Filipino America’s Best B-Boy Dance Crew
MV’s already got a discussion started.
Will Filipino American fatigue take place on ABDC? Was the Jabbawockeez success based on a somewhat visible/invisibility of the crew’s race? If, ABDC season 1 was the 2008 Presidential election, would Jabba = Obama, and be the one’s who appealed to middle America because they “transcend race”?
There was a humble attitude that Jabba demonstrated. Several of the current crews, ie Supreme Soul and Super Crew, are coming off with that cocky b-boy mentality that could scare off the Sally Henderson’s of Omaha and the rest of the Midwest. Which brings me to another observation on the ubiquity of b-boys on season 2.
It’s dope as hell for me to see a bunch of these cats getting shine on television. Folks that I used to always see tearing it up in b-boy circles: Bionic from Rock Force Crew, Rockadile and Do Knock from Battle Monkeys, Mike Murda and Ben from Knucklehead Zoo (who also made appearances on Planet B-Boy), Ronnie from Full Force, and the other cats from Soul Sector. I’m sure Mad’s got some of his own battle stories with a few of these cats.
But to go along with the possible Filipino fatigue, is there also the possibility of b-boy fatigue? Back when I was staying up on the scene rolling to battles, the thing that would piss me off the most was when b-boy crews would break out into their You Got Served dance routines. Nothing so far off of the rawness of a rap cypher than when an emcee comes out doing a written; the same is applied when a crew that does a rehearsed routine that doesn’t match up to the rythm of whatever break is being played at a particular time. I would like to note that I thought Knucklehead Zoo always provided a cool balance.
With ABDC, these crews are on a medium where they’re being challenged to stay up on that choreograph hype. I can only take so much choreographed Hip-Hop; it’s almost on the same annoyance level for me as spoken word. But that’s me; I wonder if the other voting blocs will be annoyed by the arrogant attitude that is almost inherent within b-boys.
To add, folks that need to get cut by the next episode: the cheerleaders, the boy band crew from Chicago, and Lil’ Mama.
-Ninoy Brown
June 9th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Yezzzur. Of course ABDC is gonna be weedin out the b-boy talent. I mean, they bring the most ammunition (acrobatics, showmanship, funk, technique, even grace).
But you’re on point with the b-boy cockiness. Some of them foos just needa chill. But there are multiple b-boy crews in it, so that’s almost impossible.
But yup, i wouldnt be surprised if the cheerleaders or the fanny pak got far. I think MTV would be looking for “diversity” in race, gender, syle at the expense of veteraned dancers.
On the note about choreographed b-boy moves in cyphers, ditto. I’m curious about the “commando” thing. I know people love doing it, but it annoys the hell outta me. When ya’ll think “commando” got popular? I was watchin old breakin cyphers from 1992 in the Bay Area, and there were no commandos. I feel that.
June 9th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
I cant say for certain when commandos started getting popular, but I think I first started seeing more crews use them at Freestyle Session 8, which was about 3 or so years ago. Commandos don’t really bother me as much as full on dance routines, though. But I do think it does get kinda wack when crews keep doing them and hog up the floor during battles.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Peace yall. jus wanna say there is nothing humble about a B-boy when in motion (competing / battling). These dances werent made for TV and stage yall should know this by now..All of these dances come from the street, and if you do your research, there isnt nothing humble, cute or pretty about where these dances come from haha. Aint nothin better then a rebellious cocky nature on national tv if you ask me. i thought this was fobbdeep.com yall??? holllllla!
p.s.
fatigue of filipinos and bboys? lol turn your tv off fellas, it rots the brain..the real will always stay real thru thick and thin. tv doesnt define us, the dues have been paid and then some, its already in stone.
June 9th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Paulskee,
Word. Like I said, cockiness is inherent in b-boying. Wasn’t trying to frame it as a negative from my point of view, but think about the Sally Green’s in the Midwest who get shocked when a person of color isn’t following a model minority role. I’m all for the arrogant b-boy demeanor to be shown on television, but you know and I know that uptight suburban folks get scurred. We can easily say “fuck what they think”, and I’m sure the b-boys that are reppin, are coming from that frame of mind. But what will take place is whether the mainstream is ready for that rebellious nature. It’ll be interesting to see.
And for the fatigue. We still live in a White dominated society where folks paint pictures of us as a people of dog eaters and mail order brides. It’s cool that we’re given the platform to define ourselves in the mainstream, but there is also the question of whether the powers that be will allow us to do so. You don’t think MTV cut Team Millenia cause the Filipino quota was over met?
June 10th, 2008 at 9:49 am
You fuckers are taking away the ammo from my follow up! hahahaha
June 10th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Lets remind ourselves that ABDC is a garbarge-ass dance competition with little credibility in the dance world aside from having a mainstream spotlight. I’m happy to see the show highlight some of illest dancers this season, but we can’t honestly expect the producers/judges of this show to fairly critique them. The b-boys are better adept at shining at competitions like Mighty 4 or Freestyle Session.
P.S. Ninoy, wassup with your homies Fanny Pack?
June 10th, 2008 at 10:18 am
“Lets remind ourselves that ABDC is a garbarge-ass dance competition with little credibility in the dance world aside from having a mainstream spotlight.”
What??? I thought JC from NSYNC was soooo streeet? Mario Lopez? OG. And Lil Mama, she got swagger.
“tv doesnt define us, the dues have been paid and then some, its already in stone.”
Yezzurrrr
June 10th, 2008 at 11:07 am
I could care less if it was a filipino crew or whatever that got cut to be honest with you. (Respect to them all but hey that’s life and shit happens)
Anyhow lemme point somethin out:
1. Look at the judges
2. Its mtv fellas (what’d yall expect??)
3. Like I said, its been set instone as to what’s been put down as far as filipinos in HipHop / streetdance. If u don’t know, research and jus be proud of that already.
An mtv show will never take that away.
As far as a white dominated society, welcome to life. Were not angels either, lemme bring in blacks to any of your lolos, lolas, aunties, and uncles homes and ill show u their reactions to that ya feel. Lets worry about realer isssues (not an mtv show) where we all should have known what would happen from the gate. Itd be un american for a corporate show like mtv abdc to be “fair” hahaha.
June 10th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Fanny Pack FTW
(note the sarcasm)
June 12th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Personally, I thought Dance 360 was the best dance show ever and showcased better Hip-Hopper talent than ABDC…
Head-to-Head… Head-to-Head…
Tag yo’ man…Tag yo’ man…
Siyeeeke.
I think I just liked watching DJ K-Sly.
June 24th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
hey,
this blog popped up while i was looking for some info.. and this is a little off- topic.. but i wanted to ask this question - did the “dance crew” phenomenon explode from filipino-american culture?
i’m 20 years old and i only have my personal experience and observations to go by. but i feel like every filipino has at least one relative or close friend (if not the person him/herself) that has been in some sort of “dance crew.” my older sister had her share of performances at filipino parties with her girl friends. yeah, some, if not most of these, are admittedly a little corny, but the point is that it’s something many filipino kids in america have gone through. i don’t really know any other culture whose youth have gone through the same thing - although i could just be ignorant. for all i know, this could be a phenomenon that has always been a part of black urban culture; but how do those kids compare to the filipinos per capita, if you will, that have been in some sort of dance crew? this phenomenon, to filipinos, is apparently not some sort of any underground phenomenon at all.
my first guess as to where this “dance crew” stuff came about comes from the influence of bboying. every filipino’s got a cousin who bboys or at least used to. there are tons of filipinos who are currently big names in the scene, and some were important to its development (cloud, reveal). could it be that this sense of your crew being your family had its roots in b-boying, spilled into filipino-american youth culture, eventually led to the type of dance crews we see today (i.e., not the b-bboying ones but the choreographed ones) then exploded as a phenomenon?
keep in mind that i’m talking about the dance CREW. the second family that you dance with, practice with, perform with. i’d say compete with, too, but i don’t really know when dance crew competitions became common. however, i’m inclined to guess that filipinos started organizing those competitions.
i have a vague memory of mtv’s “say what? karaoke” where a dancing trio of filipinos got a perfect 10 on every single round and tied for first with some eminem-wannabee. i bring this example up because surely it was not mere coincidence that i saw a bunch of dancing filipinos on TV - it’s obviously something very integral to the culture of filipino-american youth.
i got very interested in this question after watching ABDC. in season 1, the top two crews were arguably the jabbawockeez which consisted of 3 filipinos and kaba modern which (via its roots) is a filipino organization. then, on the next season, we find that there’s at least one filipino in EVERY SINGLE CREW. super crew, soreal, and boogie bots being predominantly filipino (as well as team millenia which did not make it). another b-boy crew, massive monkees, was supposed to be on that show before contract issues (according to what i read from one of the members), and they’re also predominantly filipino as well.
one thing i must point out is that the origins of many of these filipino groups seem to have its roots as dance crews as i have defined them, i.e., the second family. many of the other groups on the show look like people who auditioned and were selected by some sort of dance agency - this is not the culture i am talking about. the dance crews i’m talking about formed as friends who became family and have been dancing with each other for years. not surprisingly, this is not unlike b-boying where a crew sticks together. b-boys are not contracted or tossed around for hire like a professional athlete from team to team. the crew is your family.
i’m not here to brag about filipinos, but rather point out that they are being represented in significantly huge numbers on arguably the most influential tv program for teenagers - MTV. and that it appears that the dance scene seems to have been heavily influenced by filipino-americans. could it be possible that they are responsible for the explosion of the dance crew phenomenon?
October 5th, 2009 at 9:30 am
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