B-boy Masters/ Pro-Am
Miami, FL
B-boy Masters/Pro-Am cofounder Zulu Gremlin first hooked up with dance acquaintance Speedy Legs in Miami while on tour with the critically acclaimed Jam on the Groove. Following Gremlin's relocation to Miami to work on a recording project, Speedy approached him about organizing a local B-boy event, with the concept eventually blossoming into an all-encompassing Hip-Hop weekend drawing participants worldwide. In 1997, the launch of the first annual B-boy Masters/Pro-Am offset the East Coast/West Coast pendulum by bringing a culture-based Hip-Hop conference to Miami.
"I wanted to put a seed in the community and make it a local thing. The whole B-boy aspect has been so neglected out here... everything was so wrapped up in the 'booty' concept that we were obsolete," Speedy Legs recollects of the neglected B-boy scene in Miami. "So I figured by me and him hooking up, we could change this." Only three years later, the Pro-Am has evolved into the largest annual "strictly Hip-Hop" gathering in Florida, held last May 20-23.
Friday's event "Steady Building," as the name implies, revolved around the objective of educating and building skills regarding the many elements of Hip-Hop. The panels, exhibitions and displays on this day were conducted by the actual creators and participants in that specific element. This segment featured theatrical performances, a fashion show, a slide presentation by Stress magazine's Ket and a graffiti discussion highlighted by prominent writers DOC, DOZE (TC5) and VIRUS.
The "Team Battle," which also occurred that day, pitched the two organizers into separate camps: the West Coast team of Shaolin (Zulu Gremlin, Flo Master, Wicket, Jade, Crumbz, Flav, Energetic, Reveal, Rox Rite and Iron Monkey) versus the Florida team Hip-Hop Elements (Speedy Legs, Beta, Jamar, Troll, Bebe, Legacy, Stiff Rock, Nyght Crawla, Lethal and Ekszoob). No winner was declared, but the public will be left to pronounce the victor once the soon-to-be-released Pro-Am video surfaces.
Under the umbrella event "Skills 3000," Speedy Legs conceived a showcase of some of the most talented displays of dancing in the '90s. "The reason why it's called 'Skills 3000' is because we've been doing [year] 2000 moves in the early '80s, and it's already the '90s, so we've got to be reaching a lot further. If you've seen the way people break nowadays, you would definitely agree," Gremlin informs before clarifying the structure of the event. "Skills 3000" was divided into two subevents: "Battle for Supremacy" and the "Ultimate Circle."
The "Battle" featured two sets of four dancers battling it out in multiple rounds of exhaustive sets, with Iron Monkey from the West Coast claiming victory over Flips, Vietnam and Crumbz in an array of power moves and style. Later that evening, the "Ultimate Circle" would invite the panelists, judges and other notable B-boy figures to enter the dance floor in a collaborative exchange. As Gremlin explains, "The 'Circle' is a futuristic look at the dance circle where young, aspiring talents get the opportunity to dance with the original masters in one, single cipher."
"Doin It in the Park," featured on the final and fourth day, concluded with Pro-Am's symbolic return to the historical roots of park jams, but this time done Miami-style. B-boys went heads up with sponsors, DJs and MCs in an eclectic basketball showdown exclusive to the annual B-boy Masters/Pro-Am. Also, the same day hosted the Southeastern regional DMC competition that earned DJ Infamous the title for his captivating performance, while the long-awaited popping contest was prevailed over by Hawaii's Sweepy, who currently resides in New York.
NO PROPZ
When you battle, do you give others propz? That's something that truely causes me to get mad. When I see someone at a party breaking or battling, and I know that there's some serious competition going on I notice that the B-boys don't give eavh other propz for busting their moves. I think that B-Boys who do that are toy breakers; simply because they're too arrogant. When ever I battle or I'm just practicing with another krew I always give propz to whoever busted a move on the floor. By: B-boy Voltron
