BREAKING B-BOYING OFFICIALLY BECOMES AN OLYMPIC SPORT — HERE ARE 5 CULTURE-DEFINING MOMENTS
Breakdancing, breaking, b-boying — whatever you want to call it — has officially become an Olympic sport. According to The Independent, the International Olympic Committee’s pursuit to entice a younger audience led to the celebrated (yet often underrepresented) Hip Hop element being added to the 2024 Paris Games.
The IOC executive board also confirmed skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing are considered Olympic sports as well.
To commemorate the occasion, it’s important to understand breaking’s humble beginnings and how far it’s come over the last 40 plus years. Originating in the Bronx, New York City in the early 1970s, the demanding athletic street dance was popular among the Black and Puerto Rican communities.
As Hip Hop culture blossomed, so did breaking crews such as the Rock Steady Crew, Bronx Boys and Crazy Commanders Crew. It wasn’t long before breaking spread across the country to Fresno, California where The Electric Boogaloos popularized popping and, yep, the electric boogaloo. From there, countries such as South Korea, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia and Japan became immersed in b-boy culture, making the sport international.
“It shoulda been in there from day one of the Olympics,”DJ Qbert, one of Rock Steady’s first DJs, tells HipHopDX. “People are starting to figure out Hip Hop culture’s breaking has way more flavor in body language than what the Olympics had to offer previously.”
As the world catches up, here are five culture-defining moments that helped bring breaking to the forefront, beginning with the emergence of b-boy and b-girl crews and culminating with Missy Elliott’s performance at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards
Established in 1977 by Jimmy D and Jimmy Lee, the Rock Steady Crew was arguably the most prominent b-boy/b-girl crew in the Bronx. They would eventually add other notable members Crazy Legs, DJ Cucumber Slice, DJ Qbert, Fever One, Gizmo, Mr. Wiggles and Q-Unique, among others.
Jimmy D ultimately appointed Crazy Legs as president of Rock Steady for his stellar all city reputation, keen eye for talent like Ken Swift and the late great Frosty Freeze and introduction of uptown b-boy style of dance to the downtown arts and nightclub scene.
Of course, there were other crews prevalent during that era, including the New York City Breakers and the aforementioned Bronx Boys and Crazy Commanders Crew.
SOURCE: HIPHOPDX.COM
