspiration?

In my earlier stages of dancing when I was very young it was the Soul Train show. Then in the mid ‘70s it was the older guys in the Austin Community. One group that really started me in these dances was the Muppets (Crescendo group back in the ‘70s, the guy that now host the Street dancing competition and the Hip hop street dance award event.). In the late ‘70s it was Fat jaw, Mendoza, Scarecrow, Marvin, and Shabby. In the early ‘80s from Chicago it was Kelo, Mechanical Man, Street patrol, California Poppers like Pete, Boogaloo Shrimp, Taco, Blue City Strutters, etc.

Did you train with a certain group/individual/teacher? If so who?

I would only dance with other poppers for group routines. Most of the time I didn’t practiced with other poppers. We didn’t practice like that back then. When it was time for me to practice on my moves I would always practice by my self. I can only remembered one time someone shows me something when it came to popping. Karl showed me the basic way to snake. It just wasn’t cool to teach others stuff back then, that was an unwritten rule back then in Chicago.

Can you still find inspiration from the new generation?

I get more inspiration from looking at guys that dance from within. Guys like Salah (that I met in 1998 Battle of the year), Tetris, Elsewhere, and a few others. I like seeing dancers that dance within themselves and bring something unique to the scene. Don’t get me wrong I love seeing guys doing the Electric Boogaloo style of Boogaloo. Guys like Legend, and few others are doing great. I just wish other dancers that boogaloo would add something to it and stop dancing in the EB’s spirit. If we had danced like this in the ‘80s dancers wouldn’t give you the day because we didn’t acknowledge these types of dancers.

Please tell us about any memorable battles, beefs, sessions, moves, places, etc.

One of the misconceptions about Popping is that it was not a dance that focuses on battles like the current generation. We did battle, but it was not the focus point of the dance. We were more into performing, and battles were like the backdrop of the scene. We were focus on having nice outfits, busting good routines, and stuff. The top performers were the known dancers. Battler poppers were more known in the underground scene. They had street rep, but it was very small compare to the top performer. One of the best ways back then was to out perform someone on stage. They would give you like one or two minutes to perform, and the best performer win the prize. That was the way we battled back in the ‘70s and early ‘80s. When breaking came in, it changed the popping culture some what. I noticed that people started battling more in circles. This is also when popping started focusing more on tricks and less on dancing. I really didn’t liked the new direction popping was moving in.

I did started getting into conflict or battles with other poppers. Back then most of the popular poppers or breakers had their own spots. We Cosmic Force pretty much were holding down the Lawndale Rainbow. Tidal waves and Mechanical Men’s were holding down The Factory, and others had their spots. I remembered going to the Factory one day and we all were dancing. Everybody just was popping and breaking and the Tidal Waves walked in and everybody stopped dancing. I was already on stage popping and I didn’t know what was going down because this was my first time at the Factory. They stepped on the stage and I noticed that I was the only one still dancing. I guess to them, I dissed them by not getting off the stage. So they started sending out poppers one by one, and I would go at them. After the battle Lee talked to me about how I didn’t backed down. He wanted me to join their group.

Another day at the Factory I went at Mechanical Man. We went some rounds and it was a hardcore battle. See I was like the guy that poppers heard about but never saw dancing. I started traveling to other location in like 1982. So I was finally getting out of my area and getting to represent with or against other known poppers.

I remembered we had a block party on my block and Mendoza and I was somewhat cool. The older guys wanted to see us battle against each others. Mendoza was the guy that was known as the best popper in my area. But I was like this up and coming popper. So Doza came to me and say let work together and we would split the money. So I’m was just dancing in a reserved mode against him, but I started noticing how hard he was coming at me. So I started battling him seriously, and I was ripping him so hard in popping that he started Locking and Jacking (they call this House dancing now). I won the battle and the money because the older cats say it was a popping battle and they wanted to see us go at it in popping. I still gave him half the money and I was kind of happy after this day because many guys tried to battle Mendoza and he beat so many guys that step to him. These were some of my battles with known poppers in the Chicago area. I have battled so many poppers and I won some and lost some. I used to lose a lot of battles in my early stage of popping to the point that I wasn’t scare to lose. Battles were cool at times; I used battles just to let other know I was on the scene. It was more like my introduction to what ever area traveled to. I still liked performing more then battles because I loved entertaining the crowd.

What were the dominant styles back in the 70s? How about in the 80s?

I can only remember seeing Popping in like the late 1978. So most of the popping I saw in Chicago was from 1979 to 1989. In Chicago we did the styles as one dance. So it was never a style that dominated. To us it was a dance and sub styles to the dance. Now at different times different moves became more popular. In like 1978-1979 basic hitting, glides, and twist-O-flexes were more popular. In like 1980-81 stop and go movements were more popular. In like 1982-1984 waving, tutting and snaking became very popular. In 1984-1986 doing tricks became more popular. Most of the known poppers were doing everything and were more into dancing with their popping.

Did you hear about the poppers in the bay area before it hit LA? Who were some of the dancers that you used to hear stories about? How did you view them back then? Now?

To be honest with you we didn’t hear about any poppers from other areas until we started seeing them on Television. My first time seeing someone busting this dance on Television was on the Gong Show. I saw The Mechanical Devices performed on the Gong Show in like 1975 or 1976. Then I started seeing people busting it on Soul Train Show. Then I saw the Electric Boogaloo on Soul Train popping. By this time we were already popping in the Chicago area. So my first time seeing someone from the Bay area was on the Gong Show. Then we started seeing poppers dance in Music Videos and then the Movies started coming out and most of the earlier Movies had California Poppers. The poppers from California that were known from Cleveland, Ohio were Jeffrey Daniel because of him dancing on Soul train so much. Shrimp, Taco, Blue City Strutters, Pete, pretty much all the poppers that were in productions at the time. Breakin’ and Enterin’ really were our introduction to the California scene, because before then we saw poppers dance but we didn’t know their names at all. So, most of the poppers that danced in the Breakin’ and Enterin’ production became very known in Chicago.

How were battles judged back then? Do you feel it is better judged now or before? What do you think battles should be judged on?

The only battles back then that were judged were the performing battles. The judges would pick the person or group that performed the best. The battles like they are doing now didn’t have judges. This was like underground battles that we did against dancers or groups we didn’t like or wanted to challenge. This became more popular when the breaking scene became popular. I believe popping and breaking are different type of dances. Breaking is more of a combative dance. Popping is not, to get the most out of a popper it should be more of a performing battle. I think it should be like three rounds and each round a person should get like 30 seconds. They should be able to pick the music they dance off. We need to get back to performing because the current state of popping is not helping the art form. What happened to the outfits? What happened to the showmanship? What happened to the group performances? What happened to the props?

Skill level compared to back then to now, what are the differences? Please be specific (musicality, technique, originality, crowd control, character, etc) .

I think that most of the things are the same. I believe what holding the current generation back is the originality.

Who did you want to battle back then? What about now?

I dance today only to feed the soul. I’m not into popping for nothing else. I have matured to a level in life to understand what is more important. To me it’s an honor to still be health enough to perform this dance. Everybody I wanted to battle back then, I battled, and I enjoyed my time doing it and dancing. Today my focus is on contributing to the scene. This is why I started my site back in 1996, to contribute to the popping scene. If I was more active in the popping scene today I would focus more on performing. That would be the only thing that interests me today.

What do you feel about the internet becoming a big part of networkin in poppin community?

I believe the internet helps the popping scene out a lot. It’s a cheaper way to stay in touch with other poppers. We’re able to see poppers video clips from all over the world. I really believe the internet played a major role in helping this scene.

When did you get back into the scene? why?

I started getting back in the scene around 1993. I stopped in 1990 because I had a kid; I was trying to focus on help raising my kid. I just could not continue living without popping, so I started back practicing it around the house. Around 1995 I noticed from the internet that other people were doing this dance and that is when I became more active with the current scene. I started helping on “Cardboard Only” web site, and then in 1996 I started my own web site. In 1997 I started traveling to California and other locations.

what was the down time of the scene like (late 80s early 90s) how did people react to poppin?

The popping scene in Chicago was dead around 1989. It was a few poppers still doing shows around this time. Kelo and I, and Street Patrol were like the most active poppers in Chicago doing this declined stage. I didn’t have much problem dancing because people still liked to see the dance. There were people who talked about you when you danced. Doing this time some people were quick to tell you Popping was played out. It was kind of sad seeing the scene declined. I believe popping helped a lot of guys/gals made it through the day. It helped keep some people away from other stuff. Once the scene died these people went back to doing negative things.

What do you think brought poppin back? Who is responsible?

I really believe the young generation brought it back. If I had to give credit to some of the people who helped the scene grow, I would have to give credit to Mr. Wiggles, Fable and their crew, and Flattop, Animation, Re, and Chuco. These were the poppers that were more popular and they didn’t stop dancing when the scene was dead. I was out there and I was active with the younger generation and I’m just giving credit to the ones that really helped this scene.

There are many debates on what people should be Popping to, what do you feel about the new styles of music out there? Do you think by adapting to the new generation of music, the styles themselves will evolve into something new?

I believe that each individual should be able to express themselves. It’s cool to have an understanding of what poppers dance to. I do agree that funk music was one of the main music we danced to. I believe that it’s good for the current generation to dance to the music out now. We can’t hold the scene back to the ‘70s or ‘80s. Part of letting a scene grow is adapting to the current times. We have to adapt to the current times, because that is the only way an art form stay around. Look at Jazz, or Ballet, they are constantly adapting to current times. Yes, there always going to be people who do the things the old way and I think it is good to have both. We need the ones who break the rules, because they are the trendsetter. They are the ones who bring something fresh to the scene.

What advice would you give to anyone who is interested in getting into this dance?

I would tell a person interested in learning popping to have fun and doesn’t worry about what others say about your dancing.

What do you think young dancers should do to help the scene grow as a whole? Join the mass media entertainment? Stay underground? Make money off of it? What do you hope to see from the new generation as we carry on this art form?

I believe each person have their own path they want to take in life and in dancing. It has to be something in you to go a certain path. I chosen my path of contributing to this scene because I truly want to see this scene grow and become a legit art form. We need people in many areas, and doing many things to help this art form.

Anything you would like the readers to know about you? Any other comments?

Life has many challenges in it and we as people might not know the challenges ahead of us. We will be tested in many ways in life and you just have to keep your faith and believe things will get better. I danced for the fun, and enjoyed it. I have realized that we should always try to get the most out of life because it is the greatest gift. Don’t focus so much time on thinking about getting to the destination, just enjoy the process. So enjoy the process of learning this dance and getting better in it, and in time you will become a good dancer.Similar Posts:

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When did you start Popping?

I was first exposed to Poppin from watching the Electric Boogaloos on Soul Train in 78/79, and we copied what we saw. Also the Young Turks video on tv as well as Xanadu. But i truly started my journey in the early 80’s After Suga Pop came to NYC and schooled us. And i really started gettin it after i hooked up with the EB’s in the late 90’s.

What got you into popping? At what age?

For me it was because I was originally a BBOY in the Bronx, but Breakin started to play out in like 78/79(this is when Breakin was only in the BX and Manhattan), I was Breakin at a Jam (1978) in the BX and some girls started sayin “that’s played out!”. Haha. so i started seeing and hearing about a dance called the “BIONIC BOOGIE” and “ELECTRIC BOOGIE”. These were the names that were on the streets. And i heard of a dude called “Pistol Pete” (Poppin Pete), who was doing crazy moves, so I eventually went from Breakin to Poppin.

Age? Wow. I ain’t goin there. I been countin backwards for the last decade, I don’t even know how old i am today. LOL.

How did you get your name?

I got the name Mr Wiggles from a well known underground Graffiti Writer named SEEN TC5 (he was the younger Seen) who had a side name “Mr Wiggles”. So one day he saw me gettin down in school and just threw the name at me, and it stuck! (THANX MA BROTHA SEEN!!!)

Were you in a crew? if so which?

The Electric Company, CYA (Crazy Young Artists), P.A.R.T.Y. (public artist rockin the yards, people are rejecting the young), TCV (the Crazy Vandals), Rock Steady Crew, Zulu Nation, Magnificent Force, Rhythm Technicians, Ghettoriginals, 7 Grand Masters Tribal Click, Electric Boogaloos.

Are you in a crew now? if so which?

Rock Steady Crew, Electric Boogaloos, Zulu Nation, Tribal Click

Where were you from? Where are you now?

SOUTH BOOGIE, BOOGIE DOWN BRONX, BX. Now in Las Vegas.

What do you think is the major differences between todays scene and before?

Well in the 70’s Hip Hop was Raw, and more street, on some no where to run and no where to hide type sh&t. Early 80’s was fun, and exciting, but after 83 when the movies came out (Beat Street, Breakin) it became more Hollywood, and comercial, and to me it was a downfall. Believe it or not the dance scene was much bigger (every household had people dancin), but it was too comercial. Today it is smaller but more underground, and yes it has been suburbanized as well, But i prefer today‘s scene over the 80‘s scene, but the 70‘s scene was the best. There are things that young dancers get away with today that they would not have gotten away with back in the days, this especially goes out for the BBOY scene.

Who were some known poppers back then? What made them known?

In NYC it was Pop-A-Matics, Realizm, Lock-a-Trons, and eventually us Electric Company and Electric Force. From the mother land it was Electric Boogaloos, Jazzy J, Chain Reaction, Groovin Rubin, Taco, Shrimp, Blue City Strutters, ect.. What made them known were their skills and rumors of their skills traveled across the country, Jazzy J for example, I had heard of him years before i actually seen him, and I first saw him on a tv show called “EYE ON LA”, and he was ill.

Where were the hot spots to session/battle at? How often did these things go down?

In NYC it was the Roxy, Fun House, In Cali it was the Radiotron. It happend every week.

Who was ur inspiration?

originally the Electric Boogaloos set it off in every hood across the US on Soul Train. Then Suga Pop came to NYC and taught us allot. Then when Taco and Shrimp came to NYC I was learnin from Taco, if you see my early 80’s clips you can tell i was influenced by Bruno. Tangerine was also an influence for my front knee Bop Style. And then when i saw Pete it was over! Poppin Pete started doing what i called Poppin Power moves, i was strictly Pete’s moves.

Did you train with a certain group/individual/teacher? If so who?

I got to learn from Suga Pop, and Taco, but Suga Pop had the biggest influence on allot of NYC dancers since like 81. Also Lock-A-Tron John, Skeet came to NYC during the mid 80’s and droped bombs.

Can you still find inspiration from the new generation?

Yes, most definitely.

Please tell us about any memorable battles, beefs, sessions, moves, places, etc.

I guess back in the days it was exciting cause every cipher was a battle, point blank, people always walked away with there feelings hurt. I had some battles in LA when I was back and forth, I guess one dope one was me and a Mexican brotha, he just walked up to me in a club and said he wanted to battle me, so I was like coo. We opened up a huge circle, first round he Ticked and Popped, I Popped and did Ground moves, second round we both Tutted, i had just created the leg through Tut’s, so “it was all over for homeboy“, after that round you can see he was losing his heart and was like damn what did I get myself into. And then I just kept “smokin” him until this shadow appeared on the side of the circle, and was lookin at me like Wiggles? Haha, when I looked it was TACO!, me and Taco hugged and when homeboy saw that, he really didn’t want no more. LOL, I had the pleasure of jammin with Taco that night and he through some of the most amazing moves I had seen next to Pete’s. The “CART WHEEL WAVE”, “HAND STAND WAVE”, “ANMIATED CHEST WAVES”, me and him had a similar wave that we both did that night “LEG KICK WAVE”, he went batty, and we had a good time, Toni Basil was there as well.

What was the dominant styles back in the 70s? How about in the 80s?

In the 70’s it was definitely more BOOGALOO and POPPIN. The 80’s was POPPIN, ANIMATION, WAVING, TICKIN.

How were battles judged back then? Do you feel it is better judged now or before?

No rules, and thecrowd decided, and there was always disputes that lead to rivalries and even more battles. I liked it before, it was more street, and you always had to stay on your toes, and there was no internet, so peeps would say sh&t to your face. Haha, LOL.

Skill level compared to back then to now, what are the differences?

To me the original EB’s were the most musical, they lived the era of the music we dance to today. But as far as the entire Poppin community, today is over all better. More people pop with better use of foundation than back in the days. IMO

Technique: Today we have more people Poppin correctly than back in the days, but when you look at Sam, Pete, Skeet, Taco, Dre, Tangy, Ron, ect.. there is no question they had the technique down back then.

Originality: IMO it was more original back then, more diverse skills, but today comes close.

Crowd control: Back in the days fasho, today we have Salah who can control a crowd and is a throw back to the way we performed. Back then everyone could control a crowd. We were much better performers back then cause of all the shows we were doing, and we influenced each other. But you gotta give it up to Japan and France. they put on great shows, and have skills in controling the crowd.

Character: Back in the days, character was a must, just look at Beat Street, Wild Style, Breakin, Breakin and Entering, and you will see what i mean.

POPPIN, BOOGALOO:the original EB’s were the best to me, but the over all skill level is way higher today. It had gotten to a point where everything was so comercial that people only responded to tricks and moves (that’s why I changed my style to strictly tricks during the 90’s so i can compete with BBOY power moves with the crowd).

ANIMATION:I saythe 80’s was better, everyone had there own characters by 83/84

WAVING: I still say the 80’s was better and more creative and watery. And allot of underground wavers that never got there props.

BOPPIN:while there are decent Boppers today, the skill level was higher then, and back then the dance seem to fit the era much better, and the Boppers were even more effective then.

TUTTIN: back in the days it was less technical and more funky, but today it is way more technical with the angles and concepts, and cats is gettin funky with it too now, but I will say today for sure.

Who did you want to battle back then? What about now??

I was cocky when I started gettin good and I wanted to battle everyone. Right now i’m battling myself, and I have a secret hit list of cats..lol, I’ll keep that to myself.

what do you feel about the internet becoming a big part of networkin in poppin community?

GOOD in a sense that we can communicate more, and drop history, and also sell products to support our art forms and us as parents who are still dancing past 60 (just kiddin) BAD because while the communication is better, people do tend to copy and imitate without fear of gettin caught and yes it hurts the originality of a person cause of this, also the street credabilty is losing it’s importance cause people can get fame by talkin sh&t on the net, and posting clips on the internet instead of bouncing from hood to hood, spittin at your adversaries face to face, creating a real legacy. I missed that aspect, and allot of Poppers are taking the easy rout. Trust me, have the sh&t talkin on the net would be eliminated if these people had to face the people they are talking about.

I think it’s all coo for videos and clips, but people have to remember to look at these clips for inspiration not for biting and copying verbatim. Peeps need to take from what they watch and twist it to there own sh^t. or if they are beginners, bite a lil until you are able to understand the dance better, and then change what you have bittin to your own sh&t.

When did you get back into the scene? why?

I never left the scene, i have always remained a dancer, danced my whole life, and have not held a regular job down since 80. I never stopped, maybe that’s why i’m feeling the wear and tear now, but I never quit, and I will continue till they put me in a wheelchair, and yall will still see me “POPPIN” WHEELIES.

If it wasn’t gonna be dance it was gonna be Graffiti. if it wasn’t gonna be Graffiti, it was gonna MCin, if not that it would have been Producing Beats, ect. No matter what I was gonna live Hip Hop. Hip Hop was literally the only thing i knew, and the only thing did well. I was never gonna abandon that, Hip Hop is a major part of who i am in this world. And it is also the reason why I am still alive today.

what was the down time of the scene like (late 80s early 90s) how did ppl react to poppin?

It was wack, people looked at us the same way that Americans looked at Mimes. It was not good, But we (RSC) didn’t care, we would hit clubs sportin adidas laced with the phat cotton thick joints, and we was either Kangol down, or sportin the latest gears mixed with olds school sh&t and we would get into fights every weekend and the whole nine. Be we never gave a f&ck.

what do you think brought poppin back? Who is responsible?

The Electric Boogaloos. Peeps, might give peeps like me credit for keepin the buz alive, but the EB’s brought the dance back in it’s original form after almost 20 years of being extinct.

What legacy would you like to leave for the scene?

Of course I want people to respect my skills, and my growth, but above all I want peeps to remember that I truly love the dance, and did what I could to help spread the art form the best way I can. and told the truth as I truly believed it.

What advice would you give to anyone who is interested in getting into this dance?

Study foundations, get as close to the root of the style you want to learn. respect all other styles and dancers even if you ain’t feelin them, or there style, let your dancin do the talkin for you, you can’t win a battle or argument debating on the internet, only believe what you can see with your own eyes, and not someone else’s typing/opinions.

Anything you would like the readers to know about you? Any other comments?

Mr Wiggles is a proud Puerto Rican, who married a Beautiful Dominican BGIRL and that had beutiful PuertDominican…na wait….Dominirican…uhuh….DomRicans…lol…naa…DominiRicans yea that sounds right DominiRican children (and one PuertItaliana Love ya Alex)Similar Posts:

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When did you start Popping?

Well I was already dancing the robot first, about 1974/1975, imitating different robot characters I would watch on TV (Tin man from Wizard of OZ, Giant Robot from the movie Battle of the Planets), also different cartoon characters (Bugs Bunny, gigantor, etc). I was also imitating shields and Yarnell, a lot of Charlie Chaplin, Three Stooges, Harpo Marx (there were 4 brothers: Groucho, Harpo, Chicho, Zeppo, but harpo never talked, he would use body movements and instruments to talk to people).

What got you into popping? At what age?

When I was in elementary I would go to my step cousins house in the morning. (We wall went to the same school) It was about 6 of us. The one that I was closest to was Keith. His nickname was “Sir Nose” (named after a member of the Parliament / Funkadelic Funk group, whose full name was Sir Nose Devoid of Funk). His older brother was Gene, whose nickname was Karate Gene (he followed kung fu legend master Bruce lee). We came home from school one day and he was playing 45’s (back then records were 45’s with the disk in middle). He was playing “Flashlight” from Parliament. He was doing this movement. I asked him what he was doing; he said he was trying to “Break”! (That was the original term for popping , called break or breaking. So I supposedly tried I was also watching a lot of Soul Train, (everybody watched soul train. I mean everybody!) Before you did whatever you were going to do on Saturday, you watched Soul train first. The black community supported soul train and was hooked. That’s how you kept up with the latest dances. The whites and Asians watched “American Band Stand” on Saturdays, Soul Train catered the blacks, “Amer. Bandstand” catered to the whites. Don’t get offended or take it personal but race did play a major part in dance expression. That’s just how it was. That’s where I watched the lockers and that’s when I first saw the Boogaloos, all on soul train. I also saw Captain Crunch and the Funky bunch (half locking half popping).

At the time how many people were into it?

Ok, from what I remember there were 2 different phases. The original funk phase and the electric funk/hip hop / break dance phase. From the original funk phase, I witnessed about 30% of the people into it. Of course when you went to parties or watched Soul Train, or went to a park picnic or any dance/music function, you saw people messing around, copying others, doing this and that. But the 30% I’m talking about were the ones that took popping seriously, doing it the way they could which thus created different styles, which made them earn the title “OG”. The other 70% were fans, wannabe’s or biters (that’s someone that does a move he saw someone else do, but he is trying to take credit for it).

Now when the electric funk era started to take over (Hip hop)m when the movie “Breaking” came, featuring Shabadoo, poppin Pete, Taco and Shrimp (also in the movie “Colors”, “Geraldo – The Latino Gang member Popping and Waving) along with “Breakin 2- Electric Boogaloo” and other movies, everybody was poppin, boogalooing, gliding, strutting, and tutting. All the breakin crews had a popping representative in their group. So when the breakers would battle, one would send out their popper then the other group would send out their own popper to counter. And when I mean everybody, I mean whites, latinos, Asians, everybody. And to think that this was a black originated style of dance. When people watched “Breakin” especially the part at Venice beach when Taco broke that trademark wave on Shabba-doo) it was over! And during that time Michael Jackson and Prince were at their prime.

Can you describe their styles?

Back in the day, it’s impossible to describe because it was endless possibilities and plenty of things to imitate and so much creativity: Board games, dominoes, rubber bands, strobe and trip lights, electrocuted fusions, comic teams, white and blue collar jobs, cartoon characters, sports, different animals, physics, and measurements, etc.

What kind of music were you listening to?

Ok now you have to sit down for this one, its going to take some time. In the 70’s it was early funk and disco. When I was little, my dad gave me a radio with a single cassette player. It was small enough to carry around. That’s when those radios were first getting popular. They didn’t make the big double cassette ghetto blaster yet. I didn’t have any brothers and I didn’t have many friends so I carried it a lot and listened to all kids of radio stations and all kinds of music. The black stations were AM1230 KGFJ, AM1580 KDAY, FM 103.9 K-Ace Rock, disco, pop stations were Kiss FM and others. The rock and roll was Kroq. Kiss also played rock and roll. The black music was R/B, soul early original funk –Isley brothers, Brothers Johnson, parliament, algreen, bootsy Collins, brass construction. The Disco was Foxy, Beegees, KC, and the sunshine band, rose Royce, Sylvester, Village People. Disco pretty much dominated that era. That’s probably why I love that up fast tempo style of poppin. I learned my beat and rhythm from the disco. Especially the two songs “Knock on wood” and “let dance across the floor”. If say, I was doing a showcase or was in a battle, and one of those songs came on, shit it would be over! The pop, rock and roll was old Michael Jackson, Doobie Brothers, B-52s, Jackson Brown, Rolling Stones. Oh and don’t let me forget! The whispers, blended funk with disco and really did damage! That was just the middle to late 70’s, early 80’s. When I was aware of the Poppin, “the first Era” (There were 2) was Original Funk, R/B soul up tempo, jazz funk. That’s when KGFJ and KDAY were the most popular radio stations. The funk came from : Isley brothers, parliament, cameo, dazz band, brick, Ohio players, tom brown, Zapp, Fat Back band, gap band, ray parker Jr, prince, invisible mans band, midnight starr, bill summers, and summers heat, Rick James bar. Every time anyone of these artists put out an album, you knew they brought the funk. There were others, but all of these that I named I personally kept up with. Then uncle Jams Army came (A collab of DJs featuring Egyptian Lover, Bobcat) When they came along with Afrika Bambaata and the soul sonic force, and kraftwerk (4 German guys that didn’t speak English they used their computers to translate and make their music. No instruments) In my opinion these three set the standard and originated the second phase called techno funk. The funk of the first era started from 74 till about 86, 88, 89. The techno started about 80s 81. blended with the first funk in the early to middle 80s, then took over about 85, 87. The first era took over from disco, but disco contributed to both eras.

How did you get your name?

My very first name (I kept to myself) I called myself Versatile Vibrator. Because my vibrating was my killer technique, along with my robotics. Then when I would go to a birthday party, school dance, or dance function, every time when the party would get around, 11:30, . It was at its peak of energy, crowded, hot, sweaty, the Djs were playing the most popular tunes. Everybody was at their peak and running out of steam. (you see, back then, people already show up around 8-9:00. unlike today, people don’t leave their house till around 10 or 11. Around 11:30 – 12:00 though that when I would just get started. So I figured since I’m full of energy around 12 midnight, dancing and acting a fool, I called myself a midnight dancer. And I heard of no one else using anything close, so I presented myself as the original midnight dancer. But now in the beginning of the techno funk ear, I cancelled that name and started going by the chocolate pop for 2 reasons. 1: in my neighborhood at the time, the majority of breakers with poppers were Hispanic, me being African American. It wasn’t long before as I walked down the street the youngsters would shout “what’s up Chocolate Pop” or “hey chocco pop”. Their parents would trip out it seams I could get their attention more than them. 2 everybody was using something with a popping style in their name – “Choco-pop”, boogaloo this, boogaloo that, sugar pop, struttin Steve, poppin Todd, waving wayne, etc so I figured that’s cool, but I changed for an important event.

Who are some of the dancers that made a real impact?

Personal opinion as far as individuals, to me shields and yarnell (the husband and wife robotic pantomime artists) Michael Jackson, Jeffery Daniels, Golden Robot, Boogaloo Sam, Jerry Cooper, Boppin Andre, Robot Prince, Karate Gene. I’m sure there a few others but no one can disagree with my choices. They can just add on. As far as groups, I would have to say – Unique dominoes, Royal Flush, Electric Boogaloos, Long Beach Time Bandits, La Body Control boppers, the confederates, demons of the mind, snap crackle and pop, heck and jeckle, I’m sure there were a few others.

Were you in a crew?

When we had our high school talent show in 1980, at manual arts I got in with the “Puppet Bros” (One arm Poplocker, Michael Facee, Sir Charles). But before that say 9th grade, Jerry Cooper wanted me to come to be with him, Boppin Andre, Yamo (the only known Asian to pop and he perfected 3d animation) and one more. They were called the “Confederates”. He loved my vibrating. I did it like no one has ever seen. He would bring other poppers to my house right, just to call me out and break on me. Sometimes I would be intimidated but then I would start to hit on them and vibrate. They would back off real quick. I couldn’t go with him through because my mom would let me get out to practice. She would beat my ass if I ditched school to poplock. After that period I got into “members only” Then I had later met “Popcorn” and later on came “King Night” so then we got together, created Freak Daddies of dance”. No Relation to the Freak Daddys”. My last group was Geo-Matrix (Poppin Chuck, Poppin Lady AK, Phantasm) What’s up Chuck? AK? Phantasm? What’s crackin?

Where were you from?

I was born in Detroit, but I’ve been out here since I was 3 (Los Angeles)

Was there a certain style your area was known for?

Ok, here we go and ill be honest from my experience. Now I cant speak for Compton, long beach, Inglewood, Pasadena, etc, you have to ask an OG of that city. But Ill say this, 80% of the poppers I’ve encountered and heard of during the first phase were into Robotic Bop, hitting, waves, ticks, and tuts. I barely saw any Boogalooing, if any. I didn’t see the Boogaloo Craze until the Electric Funk Phase. When everybody started going to Venice beach. That was our place to get together, similar to a bboy summit. Each crew in the first and second phases had their own unique styles. Example: LA Boppers – Bopping, Strobonics – 3D and strobing, Inglewood Boogalooers – Boogaloo, Roboters, etc.

What is the new generation missing?

To me originality and trying to do something no one has done. The names are original though.

How can we achieve this?

I say take some risks and chances, you’ll never know how a routine will be accepted if you don’t expose it.

What do you think is the difference between today’s scene and before?

No Creativity and not enough rivalries. Back in the day the tension and rivalries were on and cracking! You would say go to the mall right? Shopping and girl watching. They you would go either in or hang out around the record shop. They would play the music loud enough where you could hear it in the isles right? Then say midnight starr’s Electric City: would play right? You start hitting a little, get you a crowd, you know, attract girls. Then some other dude would look at you; figure that your weak then would break on you. You would get broke on, in front of the crowd and you would remember that. So you would go home get on the phone, tell your people and the battle and retaliation would be on! You would wait for either the next uncle jams army sponsored dance party or city wide festival. You would go 8-9 deep, dressed for war. They would come dressed and prepared for action. Word would spread quickly of a “call out”. So they were crowded, we would identify the rivals. The first one would face off, hit on each other, and then a member of each group would call out a member of the rival. It would go on until someone would run out of moves. And the crowd would determine who won the battle.

Who were some of the known poppers back then and what made them known?

Ill just name individuals so just be patient because I knew quite a bit. Besides the ones I’ve already mentioned, there was Snoopy, Robot-Ron, Tut-n-stein, Dr. Business, Sir Ticalot, the Milkman (RIP), Lizard, Rubber band man, the prince of pop, Robert Bell, Statistics, the pimp of Pop, snaking Dave, Frisco, Turbo Steve (RIP), Turbulent (RIP), Mr. Wave, Count Boppula, Smiley and Mario (Time Bandits), one arm bandit, tic tack, Boardman, Darryl stokes, Dollar Bill, Slick Dog, Mr. Animation, Scorpio, Strutt, Freak Daddy Mike and Gregg, no bones, Chuck, Danny, automatic, shit I cant remember right now but for “shout outs” ill remember.

Where were the hot spots to session/battle at? And how often did it go down?

Ok, during the first phase the hot spots were the malls (Fox hills and Hawthorne), Picnics at different parks, when DJs would set up shop on the grass using generators. The parks were Macarthur, Ladera, Centinela, Cheviot Hills, Culver City, Leruders in Compton, and Griffith Park. The funk fests at South west college. Then as the 2nd phase came, when uncle Jams army was at the LA Sports Arena, Pasedena civic Auditorium, Veteran auditorium in culver city, LA and long beach civic centers and Santa Monica civic. Every time they had a function, they brought and attracted 2 things. The funk, the females, and the poppers. Also on weekends Venice beach. That was the main get together, battle, showcase spot. And on holidays every popper would be there. Dancers came from Pomona, Riverside, the Bay Area, Pasadena, Compton, long beach, Costa mesa, etc. Oh and don’t let me forget the world wide known spot – Hollywood and Highland! Friday Saturday and Sunday nights were full of showcases and battles. And since tourists occupied that spit, poppers loved to show off that ass! And also the other main spot – The Radiotron. I’m not even going to talk about that. Ask another OG about that and see what he says. Also the LA street scene. Also school talent shows especially.

Who was your inspiration?

What inspired me was the competition. And watching others, the look on their faces ( you can look at a persons face when hes popping and tell if hes confident, scared, struggling, happy, if hes experienced, or a biter, angry or just straight on a mission. Especially if they are feeling the funk. My leader…I would say myself.

Can you still find inspiration from the new generation?

Fuck yea! Just watching these new cats and the very beginners. I see a lot of me in them when I started. Especially the fact the majority of New G;s aren’t black.

Did you hear about the poppers in the bay area before it hit LA?

Just Sam and Demons of the Mind

Who were some of the dancers that you used to hear stories of?

None, because I was in the thick of things, just like they were. So I witnessed the same history they were.

How were battles judged back then?

It depends on where. You see, in the first phase the majority of poppers were in high school. So we would compete in the schools talent shows. The best poppin act would be recognized. Some schools had taught shows that took the whole day, because it would have so many poppin acts. Some even made 2 talent shows. Once for singers, regular street dance or group acts, and the other half was strictly for the poppers. I know from when I went o manual arts, in 1980 – 1981 there were about 8 poppin acts alone. Now if you were in the street, the crowd would let you know! Period.

What do you think battles should be judged on?

Technique controlling the crowd, and how good your top moves are.

Skill level compared to back then, and now. What are the differences?

Well to me you have four different kinds of dancers. Dancers that are good for show, dancers that are technically comfortable, dancers that are all business, and dancers with heart. Show dancers are dancers that like to show off for the crowd. (example: Salah, Popcorn Chicken, Burst, Poppin Crazy, Mr.Animation) I love watching these cats. They always leave a good impression! Dancers with technicality are comfortable with that they do and they do a particular style and stick to just that style, which is just ok. Dancers that are all business , they don’t play, they look serious, they don’t smile, they have that killer instinct (example: Frantic, mike from France, Jr Boogaloo). When you get in a battle with one of these cats you better bring you’re ‘A’ game because they will bring theirs. Dancers with heart, that a dancer that either needs more practice or not technically right, but they feel the funk and just don’t care what no one says they just start doing their thing. I always make an effort to walk up to those kind, introduce myself, and make friends , give them props and encouragement and tell them to keep it up. Hell I even say if you want to work out or practice with me let me know, no problem.

Who did you want to battle back then? Now?

No one in particular. I had no enemies. I try to make friends with everybody. I just hope everyone feels the same about me. But now if someone calls me out, for the wrong reason school will be in session.

What do you feel about the internet being a big part of networking in the scene?

Good, very good. You find info faster. In the day we just had house telephone and word of mouth.

When did you get back into the scene?

During the 90’s I still had in my heart, but when my mom was diagnosed with cancer in 2000, I trained my nephew for a parade to keep his mind busy no on my mom. Then I told myself I was going to find 3 dudes train then, then put them in some dance contests. So I went o Hollywood, to highland and Hollywood blvd. to find some fresh faces. Then this dude (Tashombu) walked up to me and said “I know you from somewhere, you used to pop in the parade”. I told him my situation I gave him my number. He then gave it to poppin chuck. Chuck called me, we talked, had lunch , looked at footage and you know the rest.

What was the down time of poppin?

The late 80’s into the 90’s. People thought it was played out replacing it with the first hip hop, then house, then trendy style dancing.

What do you think brought poppin back?

It never 100% left, just pushed aside.

There are many debates about what people should pop to. What do you feel about the music out there?

You should pop, and robot, and boogaloo and etc to funk. Original uncut up tempo, techno, 70’s and 80’s Funk. No hip-hop. Hiphop is for hip-hop. Ballet is for classical. Modern Jazz is for pop and instrumental. Popping is for funk.

What legacy would you like to leave for the scene?

By me being the first street dance person to open the door for other troupes and acts for parade entries. That’s cool enough for me. Hopefully people will remember me as a cool friendly down to earth person. I’m just trying to make this a better place. No hate, no prejudice, everybody can get along.

What advice do you have for anyone wanting to get started?

Feel the music, feel the funk. Learn basics first then technique, then presence. Try to be original, don’t imitate another popper. Imitate yourself!

Any other words or shout outs?

First I have to acknowledge Poppin chuck, AK, and Phantasm. They put me up to date on who is who, where is who, etc etc. What’s up Geomatrix! Fresh and the LA breakers, Jerry Cooper for pushing my little fat ass all day. Boppin Andre, Poppin Pete, Boogaloo Sam, Shabba-doo, Boogaloo Shrimp, Mr.Don Campbellock and his entire locking crew. Sir nose, Karate Gene, original golden robot, tangerine, earthquake, sensei bop and the entire LA Boppers, Robot Prince, Scorpio, Fayzo, and the rest of the media Sirkas, snap crackle and pop, flat top, Jeckle, Mr.Animation, Chucho, Yamo, Jr Boogaloo, Bugs Bunny, Taco, Gerardo, Count Boppula, Automatic-the silver robot, unique dominoes, Royal Flush, the mechanical masters, long beach time bandits, Kool boy, slick dogg, Boardman, tempo, dollar bill, Daryl Stokes, No bones, Rubber band man, Zulu Gremlin, Robot dance, one armed bandit, poptart, frisco, Danny, Sir Tickalot, Popcorn, BurstRock, warlock, and whole funny bones crew, frantick, toxic, play boy eddie, refrain, boogie walker, preying mantis, future, tiffany, and the rest of the culture shock. Also Jetli, ms funk, Tito, bboy don, Tetris, Tin man, boogie bear, aira, lil John, Johhny-5, Blinky, Jrock, Pandora, Jsmooth, Kid Boogie, Sweet Sweeper, Nikodemus, wavomatic, Dj Rod, Will, Chadd, Ray Funk, Adverb, Salah, Mike, Awax, the Wiz Kids, etc. There are 8 people I want to holla at but im not sure of their names. But I know their faces. I want to say something about Ice Man. A lot of you guys need to give him more credit. The homeland popshop was about to be shut down twice, but he stuck his neck out just so people could have a spot. Next time you go there, holler at him and say thanks and show some love!

Now my thoughts are now going to those who aren’t here, that left their legacies behind for us to treasure. God Bless the following Souls: Skeeter Rabbit, Fossil (Gary), Tapu, The son of Jr Boogaloo, The milkman, Turbulent, Steve, Fred Barry, Papa Wiz, Poppin Chuck’s Mom, and the person that taught me how to move to the beat of the music and exposing me to all this. This person was into dance, art, treated people of all attitudes with kindness, and showed me to be your own person, had no enemies and helped people even when they didn’t deserve it: My mom.

I was judging the 2005 Top Dog Poppin Comp in Down town LA with Zulu Gremlin and Iceman. My mom was in her last days (caner). I told iceman and he said if I need help let him know. I told a few others and they had my back. My mom passed that following Saturday. I tried to reach out but no one was around. I finally caught up with iceman and was like “Fuck where is a friend when you need one.” He told me to come to homeland on Monday, we can raise some money to help burry her. So I came, the inside was closed do to repairs but people came (Frantic, Boogie Walker, Boogie Bear, Aira, Slick Dog, Tempo, Poppin Chuck, AK, The LA Boppers, Tetris, Tut Master, Bboy Don, Tiffany, Tin man, Fossil, Jetli, Waveomatic, and a few others) in the cold. Showcased and raised money for my mom. To all of you, and the ones who left messages on the internet – I thank you from my heart. Peace out!Similar Posts:

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When did you start Popping?

I started dancing in 1978

What got you into popping? At what age?

I was in 8th grade when I started getting down.

At the time you got into popping, how many people were already doing it?

At the time I started in Boston there was allot of dancer in Boston at the time probably hundreds to a couple thousand the scene was very big in Boston there were allot of waving, tutting, robot, some mime. we were listening to allot of electro on the east coast but we partied of funk music and hip hop even some freestyle music cause it had allot of electro beats in the music.

How did you get your name?

That’s a very funny story cause back in the 80`s every bboy and popper had a dancing name one day when I was done dancing a couple of kids from my neighborhood approached me and asked what was my dancing name was, I said I didn’t have one/they said what’s your first name? So I said it they naw that wont work so they asked me my last name? So I said shallow they said that’s dope that’s what were gonna call you cause they said it fitted my style cause I was doing allot of waving and puppet at the time.

Who are some of the dancers that made a real impact on your scene or the art form in general?

In Boston myself , megatron , domino, tilt, super Steve, bionic smurf, the play boy poppers, the robonauts,nyc puppeteers, the funkafets, seven deadly sins, the devasting rockers, top master crew, these were some of the crews that represented in Boston during that erra.

Were you in a crew? If so which?

I was in the Floorlords or like over 25years they are the oldest bboy and popping crew in Boston there’s like 5 generations members over the years.

Are you in a crew now? If so which?

I’m in a group called worldsoul which is out of NYC.

How long have you and megatron been dancing together?

Me n megatron have been dancing together since the first time we got down in front of each in the first circle that we met each other and exchanged numbers . For over like 30years.

Where were you from? Where are you now?

I’m from Cambridge Massachusetts and now I live in Everett mass which is like two towns from my old neighborhood.

Was there a certain style your area was known for?

In Boston at the time it was about what dancers were representing in each different parts of the city when you went to a certain part of the city people would recognize you and that would decide by your skills if they were going to battle you and test your skills or if they were going to give you props and respect you and welcome you to there part of town.

We keep hearing that back in the day, no one danced like each other. Please explain.

First of all back then we didn’t have any video cameras to record different people we were lucky to ketch soul train so see the soul train line and watch the different dancers. The other thing is when we practiced back then we did it alone not in a big gym or studio with a bunch of dancers because we would practice solo to create personal moves secretly so we could bust them out at jams or parties. everybody got there reps of there originality and being different know you could line about 50dancers up and have them dance and they would all look similar to allot of the big name dancers in video’s think its ok to admire a certain dancer but you need to eventually put your own personality into what that person dance. I think that’s missing these days with allot of the younger kids.

What do you think is the major differences between today’s scene and before?

Back then when we battled and danced it meant allot more to us then it does to kids now we danced for our different cities where we grew up who we hungout with and what everything you ever represented for your crew or group and whether you won or lost it made a big difference how you were looked at among your peers whether you were going to be respected or not. Nowadays it not like that this error is watering it down and there’s not as much loyalty like there used to be. for instance ?you sometimes have these young kids try to call out the o g`s then when the old school legends take it personal and get upset you kids are like why is he mad like that? but they don’t understand that even if the og`s skills aren’t like they used to be if it wasn’t for poppers before you guys you wouldn’t be doing this dance and that when we were growing up it was a respect thing when they battled back in the day which was taken very seriously then. Not to mention even if the younger kid and the OG battled everything that your doing was done years before you even heard or saw the style or moves that these kids are trying. Just little FYI for you younger kats.

Who were some known poppers back then? What made them known?

Their popping names alone did the talking for the dancers back then like I said it was a respect thing think about this ok?example? popin pete, popin taco, klown , skeeter rabitt, boogaloo sa,m, flatopp, mrwiggles, earth quake,boppin andre,slick dogg, animation, what do all these names represent? They represent what type of style they danced, person’s personality was like, or the life style they lived by .this is how real things were back then.

Where were the hot spots to session/battle at? How often did these things go down?

They went down at block parties and house parties on the east coast and they were like every couple of weeks especially during the summer.

Who was your inspiration? What did you guys do different back then to get inspiration?

My first inspirations were this group I looked up to was the robonauts they all specialized in different styles and they were all dope. also there was this guy called karim saunders he was the first guy to teach me my basics waves and puppet he was the first person to give me my first white gloves and puppet strings to practice with. after couple of years gone by it was the dancers on soul train and poppin taco I used to study his hitting styles and waving and isolations then when I met poppin pete and seen how he used his leg movements and the different angles he would freak the beat in awkward angles and make it look effortless. and of course there’s boogaloo sam how he makes all the traditional styles look so funky .there’s so many people that I respect there skills my list could on for a while.

You are known for your incredible back waves, back shoulder waves, and micro waves, how did you come up with these techniques?

These type of waves I used to do and practice when I was in grammar school I would always try to be very creative with my waves but I would first practicing waves everyway up and down my different body parts and then in reverse. Then I would break the waves down into different body parts and muscles joints to the beat. I plan on putting out a DVD with these styles being done.
Did you train with a certain group/individual/teacher? If so who?

Allot times I would practice in my house for hours and then I would hook up with megatron and domino sometimes and we would have cyphers for hours trying not to repeat our moves.

Can you still find inspiration from the new generation?

There’s allot of dope up and coming dancers and I see them doing different stuff all the time and I get very inspired.

Please tell us about any memorable battles, beefs, sessions, moves, places, etc.

One of the most memorable battles I had was with this guy called snow white. The reason why they called him that cause from the projects he was from he was Puerto Rican but he had blue eyes and they called him that because he looked like a white boy. one day his crew came to my home town to battle me n domino there crew was called the playboy poppers they showed up like 30deep with black shirts with white playboy bunnies on them and playboy hats with white gloves. Since he was the best in his group and he wanted me after all my boys and his group went at it he called me out. so me and him battled for like 2hours people came from all over the city to see us battle people were sitting on roofs of houses and people gathered like 10boom boxes and lined them up it was crazy. It got so wild our girl friends at the time ended up battling in the middle of ours which finally after along time I finally beat him it almost turned into a riot it had to be broken up among all of our crews. But I would have to say that was one of the biggest battles they were so many battles I’ve been in that each had there own memories.

What were the dominant styles back in the 70s? How about in the 80s?

The styles that people were doing in Boston back then was more waving, tutting, mime, and robot.

Who were some of the dancers that you used to hear stories about?

Me n megatron always studied west coast styles cause we knew that’s where they all came from. but we used to hear about taco, poppin pete, animation , hugo, heckle n jeckle, little tuff from unique dominoes, booya tribe, boogaloo shrimp,the electric boogaloos, one arm bandit, jeffery daniels, casper from soul train, skeeter rabbit,oz rock , sugar pop,even ice T used to break back then.those are some we used to hear about.

How were battles judged back then?What do you think battles should be judged on?

We used to battle until someone stops or if one of the dancers repeats themselves. I know when we bring in judges for our event we bring in dancer with different styles that way there’s no arguments.

Skill level compared to back then to now, what are the differences?

I think the skills were better back then. Reason? Cause even though there’s allot of dope dancers now allot of them only have one style mastered and I would just like to see more versatility in the younger dancers nowadays. musicality is better now .but originality we have young guys beat cause that’s when all this stuff was created but there’s still time.

Who did you want to battle back then? What about now?

I wanted to battle anyone that wanted to get some. Not to be cocky but I was very confident in my skills and I practiced as if I was battling so I had allot of battle moves. but I would never go looking for it only if someone called me out but don’t get me wrong when they did I was very happy cause that was the stuff I trained for I guess you can say I made my name off of battling.

What do you feel about the internet becoming a big part of networking in poppin community?

I think the internet is very good for networking and promoting and educating the culture. But it’s bad when you get these kids talking trash wanting to call people out on line that is so dumb.

When did you get back into the scene? Why?

I never stopped dancing I always went with the different dance errors but I always kept popping.

What was the down time of the scene like (late 80s early 90s) how did ppl react to poppin?

Back then people respected it more because everyone couldn’t do it .after you got down in a circle from showing everyone your skills we would look for a girl to dance with and chill. Then when gangster rap came out it started changing the culture everyone wanted to be a thug and not what hip-hop culture is about.

What do you think brought poppin back? Who is responsible?

I think allot of the bboy events and jams helped with it get its popularity back.

How do you feel about the new styles of music poppers these days are dancing to?

I feel it should be that person’s choice on what they prefer but as long as you’re dancing to the music with the correct foundation in which ever style your doing.

What legacy would you like to leave for the scene?

I just hope that when people think about me doing this dance that they will look back and say they respected what I did and how I did the dance and hopefully there’s some young dancers out there that I inspired them to want to do this and respect the culture like I do.

What advice would you give to anyone who is interested in getting into this dance?

Learn your foundation, be your own person don’t be a follower, and just have fun.

What do you think young dancers should do to help the scene grow as a whole?

First I think they should respect the og`s more. Second educate the people that don’t understand what we do to make these dances grow. And if you’re making money good for you but know what your worth.

Anything you would like the readers to know about you? Any other comments?

I just want to give props to all the dancers before me that did this dance and to all the younger generatioan that is keeping this culture alive remember even though we all want to be the best at these dances we are all family in this dance peace shallow….Similar Posts:

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When did you start Popping?

WaveomaticI started doing the robot in 1979.

What got you into popping?

WaveomaticI use to hang out at this park close to my house, it was mostly a Samoan nieghborhood around this one park, and my homie David Alo was locking as usual, but then started doing these crazy robotic movements, I was hooked!

How did you get your name?

Waveomatic I was with a couple of my homies learning some moves from some of the older cats that “occupied” the park so to speak, this one Samoan cat was showing us an arm wave, the only wave I had seen was really a tidal wave, so when he told me to try it, I did it pretty good the first few times, he turned one of the other cats and said “that was automatic, he got it down automaticaly!” and this other older Samoan cat gave me his beer and a hit off a his joint (I was like 12, hehe), and told me “your wave-o-matic”, …. and that was it.

Were you in a crew? if so which?

Waveomatic Some of my homies and me started a crew early 80’s, Electric Knights, we were a mixed bunch, started with Chilly Willie, John Hayward, Deno Rivera (we called him Flap, he was half Philipino half Japanese, hehe), Danny Affajay, Fili Vaa Swani (his cousin was Oka from Blue City fam, one of the dopest poppers I had seen back then), Scotty Pearson (also Blue City fam, we use to go to Sam Niko’s house and eat, practice, eat, chill, eat, eat and eat some more), Philip Gills(one of the craziest tutters, hard ass hits with tuts), the Morales Brothers, Sunny, Joel, and Jo Jo, DOPE ass lockers and poppers, crazy cool filipino brothers from Carson, and fo sho Pookey (my homie Craig Caseywho lived in Inglewood, CA, who moved from the Harbor Area to Inglewood back and forth, always had to give homie a ride when I got my car) and others later.

We were poppers, lockers (Willie, Pookey, and me weren’t as much as lockers as the others, just basics for group routines, I became crazy for waves, hehe) and even eventually bboys(we all got into breakin’), a grip of nieghborhood crews had all aspects covered, especially when bboyin hit the scene here in the West Coast.

Are you in a crew now? if so which?

Waveomatic No, but I represent Homeland, Long Beach City, California, and all of the Harbor Area, you know! :)

Where were you from? Where are you now?

Waveomatic I was born in Hollywood, CA, first male of my family to be born in this country. My family is from Greece. My grandfather lost what they had during WWII when the Germans bombed, they hit our house and destoyed acres of land, so my grandfather gathered whatever he could and they came to America through Ellis Island.

They came to Los Angeles, and my dad grew up across the street from Lagoona Park in East LA, went to Garfield High, worked hard, went back to Greece to marry my mom, then they moved to Hollywood then Harbor City. I went to school with some amazing poppers growing up, my area was a poppin haven. Anthony Medina, God rest his soul, was an AMAZING dancer. I went to school with Boogaloo Shrimp for a year in middle school, he was living in Wilmington, CA. Would always go to Scott Park and see cats like Donald Devou then Blue City crew and now you can see him still hittin hard as hell in Booyaa Tribe videos, hehe, still bad!

What do you think is the major differences between todays scene and before?

Waveomatic It was much more raw back then, battles in the streets, malls, schools, parks, garages, everywhere, 24/7. Today, thanks to technology and to many OG’s that never stopped doing for the artform what all of us should be thankfull for…..keeping it alive, it has reached many people an many areas and has given bith to many events and contests all over the world. Expereincing both eras, it really makes me appreciate one another. The rawness of back then, the growing love for it today. I am amazed at so many of todays dancers, the technicality and execution of their dance is amazing to watch.

A major difference between today and then, for me, is creativity. Back then, we didnt have tutorials in forms of mpegs, avi’s, dvd’s, vhs, forums, newsgroups, emails, etc. So when we were “stuck” or “studing” on a style, we looked at movies, cartoons, insects, whatever to get some iinfluence, some direction. We looked within our imagination. Many stylese came out in a short period of time, and those styles got flipped by the next person, you took the ball and ran with it your way. Today, many cats emulate thier dance from the sorce they are studing to learn it from. That, in my opinion, takes away some of the creative process that takes place when figuring out styles, moves, transitions, etc, yourself.

Who were some known poppers back then? What made them known?

Waveomatic Wow, so many. From Boppin Andre to Boppin Ron, King Snake to King Cobra, Heckle and Jeckle (samoan) to Heckle and Jeckle (white), hehe. So so many to mention. You had cats like Mr Wiggles, Mr Wave, Popmaster Fabel and others we had seen in movies and videos, we were like “those cats are bad!” as in DOPE. Here in the West Coast, you had gangs of dancers and crews from the Bay all the way to LA.

Many cats were not famous, out of all the dancers involved in the scene, a very very small percentage made movies and commercials, or even made huge reps amoung the masses, many underground cats were dope as hell!!!! Some could take anyone!!! I’ll tell you about my hoods poppers. In my niehborhood and surrounding hoods, more knowns were Boogaloo Shrimp, Blue City Crew, really dope cat Anthony Medina, Alo Bothers, Cosmix, Curtis E, Packy and Candy Man ( local crips), Sunny Lopez (hardcore lowrider popper), Chilly Willie (mostly a bboy when that hit, but before he popped and locked, his house was the spot, pool, we swam when it had water and skated it when it wa empty, his garage was the main practice spot.) Dino (baddest American-Japanese popper I had seen, we went to school together and practiced a grip), Deno Rivera (first dude I ever seen do hand waves like what cats doing “liquid” nowaday call the handflow, I took his concept and flipped it to travel around my body, bending and turning as it changed speeds, antoher amazing waver) , Pookey, Scotty Pierson ( a blood from Scott Park Killers, also Booyaa Tribe/Blue City Family, my close poppin partner, half samoan half white, hehe, and would inspire me to get better all the time, so did his brother J J, God rest his soul, another soldier murdered), Bam Bam (Ricky from EST, got his name from getting shot 7 times in the back and still lived, now has a house and family and all that, Sammy Burchet (this dude looked exactly like Billy Idol, he could get down! Bad ass whiteboy.), Lil’ Guns (not cause of guns as in 9mm semi automatics/gats, but he had some big ass muscle arms….guns), Joker ( gansta), Wero (gansta), Actions (dope ass dancer), Fili Vaa Swani ( my close homie, dope ass samoan popper with mad styles, my sister recently ran into him, hopefully I can get him back into the game. His cousin OKA showed me the very first trace wave I had scene, he would wave his eyebrows even, he was an amazing waver, showed me the “neverending wave”, Willie Walnut (later became a crip, died runnning from the cops in a freak death, hopping over a spiked fence, he slipped and the fence speared right thru him), Jo Jo, Joel and Sunny Morales (DOPE ass filipino poppers from Carson) Phillip Gills (crazy hard ass tutter from my hood, one night he battled all night at some Gardena Rec Center poppin event, mostly tutting on them, hard ass sharp tutts with crips hits, all on beat,), Marcellas, Whiteboy Danny and Whiteboy Dave (part of the Kurkindile brothers, craziest whiteboys I have ever met, youngest bother Psycho was a notorious killer in the hood, thank God we were good homies, hehe.), Dee O T (pimp popper), Marty Martini (new wave popper), Sinbad (sentinced to life in prison for murder), JimBad, Tone Stone, , Lil’ Creeper (dope mexican popper), Angel Rivera, Randy Keaha (Hawaiian cat, an all round dancer, he did jazz and all that too), Kung Fool(this cat was funny), Tung (dope vietnamese popper, one of the dopest basketball players too, this cat could hoop anyone, and Pookey was semi pro, and he would ball him up…. me, Willie, Vaa, Sammy and Pookey use to kick it in his garage all the time, homeboy had 8 brothers, Tin, Ton, Tung, Bin, Bong, Vit, and some other older ones deep into veitnamese mafia, homeboys were crazy! ), Little Casper (his brother was huge dealer, hehe, dude had a new car every month, till he got raided), Arabian Prince (yeah, he was a DJ and lived down the street for a while, he made some dope cuts too) to name some.

Where were the hot spots to session/battle at? How often did these things go down?

WaveomaticMy favorite spots where Noahs Ark/Infinity, an all ages club in Long Beach. Carson Mall, Dell Amo Mall, Fox Hills Mall, school dances had dope battles, Big Johns, King Harbor, Venice Beach, at house parties (meaning at ppls house, not meaning the House music of the Chicago scene) Hollywood Blvd (motly by Highland, but up and down the blvd), friday night highschool football games, Shamrock roller rink (nice low key spot), FatBurgers, and Studio K/CLoud 9 at Knotts Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA. Shit went down every weekend, and once in a while a good local park event or a church’s dance to go hit up :) Also if I was lucky enough to go to an Uncle Jams Army event, those were dope, think of it like a funk-tastic-poppin-pre-rave, hehe.

Who was ur inspiration?

WaveomaticMany dancers, really many different things. As I said earlier, I started in 79, sometime before May, I had asked my Mom about it and she says I was doing it on my birthday nonstop that year. :) Back then, I had seen many older Samoan cats, also David Alo (he busted the robot first that made me really trip out) and Oka (my waving inspiration) inspired me big time. Also seeing Robert Shields and Yarnel on TV was mad inspirational. So many cats I grew up inspired me at one point or another, so did many cartoons, movies, animals, and things like water. :) I’m sure indirectly other inspirations helped me and keep helping me grow as a dancer.

Did you train with a certain group/individual/teacher? If so who?

Waveomatic Mostly with the homies, but in 85 I had to leave the country, I moved to Greece and was the only popper there, at least that I knew of.

Can you still find inspiration from the new generation?

Waveomatic HELL YEAH!!!! It’s the new generation that has me out dancing all the time again!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!

Please tell us about any memorable battles, beefs, sessions, moves, places, etc.

Waveomatic Man, there is so much to say about all the battles, sessions, moves and places…lets just say that there were some spots like Hollywood Blvd that you would see a gang of new heads you had never seen before, seeing new shit, and at all age clubs. Sessions usually happened at a homies garage, but we would also session at the park.

I grew up close to Scott Park in Carson that opened me up to a lot of poppin. A crazy beef I remember was between two cats, Pookey and this other cat, cant remember his name, this filipino cat, but they battled, then they squabbed, and then they battled and squabbed all over again. This lasted a few hours between a lot of shit talking and pushing, later getting half the place involved. It was at a rented out wharehouse party, Knights of the Turntables spinnin, kegs, no ID needed, these two dudes went crazy that night. I’ll never forget during their second battle, the other homeboy was poppin and by the end of a few rounds he had a big ole’ knott on his head (Pookey had headbutt him), hehe, he was swellin’ up bigtime, bloody shirt, lump growing upside his head, busted eye and all, :). These cats didnt dance to fight, but fight to dance :)

What was the dominant styles back in the 70s? How about in the 80s?

Waveomatic When I started, it was all about the robot, and if you weren’t doing that, you were lockin or doing both. It was the robot that got me into it fo sho. Again, this was in ‘79, and before that I really don’t remember much, I was 11, and wasnt exposed to much other than lockin and the robot. It wasnt till I saw it done up close that got me crazy hooked.

The 80’s is when I started seeing all kinds of styles and moves, here in the Harbor Area of Los Angeles, the very early 80’s was a poppin explosion. As far as my area goes, from the 70’s, many Samoan cats that orginaly lived in the Bay had moved to Carson, CA, and Long Beach, CA, and some of their styles came along with them. Also, Poppin Pete and his brother Boogaloo Sam moved to Long Beach from Fresno, and brought Sam’s Electric Boogaloo style. I had heard of Pete, my sure my homie had told me about him, like I beleive he called hime Poppin Pistol Pete or something very simular to that, describing his hard hittin style, and I later came to know about Sam and Pete.

Also Boppin style was big, thanks to Boppin Andre, he influenced many here in LA too, another poppin legend as well. I beleive all these cats, Bay Area styles and more, played a role in the area and surrounding areas I’m from (Harbor Area).

The 80’s you saw a lot of poppin, animation (3 d’ing and many other styles incorporated in mimicing stop action and clay mation movements, much inspired by movies based on Greek, Persian and Arabic mythological creatures), bay are struttin and boogaloo, the style of poppin in itself (yes, poppin is a style, like continuouse hitting, not just a term used to describe the dances that accompany it, hehe, and different areas “popped” different even though the foundations was there, like compton style was more gangsta, for example), electric boogaloo (old man, walk out, twist o flex, rolls), waves(all different types, waves in the mid 80’s got VERY creative) , bops (came from bottin, rythmatic robot dancing which incorporates a hit usually comming from the stomach area and chest), hits ( the “tensing” of various body parts, the essence of poppin), vibrating, strobbin (mimicing the actions of a strobe light’s effect), tickin (sharply “stop and go” pausing your moves), tuts (egyptian style, mimicing egyptian hieroglyphic postures, ancient eastern indian hand positions, buggs bunny cartoon angles, then led to more geometrical styles)floats and glides (illusionary walking movements, like walking in place, or going backwards while giving the illusion of moving forwards[this is known as the backslide, but was commonly mistaken as the moonwalk, which is what Micheal Jackson called it when he first performed it on a Motown Show on TV-MJ use to robot back in the days, but he learned a gang of poppin from Poppin Taco and Poppin Pete I beleive], also done on the knees, like the famous Mr Wiggles knee slide), walks (character walks), puppet (like being controlled on a string), to name a some, and routines (many influenced by the Bay Area)and so on.

How were battles judged back then? Do you feel it is better judged now or before?

Waveomatic It depended, if it was a battle, or a contest, or a talent show. See, a battle, is the RAWEST form, it was judged by the crowd watching it. The crowd judged. Contests, it would depend, as did talent shows, sometimes they gave it to the highest crowd response, or they had judges, usually the sponsors of the event, hehe. I like it when you battle and the crowd judges, this artform is such an entertaining one, its great to be able to feed off of that factor. I’m all about the crowd :)

Skill level compared to back then to now, what are the differences?

Waveomatic The skill level now is INSANE! Not saying it wasnt back then, the Old School is no were close being documented to see what the skill level was like, the footage available, being great, does not reflect all what was going on, those who were there know how advances some were….. but DAMN, some styles have progressed so much, like boogaloo, tutting and waving, even bottin, for example that seeing cats like Sweepy, Jay Jay, Tetris, Skywalker, Elsewhere, Madd Chadd, and so so many more, to see them doing amazing things with it, wow, makes me feel young again! I definetly would like to see more character, musicality is dope now adays, cats are hitting beats like crazy. I wish they played more of a variety of poppin music at events so we can see what cats really can do with musicality other than songs that are redundantly being played throughout events.

Who did you want to battle back then? What about now??

Waveomatic Anyone, and anyone. ;)

what do you feel about the internet becoming a big part of networkin in poppin community?

Waveomatic DOPE! The internet is a valuable tool, a very powerful one too. But be carefull, it can make you lazy, and if it is your blueprint to learning this dance, then it might do you more harm. As a communication tool, to talk and learn with others all over the world, its amazing, I’m a nerd because of it. What I mean by lazy, if it’s just to download clips and vids to learn, thinking its a shortcut, it is, but its a shortcut to somewhere that will be harder to find your OWN way back home. IMO dance is self expression, you want to express yourself when you dance, not someone else. Also much credit goes to Space Capital setting it off with Bboy.com, and FO SHO Mr Wiggles for his many contributions even thru his website, and how it’s brought so many dancers together to discuss topics in a form not many other places have provided, always reaching out to every dancer and respecting every opinion. It has proven to be a valuable tool, I think his website might be underappreciated by even myself for what it has provided for the community. So on that note, THANK YOU!

When did you get back into the scene? why?

Waveomatic You never stop dancing, I really believe that, but I did fall out of the scene and stopped practicing for years. My crew started claiming the hood instead, gangbangin, drug dealing, quick comeups, it just ruined what we once had in my hood. The crack cocaine hit hard, dealing went out of control, gangs, dancing was the lowest on the list.

I started doing shows with THE SHAPESHIFTERS, an underground hip hop group started by memebers of CBS graffiti crew here in LA. I produced tracks, worked a lot with Circus, we were close homies for many many years, and Mek on beats starting even before the album Planet of the Shapes very early 90’s, and danced live during shows later in the 90’s too, even poppin in costumes.

I toured with the homies thru states too, and also did tons of shows all through California. I also popped on a few underground videos, like for Awol One and a few of our crazy ShapeShifter vids. In the 90’s, I also toured to Europe with Milk Skateboards for the World Championships, in 96 I had a REAL battle again in Amsterdam against a Dutch popper at a hip hop event. This got me back into lookin more into it again.

Then around 2001-2002 I started posting online, on websites, where I met Tetris and Pandora, they took me to Homeland(a place for dancers, DJ,s and graff writers to do there thing without getting in trouble, we have designated walls there for cats to do there pieces, legally) when it was for Bboy/Bgirls, and we became the true homies. With their help, IceMan (OG Bboy), Bboy Don (OG boy), Steam(OG Graff artist), and Dixie ( REALLY OG, she ran the park, changed it around, use to be gang infested, its deep in the hood, but is one of the safest places you’ll ever visit, thanks to all her efforts), we started Homeland on monday nights for poppin and lockin. They are the ones mainly responsible for getting me back in the game.

Those two and what else that inspired me most to get back in the game was seeing Detours. WOW, I related to those cats cause I have a simular approach, later I met Skywalker wavin at an underground D&B event, we started meeting up at spots a grip, then later Elsewhere and Squid where we shot a video for some house group called Eltro, and we have became close homies since, hehe. We are some really weird wavers from SoCal, hehe.

I can never thank Elsewhere enough, and even more Tetris and Pandora, they took me under their wing and we were the three amigos going out every weekend, oh yeah, and Ted, haha, those were good times.

what was the down time of the scene like (late 80s early 90s) how did ppl react to poppin?

Waveomatic Mid eighties is when I saw the down fall, actually in 86-87, I came back from Greece and most of the crew was gangbangin and hustling instead. No one was poppin at parties. I was getting clowned for poppin, ’cause when I was in Greece, I was still doing my thing. I couldnt beleive it, I was not feeling this change one bit, but later got sucked into its trap. Many of the “poppin” neighborhoods got infected by this social virus, bieng they were in low income areas, like the projects (ghetto) and arrested developemented communites.

Our poppin shirts and pants were replaced by colorless gear, our boom boxes by boom sticks. No glory in it, nothing close to the days of poppin battles. Poppers were like gladiators, battles were face to face, not suppose to be someone who gets shot in the back while running for cover. In LA the gang scene got really nutty, and many of the most talented individuals fell prey to it. If they werent bangin, they were robbing, and if they werent robbing and stealing, they were dealing, and if they werent dealing, they were smoking, and when they werent smoking, they were doing other dirt. Many fell to that lifestyle, and the media started to milk it thru gansta rap and other forms.

Poppin is a West Coast dance, spawned by the funk era musically, to its earliest traces in the Bay to Central, then down to Southern California area geographicaly, commonly mistaken for being a Hip Hop element, even though now in my opinion it probably is, but thats not where it originaly came from, as Hip Hop originally came from the Bronx, NY. When Hip Hop started to take a change, so did many of its dances and the dances it accompanied. Bboyin, a true hip hop element, also started to phase out when poppin and lockin phased out as a main scene.

The true essence of these West Coast dances and Hip Hop elements found themselfs at thier roots again….underground….when only MC’ing could be turned to products to sell, rappin was on the forefront…..commercial Rap and commercial Hip Hop spawned other scenes, and took some of the dancers there, even away from dancing, hehe. At that time, many elements of poppin found themselfs in other scenes here in LA for example, that era, mid to late 80’s, was the time of the first “raves” her in LA. Electro, which was big in the early to mid 80’s, also shifted scenecs, it went way underground, college and underground radio became a home to these, the BMP’s started getting faster and faster, which started the first TechnoElectro parties here in Los Angeles, and with the influence of a scene starting in Detroit, Techno for short (many Electro Funk influences, like Kraftwork and Tangarine Dream, were the influences that also spawned the Techno scene that first started in Detroit, these influences and others, like Chicago’s House and New York’s “Garage” scenes, and UK’s many electronica scences, and many others reached here from the 80’s thru the 90’s).

Here in LA, Party Crews started throwing these type of clubs, as did many college students promotting these hallucenogenicaly laced parties, mostly illegal events at abandoned buildings, rented out hangers and lofts, our even out in the desert. Some poppers like myself attended these parties, we could dance and not get bagged on for poppin, but with the beats so fast, we mostly just waved all night long, hehe. Just try hittin to beats at 100 – 140 BPM all night long, hehe, what a workout!

what do you think brought poppin back? Who is responsible?

Waveomatic How could such a dance, an artform, so unique, so distinctfully different..unhuman if you will, compared to other dances…that came from the streets, done with such grace, creating so much creativity, igniting such imaginaton, how could something like that ever just dissappear? Thats what I really think now, it never left, just shifted scenes. Sure, it lost many participants along the way, but now gains more and more all the time.

I give most of the credit to the Electric Boogaloos for taking this dance to soo many places, that is just undeniable. Also, cats like Boogaloo Shrimp got many cats involved thru ppl seeing him in Breakin, you’ll always here the words “turbo” when someone with minimal knowledge tries to describe it. He doesnt get much credit, but he should, he also went to Japan and took the dance with him doing shows. Now cats like Elsewhere have sprung new dancers and fans of the dance with his worldwide commercials and his Kollaboration clip, the most downloaded dance clip on the internet, hehe, that keep exposing the artform to different scenes and regions.

What legacy would you like to leave for the scene?

Waveomatic hehe, I would love to be known as or even leave a legacy, who wouldnt, the truth is I’m just one of so many poppers that got down back in the days, I wasn’t famous back then, well, outside of my hood, hehe, but I had my underground rep fo sho, mostly known as the crazy white boy from harbor city, hehe. Ideally I would like to leave cats hopefully knowing that my style is mine, a much as anyones dance can be thier own, that I tried to be an innovator, and create new ideas for the dance. If I inspired at least one person thru my dance, who inturn inspires another, that not too bad. :)

What advice would you give to anyone who is interested in getting into this dance?

Waveomatic DO IT!!!!!!!!! ITS THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH!!!!!!!!!

Anything you would like the readers to know about you? Any other comments?

Waveomatic Yeah, thanks again for the interview, I wasnt famous or was I the best popper back then, but I know I could get down with the best of them, hehe, so its an honor for someone like me, an underground popper, to get a chance to be heard and acknowledged, even though my participation in the history of the artfrom is just a splash of water, a wave breaking in an everflowing ocean of knowledge.

That, and come to Homeland Cutlural Center on Mondays nights so we can get down!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) Much love to my family, Mom and Dad let me dance, they knew it kept me out of trouble….for a while, hehe, and I have to give a big shout out to my baby Karlita aka “Pop Roxx”, she helped my thru some really tought times not too long ago that almost had me sent somewhere way outside this scene, hehe, THANK YOU BABE! And a big huge thanks to all the homies I have met, all my HOMELAND HOMIES!!!!!!!!, and all the homies I have yet to meet!Similar Posts:

• Interview with Shallow
• Interview with Space Capital
• Interview with Mr.Wiggles
• Interview with Pakelika
• Interview with Midnight

What is your name?

My stage Name is Angel

Where are you from originally? Where are you now?

I was born in 1958 in Guadalajara Mexico and Raised in Los es County since the age 5. and I still live in the Los es County area.

When did you start your journey as a dancer?

my first exposure to dancing was at 5 years old my parents would have me dance for friends and Family member at huge parties we had.

How was your family’s reaction to your interest in dancing?

The reaction of my family toward me dancing was of no shock when I decided officially to be apart of the mainstream in 1977, here in Los es what pulled my curiosity was a International television show that came out live here in Los es on a Spanish channel at that time Kmex Channel 34 show that came out on February of 1977 Live from Mexico City.

How was the dance scene back in the 70’s and early 80’s

how was it like in the 70’s I cannot really put it in word of how exciting it was but let me tell you this. There were people from all walk’s of life filled the Night club from all levels of society got together to have fun!!! To dance to let go People from different origins back ground it was a multicultural scene that had never been since or that had ever happened in that magnitude the movement brought people from different nationalities together that made entertainment History. I learned of the existence of A Dance Culture with sub cultures of street dancing which were dominating the Clubs and Television scene which were Lockin” Poppin. Know Punkin’ was considered a club style dance but was done by street dancers in the clubs and couples dancing I brought into the mix Mambo and Cumbia which in the modern age dance movement I pioneered in.

You were heavily involved in the dance/entertainment industry in the 70s, how did that come about?

Yes I was very heavily involved in the dance movement in the 70’s I Participated for the first time on Fiebre del dos Fever on 2 which is the Show that was televised from Mexico City a solo International male dance contest I was 19 years of age at that time I took a plane to Mexico City to compete I Place first and was invited to go back this time Acapulco Mexico at the Famous Le Jardin Club the show was hosted by Chela Braniff and Fito Heron I won the Grand Final I was very fortunate remember this was my first exposure in the mainstream of the business it was an unforgettable wonderful Experience. After that I came back to L.A. and my mother told me that the Radio station kiis Fm. Was having auditions for a promotional dance group called the Kiis Fm Dancers the audition would be held a Chippendales, and on March of 1977 I was chosen to be an Original member of what became a very popular dance company.

What were some known groups and dancers at that time?

The dance group that where Popular that were making notice making a difference show stoppers that I remember or that had heard of in the Main stream of the Industry. Starting from the late 60’s to the Early 80’s I would say where the Fabulous Locker 33rpm, Captain Crunch and the Funky bunch, Jeff Kautach’s Dancing Machine, The Kiis Fm Dance company Cat Man dou, The Nostalgics, The Original Electirc Boogaloos, The Blue City Stutters, El Pachouco dance Company Shabbadoo Dance Company, Chain Reaction, The L.A Lockers, and Elcipse. And Also I want to give respect for there contribution to the dance movement Group from San Francisco The Bay area, That had a huge influence in the Poppin and strutting Subculture Where Poppin and all the other variation style within the sub Culture of Poppin Like Strutting, Fillmore Ticking, Boogalooing, which influence S.California and was popularized when Electric Boogaloos move to Long Beach California from the Bay area in 1977 and with the Blue City Stutters who also came from The Bay area and Heckle and Jeckel Two Samoan Brother that also arrive here in S.California in the Late 70’s staying in the City of Carson, Strutting Master, my respect also to those Group which are: Close Encounter of the Funkiest kind, Live Inc, Demons of the mind, Criminons, Risergents, Dr Grave and the Cemetery Slaves, Midnight Persuasion Cuasualtistics And Medea Circus who is still performing along with the GroveMexanics which is a group formed by Doc Lock which is currently performing demonstrating Lockin’ Poppin’ and Strutting,

Now what was the name of well know dancers Free style street dancers that Immerged as solo dance and Group members, artist of that time period that where mainstream entertainers and that belonged to the completion dance circuit also that originally started in South Los es and Grow as the dance movement evolved thru the years that I recall were. Dino, Master cane dancer, Gino, T.C Diamond Master Cane dancer. Jeffrey Daniels Jody, Wately, Don Cambpell Lock Cabpell Fluke luke Greg campbell locker Jr. Fred Berry, Aka Penguin and Rerun Toni Basil, Danmita Joe Freeman Pat Davis Mary aka Dolly Molina, Topaz Randy Sanchez, Arpaccio, Cathy, Norman, Manny, Raul Mary Ann, Diane, Scobby Doo,Wayne ward, Casper. Genie Aka Flame. Kool Hand luke, Cooley Jackson Cooley Hayes, Rip Van, The Rubberband man. Female Dallas Ivette Chris Lil Victor, Roland Sanchez, Louie Louie. Mr. X. Henry Flores R.I. P). Shabbadoo, Female Poppin/Boppin. TNT, Tangerine, Michael o, R.I.P). Tinker, Arthur, Lanny, Andrew, Susan, Deputy, Alfa, Corky. Donna, Robert Lozano Sugar Bop Sundance, Cracker Jack, Popin Pete Boogaloo Sam, Crippin Cid, Puppet Boozer, Robot Dane, Robot Charles, Slim the Robot Skeeter Rabbit R.I.P.) Carlos Valante, the Guzman Cool Pocket, And a few other names that escape my mind That I apologize for..

Were you involved in any battles/competitions? What was that like?

Yes I was involved in the Dance competition circuit along with my peers that I have mentioned in the prior question most of them, The Members of the lockers by the early 70’s did not compete any more because of course they where at a level of mainstream success that competing was not needed because they could support them self doing Television and Tours. In the dance competitions circuit in the Clubs of S. California from Orange County Los es county to San Fernando Valley to Ventura county Had grown by the mid 70’s in popularity and mostly because of Saturday night Fever. So Promoters like Buzzie Reeze Austin Page and the first Female Promoter M.C. Marie C, and company where the main Promoters at that time.

In the Club Scene in the time frame that I have given which I mention of from 1968 to 1983 the Word battling was not used in the Club scene we refer to what we were doing as competing not against each other but competing with each other for the audience approval taking what we had and challenging each other with the audience, in a respectful professional matter. We would be presented by the M.Cs I mentioned Promoted the contest. And each year which started in the mid 70’s a Dance Rock Award would be held to recognize dancer for different categories award of talent and Achievements and to welcome the new comers, there would be every year a City Final and A CIF Final.

Who were some of your inspirations? Who influenced your dancing when you were first starting to dance?

My First inspiration my first influences were by Watch M.G.M Dance Musicals of the 40’s and 50’s Era of the Hollywood Dance Musicals. like Fred Astere, the Nicolas Brother stomp and stompy Gene Kelly Boogangales, Sammy Davis Jr. and the Dance Musicals from Mexico Dancers like Resorts, which means the Rubberband man. Chi li lo, The King of Mambo Perez Prado and His Orchestra, Cantinflas, Tin Tan with his Fashion that helped popularize The Zoot suit look in Mexico like Cab Calloway Here in U.S.A. My influences in the 60’s and Early 70’s are Westside story James Brown, and all the shows I have mentioned and all my peers I have mentioned inspired me as we inspired each other. I was just happy to be a part of something that we all really did not know how powerful and influential Our Era which I call the Modern age Dance Movement created and gave to the World to Date. We all respected and Admired each other there was a comaradity a wonderful challenge that we all had the opportunity to give because the time was right and it was all about reaching the audience they had the last word that was the stamp of approval,. that We all needed to be recognized and which gave us a name of recognition and respect with in the Dance industry and beyond.

What was one of your most memorable moments as a dancer? Most accomplished moments?

My most a memorable and my most accomplished moment, that is a hard question because I loved very bit of everything I was fortunate to be a part of but I would say was when, I for the first time stepped on a stage which was in Mexico City and Acapulco in 1977 where I Place first twice and won the Final I did not know what I was doing I just knew that I wanted to hopefully be excepted by the audience by the Viewers first and foremost there where judges of course but I feel very connected with the Cameras which I knew where the Power force the Magic that made things happen the viewer at home. . And When I Performed on Soul Train on May 16, 1981 along with Sabbadoo and Puppet Boozer, Strutting Poppin Lockin’ and Punkin” it was truly a unforgettable moment.

What did it take to make it in the dance industry in the 70s? What does it take now?

What it took then to make it in the Dance movement make difference was the Passion the ability to make an audience feel your soul and us there soul feeding us the energy we needed giving them a show not just a dance number but a show in one routine Expression character You did not have to flip over three or four time to bring the audience to there feet all you had to do is dance look for the rhythm that all people can relate to in there hearts even if they could not dance they felt what we were giving them it was about inspiring the audience to get them involved with you in your zone it was not about just the moves it was about the full package that is what they enjoyed everyone was a character in there on right every one had an image. We were street dancers bringing Glamour Class, Style and Creativity, from head to toe and from the music to the dance with out selling out with out commercializing your self other wise you loose the trade mark your own creation. And know is the same method it all about what I mentioned be difference don’t all look the same because other wise you become a dime a dozen as the industry labels you and if that is not a sign then I don’t no what. The idea I that you want to stand out and be remembered hopefully in dance History or at what ever level you want to take your talent but it has to be done in a full package matter. I have always said don’t be afraid to be different be yourself trend come and go,. But true Artist will be remember for there Sacrifice dedication the way they honored and represented the Funk Era the movement the Culture and Subcultures that existed and exist to date.

What exactly is “Punkin” compared to “Wackin”, please elaborate.

Punkin Compared to Wackin’ Punkin” is the Original Underground Name and was created in the underground Gay club scene in Hollywood/L.A. in the Mid 70’s by Dancers like Tinker Michael o Andrew Lanny, Arthur, and Others Blacks and Hispanics entertainers. there was a show they used to give in the underground clubs called the Bettey Grabel show and they used to model and dance dress up eccentric and Glamorous what I refer as the First Divas of dance. very dramatic and Powerful way of expression. Shabbadoo and others would go from time to time to watch this great!! dancers demonstrate there unique way of dancing. I Found out about this underground dance style in 1977 Shabbadoo along with Dancing Machine your truly and Members of Chain Reaction and a few of the original Creators Popularized Punkin’ But Shabbado and other Like Ana Sanchez and several other of Our peers called it Wackin for Commercial reasons Wackin is just a Variation of Punkin But its still Punkin’ Weather your posing off or straight Punkin that is the Original Name and showed Go down in History as such. Wackin’ again is a commercialized name and should not be separated from it original Origin. Punkin is exactly that you’re Punkin out!! you’re letting your self go It all about Power and Momentum and then you can play with it but you have to teach the Original style before you move on..

When did these dances come about?

I was able to be call as most of my peers Natural dancers which is the true nature of were the name street dancers come from never taught learned by watch or have it in the blood to be able to pickup absorb thing in a way that other cannot. Feel the spirit of the dance and do it as if one had been doing it for years making it look easy. Some of the first Street dancers where Tap Dancer dancing in corner for money Bauddville The Hoofers Club Tap Dancer. The Dance Music that I picked up since I was five and Growing up in South Los es from 1963 to 1971 from the rhythms of Music where Mambo Cumbia Soul Music Motown Music Funk Jazz And Disco Music. And the dance styles where Mambo Cumbia, 40’s and 50’s dance in general Soul Dancing in general. Lockin’ Poppin Strutting, Punkin’ Dramatics and Couples Dancing of the 70’s.

What were the hot spots back in the 60s? 70s? 80s?

Some of the Best Clubs in S.California Legendary club Where Maverick Flats in South L.A. Chippendales, West L.A. El Paso Cantina, In the City of Long Beach, Flannegans, In Marina Del Rey, Cresendos in Anaheim, Circus Night Club Dillons in Down town L.A. Annabelles, in Redondo Beach Noas Ark. In Lon beach, Mr. J. in El Monte, Fantasia in the Bonventure Hotel Downtown L.A. Stocks 2 in Fullerton and Jimmies. Moodies in Santa Monica, Marlyns Back Street in Pasadena, The Copa Cabana formally called the Third World. Tiki’s and the Pink Panther in Montebello Ozco’s Disco. Deja vous in Costa Mesa. The Brewery in Rosemead.

Did you train with a certain group or dancer?

The Only Group that I trained with in my career was with the Kiis Fm. Dancer I was with them for two years. What we would do is learn each others move and teach them to the rest,. to create more versatile dance show. number. But pretty much it was about picking up what we as peers showed one another.

How is the scene viewed now compared to before? Please tell us your feelings towards what it was like back then and compared to now.

well the scene know is not about individualism or about creating a Character a trade mark any more. Remember in the time period that I put down. Was fresh Exciting different and the audiences took it all into there souls. Saturday Night Fever Brought your everyday Labor worker to People from the Highest level of society to the club that I have mentioned together for one main purpose which was to dance that was the common Goal. Me and my peers where the Engine that kept the train moving audiences the Patrons coming back for more aside of going out to just get away from the every day life hustle and bustle of life. We brought audiences something special that they loved us for that I’m extremely, Grateful to them because with out them there was no us then and there would be know us know to the younger generation that respects and admire what we did and is motivated inspired by that… We have to go back Bring back the whole package deal for the Audience get away from only concentrating on the moves about attitude only no expression Facial expression is just as important or even more because the face the eyes are the window to the soul of the each and everyone in the audience then the moves follow. Stay away from the Battling mentality, Bring it back to the Audience first let the Audience decide not your peers we do not have the last word they do a contest is set up for the pleasure of entertaining the audience that is all.

How do you feel about online video clips? Is it helpful to the scene?

I feel that it is very important to keep posting video clip on the internet being that besides television the Internet is the new window to the world to view. Yes it very helpful be cause We are not the mainstream anymore and the internet keeps us alive around the world.

How do you feel about the internet becoming a big part of communities in the dance scene?

I feel the Internet is Positive.

Can you still find inspiration from the new generation?

of course we can still find inspiration from the new generation. They are what keeps the dance movement alive that is why we as Pioneer have a responsibility to teach what we had to leave in the mind and in the soul of the new generation part of us so that they can represent the movement as it revolutionizes with a sense of Pride and dignity and respect, for year to come..

Have you been in the game ever since, or was there a time when dancing slowed down in your life?

I was out of the business for several year because the movement shifted in a different direction in 1984 a new generation was moving in and of Course the influence from the East Coast with the rise of the Hip Hop and Up Rocking Bboying came in to the Mainstream and with every right to do so here in the West Coast But unfortunately the Media used Hip Hop and Breakin’ as an umbrella to describe street dancers so the Funk Era and the Culture and Sub Cultures of Lockin Poppin, and Punkin went underground.

Are you involved in any communities or groups now?

yes I’m involved with the community I’m very grateful to Ice Man who has given me the opportunity to teach at Homeland Center located in Long Beach I teach 2 twice a month Lockin’ Poppin’ and Punkin to any student that want to learn Again it is our responsibility to give back to the community to spread the seed that we all planted..

If people are interested in learning your specialties, how would they come about doing so?

Yes dancers that are interested in learning the styles that I’m fortunate to have Pioneered first generation Pioneer. I can be reached at my Web site www.angelsclassicdancers.com or on myspace. it would be my pleasure to teach and give the history of our dance Culture to dancers and on panels to the general Public that are willing to learn more of the dance movement…

Do you have any recommendations for the beginners?

I do have a recommendation for dancers starting of. Always do your research ask the Original or the Pioneer question of how it was back then get a picture a feel in the mind in the heart to guide you thru when you dance feel the spirit of that time by absorbing everything you can from them from us. you are an extension of us. Learn the legacy of the 70’s Era I’m not say to be a carbon copy of us of who ever you want The Original or Pioneer to teach you. There is no better teacher then the one that created or pioneered these dance styles. Stay away from learning from dancers that only have been dancing for one or two years that done know the history or are of course learning themselves go to the right sources. And always never forget where you come from as your career blossoms. Stay away from Bad Politics because that only away your true focus which is the audience and it a lost of positive energy that you are letting get into your soul, stay pour to the game of entertaining have fun but be responsible also with the decision your make. can change the course of your destiny. Stay spiritually connected first and foremost.

Anything you would like the readers to know about you? Any other comments?

Well anything else that I would want the viewer to know about me is that I’m a true passionate entertainer and a fortunate one to have been at the right place at the right time in the prime of my life. And that is compelled to continue in my mission to preserve our Culture to tell about it and to continue teaching as long as God grants the opportunity to continue doing so. Stride to be the best you can be with out cheating yourself be a team player don’t be afraid to speak up when you feel something is not right about what you see let keep our Dance Culture tight and truthful so the World can really appreciate what we did and what you are continuing to do and don’t forget that there is no us with out the audience. My love and respect to each and every one of you the viewers.

I would like to thank Tetris publicly for inviting me to be apart of this very educational site and for the opportunity to share with all of you a flash of the pass I hope that what I have share will spark a more and better understanding..Similar Posts:

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Whats your name?

The Doc of Style

How old are you?

23

What kind of music do you spin?

Style of music…funk, electro funk/house, new school

How long have you been a DJ for?

Off & on for last 7 yrs.

When did you start and how did you get into it?

As you know originaly I was a b-boy competing in different comps & I injured myself & i was put on the shelf for a few months so i shifted my energy to dj’ing influnenced by great dj’s that i met while dancing like Mark Luv, and my teacher DJ Abel.

What is your opinion on the current scene?…

Its just like hip-hop there is to many people in it just to make the dolla’s and not in it b/c they acutally have a passion for music, i can care less if i’m making 400 – 0 dls. At a show im there b/c i love the people and the music dont get me wrong the money is nice but i love music period.

How did you get your name?

I try to stand out as a DJ not only with the name but with my style of music and wear so thats how the Doc of Style was born.

What equipment are you using at the moment?

2 Techs, pmc vestax 05-3 pro, sony valio lap top, serato, mpc 1000

What was your very first setup like?

Oh man it shitty’s ever, I had the DJ in the box lol, that thing sucked, the needles broke the first month. I had it, and the mixer’s fader was bleeding after the first week.

Any projects/new releases that you are working on?

Im working on producing a all funk style album with sum new hot tracks for the poppers and sum nice remixes of classic funk tracks should be done with it by dec.07 so keep an eye out.

Where do you get your gigs? What is your favorite spot to spin at?

I get my gigs thru the dancers they like what I play and they know that I’ll keep the energy up so they request me and i thank them for that, thats why I love spinning at spots like Homeland and the JVC its like a different energy than any other big events, people are there for the dancing its like a family when u get 2gether.

How did you hook up spinning at popping jams?

Coming from a background of being a dancer they tend to show me alot of love and they know that Ii bring the funk everytime. So in short dancers like j-smooth, & kid-boogie, put the word out for me to get me on the shows.

If you could throw a popping jam of your own, what would you have? What would you play?

I dont think ya’ll ready for that one yet, in time you’ll c first hand how that will play out.

Where do you find your tracks/records?

Trying to be slick huh i cant give that data away!

What are some of your major influences (artists, djs, etc.)?

My major influence have to be prince, his funky style, the bass his drumbeats u cant mess with em’, thats a artist that Ii really like to model myself after. Guys like DJ abel, Mark Luv, Qbert, all play a big part why I am a DJ.

What is your most memorable moment while spinning (at an event/club, etc.)?

Most memorable moment has to be the first yr. I DJ’d at Rock the Bells, it was hot Ii’ve been up for 26 hrs straight and Supernatural walked over to me and said, “for your first time u held it down with the big dogs”. That really meant alot to me comming from a guy like Supernat.

Why do you spin…what do you get out of it?

Ii spin because I love music Ii keep doing it to feel the rush i get when I hear the reaction of the crowd when I play their fav track. Bascially I do it to rep for the funk styles.

Do you have plans for the future as a dj?

Yea I hope to in the next few yrs. Open my own bar and nite club so all the dancers could come and get down.

What direction do you think the scene is headed in?

I hope in a positive one where we can go back to the roots of music and the reason why we started doing it not for the money, but for the music.

Where would you like the scene to be?

I would like the scene to be more respected not treated like where we are some kind of circus act and more respected as artist and dancers.

What makes a good dj?What are the key elements? Do they need to produce their own tracks?

Style and carisima w/out either of those u have nothing u need to have the energy to move the crowd, timing is everything, if u dont have timing you can easily lose a crowd i’ve seen so many DJ’s do it, u need to know how to read a crowd and know what they want and when they want it. And most importantly got to know how to blend and know all styles of music you cant be limited diversity is the key.

How do you feel about the dancers that come to listen to your music? Does the dj and the dancers go hand in hand in the scene?

The dj is the heart beat of the dancers it gives them life.

For a beginner, what do your recommend they do to get their skills up?

Take your time dont rush. Learn how to scratch it all falls into place just know your music

Any other comments or shout outs?

I want to give a shout out to all my people at homeland, my fiance & my baby on the way, & to all the guys that help get me started dj abel, mark luv, and to all the dancers thank you.Similar Posts:

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The Los Angeles underground rave scene was in its infancy then and Rob was inspired by the burgeoning techno-breakbeat culture emerging out of England via local DJs: RAW,CURIOUS, and OSCAR DA GROUCH.

These ‘Jungle’ beats that evolved from frantic old-school breaks layered with hip-hop/reggae vocal-snippets intrigued Rob and pulled him in a new direction.

What is your Name?

Rob G. aka MACHETE

How old are you?

Unknown…

What kind of music do you play?

Hip-Hop/Jungle/Drum and Bass/Various

How long have you been a DJ for?

15 years

When did you start and how did you get into it?

Around 1991, I started going to underground events and discovered a whole DJ scene that I didn’t know existed. I didn’t party too much through high school until that time so, aside from seeing my favorite Hip-Hop DJs in videos, I was somewhat sheltered from that scene. I met my boy Oscar Da Grouch through his brother Tiny, who was a dj/promoter
at the time, and started going to his house where they both lived with their parents. It was there I first touched Technics 1200s and was hooked from the start. I also met R.A.W. through Oscar and his bro and they encouraged me to the point that I had to buy my own decks…and the rest is history, I guess.

What is your opinion on the current scene?

The Drum and Bass scene in Los Angeles is very healthy… heads here are spoiled with all the talent we have, as well as all the UK artists that can’t seem to stay away too long. Clubs like RESPECT, Funktion, and Samurai Sundaze give headz a good weekly dose of DnB. There is a stateside movement on the music production tip that is geared to take things to another level.

How did you get your name?

I started out spinning hip-hop under the name Rob G… but at the point when Jungle had inspired me to start spinning these crazy drums, I knew I needed a name that would fit me, the genre, and my style of cuttin beats.
I think me and some friends were stoned, brainstorming some names when it hit me…. what do you use to cut through the jungle??? After confirmation from my peers, became my name in late 1994 into 1995 when I started spinning jungle music out at parties.

What equipment are you using at the moment? What was your very first setup like?

Real basic right now… 2 TECHNICS 1200s, a NUMARK DXM06 Mixer, SHURE Needles, a G4 POWERBOOK
w/ LOGIC 7 and KONTAKT 2. Music Production normally takes place our main studio in Silverlake. My first mixer was a GEMINI PMX 12 Scratchmaster and a pair of used TECHNICS 1200s that were already 6 years old when I bought them…real jinky set-up but I got some serious use out of it before I sold them and bought newer gear

Any projects/new releases that you are working on?

Starting to plan our promotional strategies for 2007 which may include RESPECT shows in other cities outside of Los Angeles…I have a couple of new mixes set to release including BACK2BACK SESSION VOL.10 Presented by MC XYZ featuring MACHETE and HAZEN (which may be exclusively available online at www.mcxyz.com) and a new CD series by TONZ OF DRUMZ in which I will collab with DJ CRS….my RESPECT THE SOUND promotional mix CD will hit the streets soon featuring many original tunes made in our studio….oh yeah, I def plan to work on more music too.

Where do you get your gigs? What is your favorite spot to spin at?

I have had a few agents over the years but at this time I hustle my own shows, setting up occasional tours and such. I try to have a good time wherever I may play, definitely trying to make the best of any situation…but I’d still have to say my favorite place is our residency at RESPECT in LA. There’s no place like home! I’ve also been getting back to my mixing roots, playing Hip-Hop and various Old School at the House of Blues (www.hob.com) on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. I’ve been made a resident there, opening for artists such as Common, Jurassic 5, X-Clan, and The Roots. That’s always a good time!

What are some of your major influences (Artists, DJs, etc.)?

Our crew, JUNGLIST PLATOON, influence me greatly. Life and everyday experience re-shape and mold me constantly. I am a Leo and it’s my nature to take charge of my jungle but family, friends, and my girlfriend keep me grounded.

What is your most memorable moment while spinning (at an event/club, etc.)?

Too many to name…so many parties and good times.

Why do you spin…what do you get out of it?

I love music and creating a vibe while being able to basically play what I want to play…keeping it fun is key. Once you lose that it feels monotonous and more like a job.

Do you have plans for the future as a DJ?

I still got a few years in me…some tricks up these sleeves for sure =)

What direction do you think the scene is headed in?

It’s really hard to say but it seems that it hasn’t really broken through [mainstream] like it should have by this point. Some would still opt to keep it below the radar, or underground, but there definitely has to be a bigger push in the industry side of things to maintain. There are many new people still getting into the music via events we throw or sets we play. Globally, there is still room for growth. Collaborations seem to be playing a good part in LA’s drum and bass explosion and the bottom line is we have a lot of hard working artists and promoters here making it happen.

Where would you like the scene to be? (Status wise)

Self-sufficient and independent.

What makes a good DJ? What are the key elements? Do they need to produce their own tracks?

Good DJs need only to create, blend, and execute well. If you know your music and the crowd you are directing it too and you can keep them involved in your set…you’ve done your job whether or not you’ve played any of your own music. Playing original tracks of your own or exclusives from other producers enhances a DJ’s set because you know that very few can drop these beats you’re hearing because they are not widely available. A DJ that also produces the music can definitely take things to another level in the industry but there are also others that attain success without being as prolific in production.

How do you feel about the dancers that come to listen to your music?

If there is no one dancing to the DJ’s set then why is he or she doing it? That would just be a listening party but to me…that isn’t a real party. I need to connect with the people in club and if the dancers are feeling it, then I am happy. We have done theme nights at our weekly RESPECT featuring Poppers and B-Boys that seem to always go over well. DJing, dancing, and emceeing and how they connect with the audience are crucial to every show.

For a beginner, what do your recommend they do to get their skills up?

It is my opinion that DJs whose roots are in hip-hop mixing, as in turntablism, are the most comfortable behind the decks and seem most prepared to rock a crowd. Obviously this is not true in every case because there are many great DJs that do something unique, making people feel something special when they spin regardless of what style of music.
Bottom line, know your beats and remember…practice makes perfect!

Any other comments or shout outs?

BIG UPs JUNGLIST PLATOON, PREYING MANTAS, TETRIS and to WESTCOASTPOPPIN.COM!!!Similar Posts:

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What is your DJ name?

Josh Billings

How old are you?

24yrs old.

What style of music do you play?

Deep House

How long have you been a DJ for?

4 Years

When did you start and how did you get into it?

Started focus and learned from the best. Got a great place to learn on a big sound system as well and different environments & opening up a night.

What is your opinion on the current scene?

It needs more love. Everywhere else in the world Dance music is the number one genre, but in the united states it’s neck and neck with Polka.

What equipment are you using at the moment? What was your very first setup like?

First setup was some weak korg mixer and 2 technics. Currently it’s 2 CDJ-1000 MK3s, Pioneer DJM-800 or Rane Mp2015 w/ XP2016 kit, 2 Technics 1200 Mk3s, 2 Mackie SRM-450 Monitors + EAW Sound System J

Any projects/new releases that you are working on?

Just finished up the new CD and am looking forward to giving a grip of them away

Where do you get your gigs? What is your favorite spot to spin at?

Generally people find me after seeing me play at focus or something. A lot of people find me via joshbillings.net

What are some of your major influences (Artists, DJs, etc.)?

Miguel Migs, Jimpster, Only Freak & Lately Dutch house like Hardsoul & Fedde Le Grand

What is your most memorable moment while spinning (at an event/club, etc.)?

Opening for Kaskade on Halloween night for about 700 people and just seeing the crowd moving like a wave

Why do you spin…what do you get out of it?

It’s an amazing feeling that you’re sharing the music you love with these people and they are dancing to every beat you throw down.

Do you have plans for the future as a DJ?

I’d like to tour a bit more and it seems to be moving in that direction. I get a lot of request to come to different people’s areas so I’m optimistic on getting around a bit more. I’d also like to try actually producing something. The stuff I have done is pretty much garbage.

What direction do you think the scene is headed in?

Hopefully a very good one. I’m going to do less promoting of my club and more promoting of the music in general and I think the club will benefit in the end.

Where would you like the scene to be? (status wise)

I would love for people to just come out for House Music like the do for Hip Hop. It’s a bummer that the genre just isn’t loved. People need to come support their local djs more.

What makes a good DJ? What are the key elements? Do they need to produce their own tracks?

Not at all. A lot of great producers are horrible DJs. I think the best DJs are the ones that are somewhat psychic in knowing exactly what the dance floor wants to hear next. Mixing isn’t nearly as important as track selection. I’ve seen Djs that mix like shoes in a dryer but the songs they play are killer so people love them.

How do you feel about the dancers that come to listen to your music? Does the DJ and the dancers go hand in hand in the scene?

Of course man, without dancers the DJ wouldn’t feed off anything and how many dancers do you know that would go to a club that was playing 1 80 minute long mix CD after the other? There is no energy there.

What is focus? How did it get the name? How did it all begin? Where is it headed now?

Focus is such a weird name and it has nothing to do with music really, but it’s more of my state of mind at the time of starting it. My big saying to myself was “Stay focused” or “Keep your eyes on the prize”. Anyways I had started my own printing company and was starting this club because I really wanted something fun to do during the week and there was nothing really going on. House was the only music I was really into, so I took it upon myself to throw a party and luckily the guys at tapas liked our crowd (no fights or gangs or anything) and they allowed us to grow over time. Focus isn’t really headed anywhere. I’d rather keep the vibe small no matter what. I know it keeps growing but I don’t want to take it to a bigger venue. I don’t like big venues personally. You lose a lot of the feeling in the large spaces.

Any other comments or shout outs?

If you love house music help it out. Spread the word. Burn a CD for a friend withy our favorite house tracks on it or something and bring em by the club ( or any house club for that matter). If everybody got 2 of their friends into house music the scene would TRIPPLE in size over night.Similar Posts:

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