Competition was baked into hip-hop from the start. Rap battles tested an MC’s rhymes and flow. DJs and writers (graffiti artists) duked it out using turntables and spray paint, respectively. Breaking, hip-hop’s fourth element, went global in the ‘90s, spawning competitions on five continents. The finest from those battles will be among the b-boys and... Continue Reading →
We expect to see gymnasts, divers, volleyball players and runners in the summer Olympics. But B-boys and B-girls? For the first time, in the 2024 Olympics to be held in Paris, breakers will be competing for gold, silver and bronze medals. Says Tatiana Sophia Eriksen, who teaches breaking and other forms of hip-hop dance for... Continue Reading →
About ten years after the birth of hip-hop in the Bronx, the art form found its way to Japan when young Japanese artists encountered the music and saw breakdancing in New York, taking what they saw back to Japan. In 1983, the film Wild Style, a seminal hip-hop documentary capturing the four pillars of the... Continue Reading →