![Noise Of The Broke Boys](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/7488999/Simple_Podcast_Logo81189.jpg)
5.2K
Downloads
45
Episodes
A broke degenerate hooligan documents conversations about being a Bboy, Breakin', Hip Hop, Dance, Art, Music, Creativity, Innovation, and the slow subtle crumble of society in audio form. Noise Of The Broke Boys is a Podcast by a bboy that discusses breakdancing, art, music, history, philosophy, mathematics, and the slow decay of the mind into madness. This podcast doesn't take itself too seriously, but rather lives in a universe where time and space dissolve into comedic dancing clockwork elves that cynically laugh at the mirror at their own social demise... Or we just talk out breakdance and other BS. https://linktr.ee/NoiseOfTheBrokeBoys . . . . . . . Hip Hop, Breakdance, breakdancer, bboy, bgirl, bboying, bgirling, bboyin, bgirlin, rock steady crew, popping, locking, battle of the year, rocking, flava, redbull bc one, chelles battle pro, r16, freestyle session, undisputed, UDEF, Silverback, Monster bboys, red bull allstars, turntables, djing, djs, dj, disc jockey, emcee, MC, rapper, lyricist, graffiti, graff artist, writer, dance floor, hip hop harry, cypher,
Episodes
![Tek - Event Planning, Breakin', and Music Production - Noise of the Broke Boys Episode 005](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/ep-logo/pbblog7488999/Podcast_Logo_Tek-tiny_300x300.jpg)
Friday Apr 10, 2020
Friday Apr 10, 2020
Tek, a skilled dancer, event planner, and social media influencer, discusses his early days in hip hop and the struggles of creating quality events.
Follow @
Instagram: noiseofthebrokeboys
Twitter: BrokeBoysNoise
Listen to the Audio on all Podcast platforms.
All The Links Here: https://linktr.ee/NoiseOfTheBrokeBoys
A broke degenerate hooligan documents conversations about being a Bboy, Breakin', Hip Hop, Dance, Art, Music, Creativity, Innovation, and the slow subtle crumble of society in audio form.
this episode of noise of the broke boys
is brought to you by the trash can do
you struggle with finding a place to
dispose of your used Rogaine bottles
does it haunt you that you have to keep
all those terrible dance moves because
there is no place to rid yourself with
them or maybe your name is Frodo Baggins
and have nightmares about hiking to
Mordor trying to find a place to discard
up the ring to rule them all
well I'm here to tell you that Gandalf
did not die and in fact he brought the
perfect solution to your disposal needs
throw those used Rogaine bottles into a
trash can hey Frodo no one has time to
climb mountains barefoot tell Bilbo to
throw the ring into a trash can and
spare us 6 movies and 4 books
hey wack dancers take that goofy floss
move you love to do and floss yourself
right into a trash can you can obtain a
trash can at your local municipality
help clean up this beautiful world and
now on to the show
[Music]
in today's episode I talk with a dancer
I've known since I first began battling
he's a member of San Jose California's
very own hybrid crew a crew that I've
personally battled many times as a young
b-boy and wouldn't be Who I am if it
weren't for the rivalry we shared as I
grew older and got to know this guy more
I grew a deep respect for his hard work
hustle and dedication to bettering
himself and the hip-hop community around
him I'm excited to sit down with my
friend Tek please enjoy hello everybody
welcome to noise of the broke boys this
is your boy Kurt and I'm here with my
friend Tec from hybrid crew how you
doing man pretty good how about you I'm
doing great just wrapped up a show with
my friend amico and I think it went
really well and now I got you on here
and so for people who don't know you are
from the San Jose scene the California
San Jose scene as b-boy right how did
you get involved in breaking in hip-hop
first yeah really I was surrounded by it
in middle school where there are a lot
of dancers yeah and they're just
learning break-in and everyone was doing
the flow arts with the glowsticks and
all that but no one really taught me but
and I was always on the side I was
curious but no one ever showed it to me
until in high school where I started
wrestling and I started Aikido and then
that's where I got to mess around and
beat him up and me yeah it was just like
and on top of that I was starting to
work out in middle school in high school
okay I got kind of tired of working out
yeah it was just getting boring and I
looked toward like buff for no reason
and I needed to do something with these
muscles very much trying to flex in a
more creative way yeah that's what it
was and then I saw that you know and
even in high school I come from Lynbrook
near Cupertino we there's just a lot of
people dancing in within my class there
are like a lot of people in color guard
a lot of people in cheerleading a lot of
people doing even our we had every
homecoming we had this like skit that we
do for the whole school
mm-hmm each class and our class had the
most dance numbers okay senior year we
had like Bollywood in there oh that's
like cool guys dance guys advance stands
girls teen has girls advanced couples
dance yeah oh nice all that so I was
just surrounded by it and then the guys
the b-boys in my class were really good
they were the guys who is just pretty
much watched the battle that your tapes
and just like a lot of their stuff but
they're good at that
yeah back then it was like whoever had
like the most flourish had like oh yeah
it's pretty much instead of because our
sports team were really bad oh yeah man
that's like my high school sports were
like alright and yeah I don't know it
but then yeah we had our like all of our
b-boys and we yeah if you had the most
flares you were the coolest person and I
had zero flares so I was like zero cool
yeah my high school was exact exactly
the same I was there too I was just like
damn these guys can do flare mills combo
like nothing yeah and then Here I am
with like fries out of high school and
then I was like oh hey look at me I can
I could do and all the high school kids
are like oh yeah that's cool yeah so
that's funny because yeah when there's
like our sports team really sucked but
the people who dance are like the jocks
of our school yeah that's cool yeah so I
got into it and by senior year I was
able to throw them like windmills and
flares and then barely halos I was
probably the only one learning halos the
other guys were learning elbow error
flurries and air flares I was also
trying air flares by senior year
okay yeah so those were like the big
moves and there is still footage
actually of our homecoming skit really
well if you look up 2005 yeah I was I
was really bad I tried my I crashed my
halo hey my solo yeah who is good back
then oh yeah there was oh the old school
in my high school like I said I remember
drift being really good yeah but there
are from the Eastside San Jose okay I'm
on the Westside totally different like
bubbles I was in I was saying I was in
my own bubble it knew Tino and actually
I've heard a lot of stories of the
b-boys before our classes there wouldn't
be a really crazy dudes
I went shirtless would throw down in the
middle of the quad on concrete Oh in
Mills like really old school Goodman
windows that's crazy there's like
another school Cupertino high they had a
light be boys that's a really dope and
they can you know do flips and
everything so actually one time I would
see someone just had like a little in
the parking lot you know with the cars
it's almost like a scene from - too fast
to face Hey yeah where there's like they
have a cypher in the middle of the cars
I happened to drive by well what is that
Oh dancing and I call one of the guys
out and he spoke the hell out of me oh I
think I barely had like any like and ha
and the fries and this guy I did like
crazy hand hops backflip and flares I
was like okay you got me it was Vin
Diesel there at all you might as well be
yeah actually back then the car culture
was like pretty hot - okay the import
culture and that was probably like early
2000s right yeah all that when I was
like a freshman all the upperclassmen
they all had really like rice rockets
and yeah muscle cars and I wasn't like
one yeah and I said oh when I grow up I
probably get like one of the
kaustuki the chicks but in the end by
senior only had a Honda Accord yeah no
yeah I was like oh yeah I'll get all
these girls with this car and then I had
a Ford Tempo yeah that was busted yeah
back then cars and dance was like the
culture where I met okay cool and so so
that's how you got involved in breaking
and then like how are you introduced
into like the the rest of the scene like
the rest of the hip-hop scene yeah
that's a crazy thing I keep so my I'm
actually kind of like the outsider and
the core group of like the b-boys at my
high school and they went to I think
they went to probably an out for Fame
more one of the jams in the bay that was
like huge and they came back with like
stories about how like crazy Jenn was we
hear about it I was like what is this
I'd even know what a jam was yeah yeah I
was interested but I didn't want to be
like like the kid who be like you know
what is that or like hey let me in on
this yeah yeah yeah so I try to play it
cool and try to figure it out like on my
own and then when I started looking
around for oh it was when I had um Auto
Tech at the Anza College there's a class
for know working on cars uh-huh and
there's some b-boys there from another
school
and they're like saying how oh they knew
I kind of break so they're like saying
if you're asking me if I go to practice
at the YMCA at the local YMCA okay and
that's like no what is that
and it's like that's when I was like
okay I'm gonna go to this practice yeah
yeah I remember it was Saturday and then
as soon as I found out about it that was
like the one thing in the week that I
look forward to every week yeah and then
it was at the practice where I starting
jams like we turned out to be boy was oh
yeah okay I think I was at that jam man
oh so long ago yeah I keep hearing about
returning the b-boy it was just jamming
Palo Alto
I was like kind of like hovering to see
if anyone could kind of like pick up
that I'm interested luckily one of the
homie he was like yeah trying to go like
yeah sure I played it cool but inside
like yes I want to get in on this Jam
and that was my first Jam returned to be
boring sorry 13 I think it's the last
one at Mitchell Park oh ho yeah though I
remember going to the last one so that
was probably the one that I was at yeah
well I think was a 2005 probably yeah
yeah yeah yeah that was like yeah it was
huge - I remember DSD one did some crazy
crap there I mean yeah there was a ton
of good crews there yeah Oakland
breakers were there yeah everybody was
there when there was like so much beef
going on I was like what's going on
cyphers everybody so when I braked I
said okay I watched like I remember
watching someone like the old Cujo
videos like ads you know of him throwing
stuff and then that's all I had and I
didn't know about footwork really yeah
yeah yeah you know when I went to the
gym it's like everyone is like moving to
x speed whoa how can you move so fast
first time really seeing like real
footwork oh yeah and then on the other
side I see like a nerdy Asian kid doing
a rollback airchair like oh solidarity I
was like damn even the nerdy kid kids
like hit some crazy stuff yeah and then
you find out it's Johnny awful it was
like height there's like a line out the
door kind of thing yeah yeah I feel like
I have a similar kind of upbringing a
little bit I started in high school and
then actually the way that I got
involved with the scene was we we were
known a little bit because we were like
battling like other schools like hurt
and we would just kind of like go and
hang out with some people and then we go
they got b-boys here and then we just
battled him or whatever
and there was this other crew from a
different high school that was in the
South sac I was I was in North sac and
so these guys came over and just it was
just two of them and they came to pay
just battle doesn't I guess they kept
going to all these schools to battle
everybody and and so they battled us and
we like smoked them and they're like oh
hey you want to hang out and then they
just started inviting us to sessions
which were like in downtown sac at this
place called the Washington Center which
is like the freaking hoodies place ever
it was like falling apart but they had
this little air this like rec room area
in the back that was they let us break
in it was I think it was just a storage
room now that I think about it because
there was like freaking boxes all over
the place
and the room was dirty AAF and anyway so
like every time we break we would clean
the floor because it was like hell dirty
I mean like if you touch the ground your
hand was like black and so I think they
liked us being there cuz we would clean
the floor before but anyways so like I
remember going there and then just
hanging out with those people that's how
I met swells and I don't know if you
remember freak Rock a lot of those guys
and so we would always train together
this was when I was in high school
probably like sophomore in high school
and then they just started telling us
about different jams and stuff so we
were just going I think the first jam I
went to was floor tactics it was in
Sacramento I don't know if you remember
that one probably I was a flex Flav gym
it sounds familiar
if it's like somewhere along five or
after it was this was 2001 oh no way
yeah probably 2001 I think that's before
okay I like barely braked at that point
but so now but yeah machine versus
miracle
was like a big hot exhibition battle
there and that was right when both of
them were starting to blow up but
anyways that was the first one I ever
saw and that was really cool but just
like you know seeing like a real air
flare in person you're like oh actually
Cujo was at that Jam Cujo Cujo it was a
three-on-three Cujo Rob Zilla and stunt
man entered together and that was the
first time I seen any of them and yeah I
remember seeing Cujo and he did his um
he did his I don't know what he calls it
but it's like the planche one where he
like walks into merry-go-rounds it's
America yet but it was like the really
low merry-go-round and um and it was
really slow too and I was like oh my god
I just entered the matrix like I said I
seriously was like dude what just
happened this is like the craziest thing
ever and then it was the same jam that
Rob Zilla did this super crazy move
where he went on his elbow and he just
kind of walks in a circle and then he
jumps up and just does like it looks
like a head spin but he's on his elbow
and he just drills it he did like two or
three spins and that crap blew my mind
and then I was like oh I got a I got a
like practice I think Ronnie it was
Ronnie little rock and been entered the
gym in one and I think they beat them in
the fujio's team in the finals what I
remember but yeah but it was a crazy Jam
but I thought my kind of like roll
around everybody was like had some sort
of crazy stuff like crazy power and then
at the local practice at the Y the
people running the practice they they
were pretty good too
it was Richard and Jimmy and Jimmy was
the first time I saw like legit air
flares mm-hmm and really good air flares
elbow air flares and he has like all
sorts of flips and I was like damn and
that what and I learned a lot from him I
learned my halos
I let my elbow flares and air flares
from this guy and yeah after that I just
learn more about practice spots and just
go to all of them haha yeah okay in Palo
Alto San Jose east side San Jose and
that's when I started seeing more of the
San Jose people or like hybrid and
headhunters and all the all the other
b-boys in San Jose although I came in
after Hank Lopez Yeah right when Hank
Lopez closed it was really when I
started coming okay and then yeah hybrid
saw me a lot of more practices and
that's when we started to click back
then
yeah hybrid was also like coming up and
there were the guys I looked up to back
then too and then I guess the one thing
that really stood out to me back in high
school of breaking was this dance
competition in Santa Clara so there's a
Teen Center in Santa Clara and I had
like a random dance competition in the
middle of a dance so I don't know how I
even ended up there but I guess through
the word of mouth I just come out to all
the dance things
yeah yeah out there and then there was a
competition I'll just enter it and it's
not strictly a b-boy competition it was
like just a dance competition and crowd
it was just the judge okay with the
emcee who's like facilitating it okay
and I was and I made it to the semis on
that one and it made a huge impact on me
because on all the other jams I went to
or battled in know as a kid back then I
couldn't even do anything
it couldn't make past me limbs so I got
nothing out of it and I didn't
understand too much about battling back
then so this like having extra
experience of just like working working
the crowd and now responding to the
other person more that really gave me a
lot more motivation a lot more
experience and that was actually what
inspired me to really do cypher Cup
which is my one of my life they were
jams to throw yeah yeah
did you start cypher cover what was that
Swahili no it was me all the hybrid gems
was really like me
big payback yeah and pained use all that
it was because I started after I got
into college I my my ex at the time
pushed me to teach dancing instead of
working at like Jamba Juice or and so
because I started teaching at the YMCA
to other Dance Studios I have access to
these spaces okay and since I access to
these spaces and evade came back one of
my crewmates yeah yeah like one of my
big inspiration in the crew he flew back
from New York and he's in town and I was
like yeah we and I think he moved back
at that time you know we got to do
something
to get the whole crew to get together
yeah and drift was a DJ at the time yeah
so I was like I have all the ingredients
for a jam yeah DJ and a game was an MC
back then too so I got an MC we got
legit judges every people kind of like
respect we have we kind of have a name
in the bay for a little bit but that
people can be like all right you know
they know us yeah and if we throw a jam
and people will come through yeah
so yeah the first Jam was actually pain
dues in oh six or seven yeah at the Y
but originally I wanted to have a jam
just for the kids the high school kids
okay
but then when I proposed the jam to the
crew they wanted more than want it
bigger so they want to be like oh let's
make it to v2 with like 500 all cash
prize mm-hmm back then was like how can
we come up with passion yes but we went
to oh so you very taught us how to raise
money doing street shows the New York
style oh yeah yeah back then we thought
we know street shows is just you just
cypher and then had a hat out and then
yeah maybe hope for that good dollar
okay no you you need a guy that's like
on the microphone telling jokes and
stuff and yeah so evade taught us all of
that and we went
Monterey ok 4th of July it was a 4th of
July weekend we made 500 bucks in less
than an hour
yeah yeah and but then we got kicked out
yeah because of the cops yeah that was
the only time that we really like no I
think we did another tree choke to
downtown San Jose ok and that was just
enough to cover all our costs that's a
title yeah so we never came out negative
we've no we were able to fund it yeah
and then when it's like crew run then
you know we made it happen so that was
um the biggie
yeah springing the whole crew together
it was so it was really it was really
fun yeah that's right I mean that's
that's a really good story just like
like because I've done some Street shows
where we were like it wasn't till I
could raise money for like a jam or
anything it was like aw dude I need I
just need to get some money too
oh yeah there it was like when you would
go somewhere where there's like a lot of
people like in Sacramento actually it
was like in Old Sacramento where there's
like all these old town buildings and
stuff it's like a hot place for visitors
to come and they'd always do this Jazz
Festival so we would go out there
and we were like in high school and we
don't know what the heck we're doing we
would just cipher but we would make a
lot of money and so we were like oh hell
yeah and then we just bounce and then
like stuff but you had to be careful
because there's people that would rob
you once in a while like yeah we got
robbed a couple times actually they're
like but you guys had a crew though we
had a crew but yes so did they had like
a gunpoint or well so the one the one
that I remember we were just breaking in
this one part we had like a hat down
people were putting money in and then
this one dude he just comes up he looked
like he was drunk or something and he's
just like dancing and then he just grabs
the money in the Hat and then just
starts walking off and we're like what
the hell and we just start chasing this
dude and then right when we run around
the corner we see his whole crew of
people and they're all like older than
us like 25 or something probably and so
he's got like probably five dudes with
him around the corner
and it was we were like we probably had
five people I think at that time yeah we
run around the corner and we see that
and then the dude just like lifts up his
shirt and he has a gun there and we're
like oh and we just bounced cuz it was
only at that point there was only like
maybe a hundred bucks in there we're
like dang dude it's not worth this so we
just bounced but yeah I mean that
happened once there was another time war
dude just like grabbed it and ran and we
didn't know where he went it was like
dark at that time but yeah so yeah be
careful with that stuff
yeah those definitely didn't happen to
us yeah where we were in Monterrey and
even like downtown San Jose it was like
that bad
it was just like Monterrey was just a
tourist attraction and same with that
sounds more like chill and we had we had
a pretty good squad and you know with
evade no one would fuck the nicest guy
but he's like freaky bow muscles he has
the intimidation factor yeah it looked
to him yeah I remember a lot of jams
okay I forget what you jam it was I
think I won it actually it wasn't San
Jose buddy I remember he was gonna bite
somebody and he was just like this and
like he had I just remember like five
people just holding him back and he's
just like walking forward just pulling
them and I was like oh it's about to go
down it was crazy I know that Jam it was
a jam in San Jose yeah it was one of
Bobby V's jam yeah I think so and was it
I think it's it might be someone's
talking shit to his soul I think
Fernando or Ralph which is like I went
out of homies yeah well maybe it was
brother but yeah it was just a stick
getting heated and then I was way in the
back yeah and watching the battle and
then yeah he was about to get in it was
yelling and then he was going in yeah
people were holding him back from
fighting it just like the Hulk and then
like the like someone would grab him and
hold him back and he just like mm-hmm
and then he like gets a little more
green and then more people a little more
green he's just growing and walk and I'm
like oh crap it's about to go down
yeah he was literally moving a whole
crowd with no promise try to hold him
back but it was just moving towards the
other guy I think it might be someone it
might be free croc or I don't know
someone who was like talking something I
don't think it was free croc because he
wasn't there coz if he was there he
would have entered with me yeah I'm
pretty sure it was me my brother and
chai swells we entered oh I know if we
won our gut I think we did really good
though we at least got to the finals I
think but I remember that was like a
cypher battle that was happening and
then it was just like you just know it
was an actual battle was it oh maybe I
was well evade was not in that battle
though he oh okay maybe he was like he
was just trying to hold it down for the
homies yeah and she was not taking all
of San Jose just holding back I'm Eve
aid don't you know who I am it was like
the juggernaut just but and then I think
I remember talking to him afterwards and
he's like oh man I was just mad whatever
it was like Helen I super nice he's such
a nice guy when he's riled up he's like
yeah so okay so uh I guess so let's talk
a little bit more about um like cyber
Cup and like how yeah like what
cuz you started it as like this thing to
get younger people more involved in the
scene in stuff and it's kind of growing
a lot and now you do it kind of as a
yearly event that like I mean it seems
like it's one of the bigger events
nowadays at least in the like Northern
California area how do you feel about
that and what are what are you trying to
build with that and yeah I guess you
know when it was like 2007 on I kind of
I could feel the scene like oh the Bay
Area scene was not what it used to be
mm-hmm used to be a gem every weekend
yeah no it's not and then all the heavy
hitters would be there people would fly
out for
yeah yes I think it's because every city
had a big crew that just rolled through
you know you had renegades you had head
energy had hybrid you had rock force he
had flex you had DSD one like so there's
like every area had this like
representative crew that just coming
through and just wrecking it and there
was I think more of a like a city kind
of thing you know where it's like oh
it's like San Jose versus San Francisco
today let's see what happens you know
and everybody is good from their own
respective areas in the only way it's
just it was amazing back then yeah it's
it's different now because I don't think
it's like such a city by city kind of
thing ya know that I guess there's less
what would you call it less of a like a
segregated community and they're more
like together now so it's kind of like
the whole Bay Area scene is like you
know like one one yeah which is cool too
but you don't have that rivalry I think
that you used to back in the day yeah
and you don't have that like tight kind
of Kinmen ship yeah no you have no crew
and you kind of like stick with your
crew yeah disappeared I think largely
yeah I think like the transition was
probably when people were growing up and
then they were trying to make make
something happen
usually from you know where we are in
NorCal people would try to make it down
here in Hollywood trying to do yeah and
try to take that next step in dance or
whatever they could make of themselves
yeah and so that includes a lot of like
the big names a lot of people that I
look up to they look to know Hollywood
to see too for the next thing yeah so
that kind of left a gap in the scene I
feel that whole LA thing yeah but it
wouldn't be good for them to hold
animosity towards each other because
they would lose work yeah and yeah the
more we go to James the more we see each
other and say okay
we start to understand okay we were all
like in the same community yeah
and so like I think it was cyber cut
really came out because it was this a
because of the impact I knew it had on
the kids and I knew how many kids they
were they were like learning braking in
high school because when I taught dance
like this
it was way bigger than how it was for me
in high school
mm-hmm - at least when I was teaching
and at my high school in LeBrock had
like up to like 30 40 kids in the b-boy
Club yeah and it was just amazing and I
knew we something needs to happen mmm
with these kids it's going back to my
original like kind of hunch about making
a small jam just for these smaller kids
who never had a chance on the real Jam
mm-hmm and yeah that blew up there was
so much energy so I started oh nine and
I knew some b-boys within the scene the
older b-boys within the scene would say
oh yeah I've seen kind of died know what
happened to the crowd the crowd is dead
bla bla bla but then I was like no have
you come to save her Cup yeah how hype
these kids are yeah yeah it doesn't even
matter what level these guys are yeah
they're just hype exactly because
they're like they have the energy you
know when you're young and you're
learning something new and you people
like throwing themselves yeah two moves
it was just brings it back you just
gotta hit it like the right way with the
right group of people and present it
like kind of like in a fresh way which I
try to keep it small I don't believe in
big venues which is why and I try to
avoid like having jams at gyms because I
want a jam is a social thing you know
and I need to make people rub shoulders
okay because you're kind of like so that
they can actually have a space to
interact because if you have too much of
space it depends if you have a big jam
yeah you you can fill up a gym do that
but my Jam's don't really fill up that
much so
so my Jam's don't fill that bring many
that many people so I mean like it's
smaller and that works really well
because you know um you have ciphers
going on because if you have too much
dead space ciphers are kind of weird
yeah they do look kind of weird cuz you
have like a circle here and a circle
like it's like a practice fungal yeah it
is like this but yeah so I don't want to
practice pot I want like drama exactly
so that's why my first event was at like
a small dance studio just for the kids
and then we had an idea of doing a shark
tank this was yeah yeah this was before
cypher prelims was a thing and but but
we're the reason why I brought that in
was because by the time I was like oh
seven oh eight oh nine the ciphers were
kind of dead like people were more
practicing in their own circles then
having real ciphers and that's when the
idea actually came from drift at one of
these jams we saw outside the venue
there's like a weird cage I guess it was
like a small little patch of grass like
the size of a cypher yeah that's like
fenced off for some reason that's the
shark tank throw yourself in there and a
cypher and you can't get out yeah it's
like the Octagon basically I'm in the
Octagon and see what happens so with
that idea and I want to bring back the
ciphers and the whole energy back so
that's why I was like alright
the concept is lock the doors for thirty
minutes and just yeah you have 30
minutes and you have secret judges to
pick top four people
yeah and just go and then and at the end
the top four is a four-way battle no
rules time limit the way that would be
the finals and that brought back the
ciphers right
at one point and I moved to a bigger
venue to the Santa Clara Teen Center
and we had like dying ten ciphers yeah
that's tight
yeah we at some of the jams that my
brother would always do cream and he did
a bunch of other ones but like so for
prelims it always gets like really
boring when you're doing like showcase
battles so we were like man screw that
let's just do something crazy and so he
had this idea to just call up like 10
people or like 15 people and you just
call it like the cypher of death and you
just like alright we're just gonna go
for like 20 minutes just we're only
gonna pick like two people from this
from this cypher of debt and then it's
just chaos because it's like you you can
basically take as many rounds as you
want or as little rounds as you want and
so you know just like going I gotta do
it and they're like doing like 20 rounds
or whatever and some people like no it's
not you do and it's just freaking chaos
we had it we had to like slow it down a
little bit and make some rules for it
because people would start like really
like fighting and stuff but that crap
was crazy and so we would do probably
like three different ciphers of death
every Jam inside it's like insane that's
all so far reason like I gotta stop
shark tank was because yeah it wasn't
fun anymore
it's crazy yeah people just hog the
floor like there was no etiquette for
the circle was away yeah yeah when you
know back I had two shark tank
it was okay because cyber Cup was for
the kids the main competitions for the
kids yeah and I still want to bring in
the rest of the scene so alright let's
make it like a cypher thing which is the
shark tank for everybody else and so
everybody older guys know like not step
in you know kind of like a little bit
more respect yeah that's why it kind of
worked and I'll have the energy but then
as time goes on it was like no etiquette
it was like oh look at me I gotta throw
down like I have a lot to prove you know
I need to hog the floorspace and not let
anyone do anything or like it was so bad
that's why I'm now when I see kind of
prelims ciphered prelims it's just not
what I wanted
yeah because it is chaos yeah and for me
personally if I want to enter an event
like I don't even want to do it aside
for them because I'm not that way of
like yeah I don't want to push people
all the way to prove myself yeah I think
it's fun to watch but it's not fun and
if there wasn't a competition involved
with it I'm like okay yeah pretty much
and yeah now I guess I brought it up to
the level so I learned a lot from living
in Korea working with r16 about like the
next level of production production
value in events hmm
so I see the potential of howlite b-boy
jams could be mm-hmm and then I took
that into cypher cut where people kind
of grew up a bit and then I lost that
connection with the high school kids now
yeah yeah so that's why I Steiff a cup
is more like everybody um and I decided
to kind of take what take what I learned
and make it the jam better and bigger
and luckily I was tricking practicing at
this gym and San Jose
it's called Bay Area movement yeah
they're called the sessions gym and
there were just opened up this parkour
gym it's amazing okay
the core freerunning had like all sorts
of structures is that that's the one
that you do cyber Cup at now yeah okay I
seen it yet and it was like they're new
and they're like trying to come up don't
try to find different ways to like fill
up the space and then so I was like um
interested I'm interested in throwing
our Jam and they're like oh yeah just
yeah bring them in and they love the
idea of having a b-boy competition in
there actually the other part of what
got me to start throwing cypher couple
again it was my crewmate my new crew
mates in hybrid louis rahul and renewal
they're the ones who
hungry and it was Louis that wanted to
throw a Jeanette like he was gonna do a
random like start a new Jam like oh I
wanted to just throw any jab I'm like oh
why don't you just pick up cypher cut
people know about it yeah and just let's
keep growing yeah and that's what
brought me back in and yeah and the
space was amazing like it's a warehouse
with like you know half pipe looks like
a skate park but you can't skate in it
it's like a padded skate park yeah and
there's a spring floor yeah this is oh
it's pretty cool cuz I saw like up the
people like the power heads or the
trickers sessioning on this main floor
yeah and then the other part of the
floor the concrete floor like people are
like that's where the jam is yeah yeah
it was amazing and then I like RJ coral
rock art do help out with the lighting
and the DJ and that lighting actually
yeah this is the first time I really
utilized like lights from because I knew
from it just adds a lot more to
atmosphere yeah it does so it turned
that gym into more like a space yeah a
different totally different space
once you add some up lights some
spotlights and then RJ had this really
cool spotlight with that can project the
logo the projector oh yeah projects the
logo uh-huh so I was like hell yeah I'm
gonna project the cypher craft logo on
the freakin wall yeah yo you can see in
the picture you can see like huge like
logo in the back yeah spotlights on the
floor up lights on the side and that
creates a whole vibe yeah he was our DJ
for our wedding and he put he brought
all his lights and stuff and so he had
all his crazy up lighting and stuff and
it was like it really transformed this
place this and it's basically like a big
big room bomb is like a barn room I
don't know okay but it turned it into
like it's really nice like looking
elegant shit so yeah and then on top of
that I really want to solve my next I
like thought about jams if we want
breaking to grow is to bring in the
more casual spectators yeah so I want a
gym that I can invite my co-workers to I
want to jam that I can invite my family
to yeah
and they actually can be I'll have a
good time and chilled when you think the
biggest hump to get over what is the
biggest hump to get over to actually
achieve that like what do you think is
stopping them from coming so or normal
Jam even my gems before the current
cypher cups I wouldn't invite anyone
yeah so there's a yeah a few things so
the reason why I don't want invite them
uh-huh number one jams lag definite
number two you don't know the time
schedule on top of that and number three
it lasts like six to twelve hours good
and then there was very little
organization in a normal jam on top of
that you have to squeeze your way into
the circles there's no way to say
there's nowhere to really like have a
good view of the main battle so that was
what I was addressing was making sure
that Jam start on time making sure
actually having a two different start
time for the event a start time for the
competitors for the prelims yeah and
then the actual door is open for
everything else yeah so that know if you
if I were tuned by someone come to the
when the doors opening at like six
o'clock yeah but the competitors come at
like 3 o'clock in the afternoon that's
kind of what like surge does with all
the way live yeah he has like the
prelims were all chaos happens like way
before and then he goes okay come back
at like 6 o'clock and then we're just
gonna run through this and he it's like
a show at that point exactly that'll
battle battle battle battle battle
performance
that's all that's how all like jams work
in Korea ok and overseas is just like
yeah the real good ones they have the
prelims already run through and then
when people come to spectate it's just a
run a show
ok yeah it's like a program and yeah
that's what I did
for my event and trying to enforce that
trying to push that into our community
to understand this yeah or a normal Jam
and I think people get it now I see a
lot more jams doing it now and yeah
including all the way live and then what
was it the other thing was I made sure I
get bleachers for the spectators the
very first time I had a cypher cup at
the gym they actually had those you know
the blocks learn flip flip over it yeah
all the soft blocks yeah people were
sitting on it and then I I made a little
like good block what people can sit on
it yeah I brought out chairs that people
can sit and watch so that added a lot
where you can just like chill and have a
good view and more places to sit and and
then the next one I took it to the next
level where I need to get bleachers hmm
and the crazy thing was I looked
everywhere in NorCal where to rent
bleachers apparently there's no such
thing as bleacher rental in NorCal the
closest thing was in LA and that was
that yeah I called them up okay so how
much would it be good like this la Renta
uh coming up probably eight thousand ten
thousand dollars and the bleachers were
huge too oh yeah no I can't afford that
cuz they would drive it up to it so the
next best thing was um you know socks
the next best thing was um there's this
theatrical rental place in San Jose
where they rent out everything from
lights to sets to anything yet
theatrical yeah including choir risers
so I learned about oh yeah yeah okay
yeah I said Oh perfect and they're like
you click are configurable where you can
make it half circle yeah or straight
bleacher but on the side and I kind of
like coming in a little bit
yeah the circle so and as was way
cheaper it was like 3040 bucks per
section and each section could probably
sit like I'll say 30 people 40 people
nice
and I had like five of those sections
right and that's why when you check out
the photos you see people like that yeah
it looks so much makes it look cool yeah
and and people actually get to sit and
chill see it and watch and energy was so
much more hype and get that when people
when the spectator has come in at like
later time so they have energy one and
two I got all the cypher time before
that program start and so there's no
kind of like that time the cypher break
is at that time yeah for the spectators
yeah so I took that out from top eight
so there's ciphers until top eight from
top a there's just all the way through
yeah
and to have a break between semis and
finals and make sure have a show like a
showcase okay
to make sure the finalists have some
break yeah and that helps so much the
year where Vietnam and j-rock
oh yeah yeah I was there yeah you were
there yeah the finals were hype it was
really hype yeah
and when was the last time we saw like I
mean silverback finals hi mom freestyle
session finals were high
any local jam like you only see that
anymore by the time it gets the final
say everyone's dead
yeah after jam left the curve if you're
talking to j-rock afterwards it's like
man that was hype I don't know why
they're cheering for me I'm old like
it's like but it doesn't matter because
it doesn't matter if you're old or even
nothing right but or you just it's just
the energy yeah it was just hype and to
be honest it doesn't really matter the
level it's as long as there's that
energy and you're like kind of like on
that same level with the other person
and you guys are actually battling
mm-hmm and then you have the crowd
behind you and you're throwing your
stuff and you feeling the music yeah the
music is good yeah all that was just the
ingredients for a good jam oh good yeah
so that's why I was like yeah then it's
that that's the kind of jam that I can
invite my friend my normal friends too
yeah I'll start breaking
and coworkers so I that was when I
finally was able to invite people out
okay and bring more people in and that
was like my vision for it and the next
step to that is actually having a bar
okay
there's actually a perfect venue in
downtown San Jose that had this huge
space like concrete smooth concrete
floor there's a bar on the side there's
like standing tables on the side to
still enough space for like a jam yeah I
wanted to have it there but I talked to
the venue owners and they're like five
different owners and they're like oh
we're gonna give them the wedding
pricing eight thousand dollars Sudan all
right no I can't do that that's way over
my budget yeah that's kind of crazy
yeah but that would be my next thing to
a jam is to actually have like a bar
where normal people can just like chill
watch the battle whenever they want to
and bigger bleachers and even my friend
suggested maybe could even have assigned
ceilings so that when you leave you can
still leave and come back to it and you
can leave to get drinks you can leave to
get food and you okay yeah and one of
the cipher cups one of the complaints
were it was really hot and it was in the
summer and one of them was in the summer
and we were at capacity the first time
we were at capacity so if you were out
there's no guarantee of going in so
people have to like stay in and they
can't leave the the bleachers
you know if they leave there's just a
little risk of losing this so yeah that
would be the next level for me for a
better Jam yeah as well as bringing in
different acts different shows it could
be different types of performances I
really believe in exposing the scene
into like more different types of talent
outside of breaking and that's why I
have like the lockers come in that's why
I have the triggers come in that's why I
have like I wanted to have the whole
drum line come in oh that's a toy form
I've seen a drum line perform and this
like it's crazy
yeah I never have a battle to a drum
line no yeah yeah I would go yeah I
actually wanted to paint a big payback
had a drummer actually no even cypher
cut one of the cyber Cup I brought out a
drummer and that added a lot more energy
to it too and the funny story is one of
the big payback luckily I had the
drummer I just had the idea oh we got a
sapphic a live drummer yeah and it was
that that jam that it was too hot for
the DJ equipment and the DJ equipment
kind of like blew out oh dang but we
have a drummer so we kept it was it blew
out in the middle of battles but the
drummer kept drumming and so the battle
kept going
oh yeah that's tight and then later on
like yeah we have friends that came in
with like the bassline and we had a bass
go hey fill in when you know drift was
trying to figure out like what was going
yeah and then when we the DJ can't get
back on they can rest and then it will
cut out again and then they would jump
back on it yeah I always like it when
there's like a live band playing with a
DJ cuz it just feels it feels more just
like live you know cuz I mean obviously
like a DJ has up has a big job of like
getting the crowd there but it's like
it's so different when there's a live
drummer just dududu to do because people
are like oh dude this guy is going off
like I don't know it really feels like a
concert almost exactly yeah it's a it's
a real good raw energy that like it's
that's totally different that will bring
a lot to a jam yeah yeah so so do you
see do you see that happening with jams
now like you think the progression of
becoming more spectator friendly is like
where the scene is trying to go probably
not because it takes a lot to put in you
you kind of have to really invest a lot
more time and money and resources into
pushing more like legitimate production
like bringing up the production value of
an event and because breaking doesn't
really appeal to like a wider audience
by itself especially b-boy comps be what
competitions like I think
thrown out way too long and then because
of our tradition of know I like a jam
that lags it's a jam for the dancers
yeah I mean it lags because you're
trying to still like have it be it's
like a party almost yeah so but if you
aren't there for the party you're just
like what the hell is going on yeah I
just want to see some some crazy battles
exactly yeah it's also that party vibe
where yeah it's it's gonna be that way
until we had like a really I think
silverback was like the only thing that
was close to it that was really huge and
it was able to fly people then have the
Lightning of the lighting really amazing
they had bleachers yep
have the bleachers livestream all that
and they did it and they I know they did
it in chunks to where it's like okay
here's the prelims and it's gonna be
chaos now you're gonna have your cypher
time now at this time exactly
people are coming in the door to come
watch it and we're just gonna start at
boom boom boom this is the show to do
and then you know they still run in like
a jam but it's like one after the other
it's there's no lag time anymore you're
done I mean if you can still go prep you
know like cypher over there away from
these battles because the music is still
going on but the the highlight now is
right here with the battle oh yeah in
terms of like bigger jams I don't see
that like right now it's all a lot more
crew anniversaries and they just want to
play party which is cool it's fine I
don't think we're in the mindset of like
trying to grow on the event event side
yeah and I'm not sure actually how
breaking is know with like the kids so
and I know there's more like other
dances that's more popular yeah like oh
just like the floss
yeah choreo huge so the breaking I don't
think it's it's kind of like there's a
ceiling for breaking events you know
well I kind of look at it like events
started I mean they were always put on
by Pete members of the community and so
like when the scene was much smaller
back in like you know late 90s or
whatever when events started popping off
you just had like say you had a group of
a hundred different people that actually
braked around that area and like two
guys were actually throwing competitions
they only know what they know about it
and now that it's bigger now that
there's like say like a thousand people
in it you got to for every hundred now
so you got you know a whole lot more
people that are trying to throw these
events so you got a lot more knowledge
of event planning coming in and saw as
breaking evolves in like as those guys
who first started it and learn more and
start teaching the younger guys how to
throw events I think you're gonna
progressively get better and better and
better
for each generation that's what it looks
like to me at least yeah I try to help
out the guys whenever possible back home
in terms of event production because I
have lights and everything I could just
like let them borrow to me just make it
better especially like yeah floodlights
they're just like $20 right yeah and a
lot of gyms don't really do this but I
think now well at least in the Bay Area
and I always know I'm just gonna pack it
in my car just in case okay especially
when I'm covering for filming yeah when
I film an event I say nine times out of
ten probably 99 times out of 100 the
event lighting is gonna be horrible you
see me trash it's gonna look bad and I
was like I'll need to bring my
floodlights for sure yeah it's look
right and yeah like certain jams I cover
yeah look I was glad I did and even the
photographer is glad I did brought the
lights and I just
had so much more to it and yeah it could
be little things like that
and then four and I try to teach when I
was like throwing one of the cypher cups
there were actually some kids are
interested in learning mm-hmm so I just
actually build up a whole like that kind
of like welcome through it why like not
only what I'm doing but why am I doing
this thing yeah so a Jam exists not just
because it's exists I want it to exist
for a reason yeah and for me Jam exists
because it's putting its filling in kind
of like a space that it needs that the
scene needs for example I wouldn't just
throw a random like shark tank
I threw shark tank because I thought she
needed more ciphers like real ciphers
uh-huh and then when the ciphers got the
cipher key Liam got way too crazy say Oh
scene though doesn't need it anymore
like stop doing it and then when I throw
whenever I throw it jams I think about
this I what would the scene kind of need
does it need like another 2v2 or 1v1
what makes sense right now yeah and I
don't want to add to the noise that's
the thing I want to kind of like yeah
it's easy to add to the noise yeah but I
want to kind of like figure out where
something's missing and yeah kind of
fill in that gap fill in the gap yeah
direct direct the noise to where you
want it to be yeah so like there was one
year where I could skip cyber cut
because I felt that there was too many
gems going on okay I only brought it
back because I felt like it needs an
event mm-hmm are you gonna doing this
this year this year not sure I'm
actually it's because I have other
projects that's like really taking up my
time okay if I have people in like San
Jose who really could help like who's
really hungry for an event yeah I would
definitely hop on but I can't just do it
on my own
okay tell Raul to do it yeah yo Raul do
it I know you're not watching but you
do it he's down he's starting to throw
events and stuff yeah I think the last
one he did was pretty good I forget the
name of it I think his club yeah yeah
yeah yeah no that was really good had
like a theater
I brought the lights to make sure it's
like looking nice yeah yeah yeah yeah it
looked amazing
he had the seating and everything too so
and I definitely saw like half the crowd
was like more spectators didn't they
yeah yeah there was a lot yeah and he
was able to get people to fly out oh
yeah we were working with sean ski
another boy who's like really into power
yeah he loves power and it's like a
power teddy bear yeah he still has the
helmet remember when we used to carry
how much and you know who's a people oh
yeah yeah it has like the the scratches
on the top and you're like dude that guy
does not skateboard he is a b-boy yeah
he's by the last like dying breed of
those and he has the old school helmet
to like not the one cuz like the old
school ones were like that as helmets
cuz they would like they were too stiff
and they would crack and break when you
actually like broke off yeah and so
protect like remade the helmets with
like a more like a flexible kind of um
material so that the helmet wouldn't
break yes so it's almost like a
defective helmet from back in the day
and so he has those those were really
good because they were snip and you
could like spin better but yeah I I
don't see that anymore
I remember used to like oh you know he's
a b-boy with like a little helmet strap
to the side you know and I was there too
and then he's still at it and then he's
so into it he came up to me one one time
was like you know I want to throw a
powered competition yeah but I have no
pool I was like and he was like can we
try to do that for cypher Cup no no what
I first I was like how many power heads
would this like make it worth it yeah
like to make it come out of it in tally
yeah but I was like I know what cypher
Copa has never been about high level or
anything it's really about energy so I'm
saying are they enough
who can just have like that same energy
that could like bring it yeah it doesn't
matter if they're like crazy good or not
mmm know what I think so and then yeah
he was able to list out things guys that
he want to bring out alright and
actually and it turned out to be one of
the hypest part of was last year's cyber
come and then yeah he started going
crazy with it now uh going to different
Jam organizing different power battles
yeah bringing out people and I was able
to help bringing out this kid from
Denver his name is angel oh yeah that
kid is crazy dude yeah okay I first met
him at silverback and 2017 I was like
damn who's this kid like I thought he
was like some big name that I never knew
about but no one knew about him and I
was like oh yeah you need to like get
out like compete everywhere now and I
was able to bring him out and I'm so
glad I did and everybody just loved him
yeah that guy's crazy
mhm he looks like he can actually fly
the air that he gets it's crazy
maybe it's like like he has some cheat
codes on come on dude let me get that
cheat code real quick
it's the mile high so okay one thing you
mentioned was of filming because you are
involved with stance which is I would
say probably the biggest are one of the
biggest YouTube channels that puts out
battles now internationally you guys go
out there and film all these things how
did you get involved with it and like
what's what's your guys is like vision
with that and how's it going yeah so
when I moved to Korea I started filming
for strife TV because my girl at the
time was part of strife and so I just I
I knew in college I learned how to like
film and all that so I can hop on and
film some battles and so I started
filming r16 jams in Taiwan in China and
so we grew and it was Daniel zoo that
was like really brought strife to where
it was you
so everyone really thinks that it was
going to who's like the 500 of strife
but it's actually the original founders
they were there would be boys but they
kind of like moved on in the Hollywood
scene or coming on two different things
different projects yeah okay and so when
we want to just keep pushing it we
decided to do our own thing through your
because ultimately strife is not ours
and so we're like you know what we need
to start something that's our Oh
something that or no the founders would
be still be active
I'm seen that it's documenting so that's
why and it's kind of hard because it was
2014 when strife had like a hundred
thousand subscribers back uh-huh
and then we had to go back to zero yeah
but the thing was if you put a content
out there people find it you know the
other difference though is I believed in
this new project which became stands was
because it was Daniels ooh he was the
one that took strive to where it was and
then he along the way he created all
these connections and he's just like
embedded into the scene at that point
and so I was like yeah if anything it
would work out and so yeah it was me the
new Miss Lee Anderson and Chaz from the
UK boy those got weird like the guys
that the main videographers back then
yeah that start stripe stance and then
with the help of cross with the help of
Ivan Ivan was Ivan Andrea mine it was
Ivan to help us really bring get our
name stance elements so oh he gave that
named he helped us come up with a name
oh that's kinda like throwing names
around and I've been said you know I
like this I like stance like the b-boys
everything
yeah it was there was actually when
Daniel Zhu cross Ivan they were all in
Vegas like throwing around names yeah
yeah and then I was like kind of like in
the chat to putting it all together and
yeah so we start from there in front
start from zero but I know had a lot of
content lined up ya know he films like
24/7 this guy
films and edit 24/7 but there's not jams
going on 24/7 well the thing is
Ullman the backlog of all the things you
know you it's easy to film but it's
another thing to finish your edits
nothing to put it out yeah it's kind of
like I thought you're gonna say he has
some only fans yeah I remember there
were other videographers from before our
time yeah yeah
they had like secret footage but they
weren't able to put it out because it's
just so much like it's easy to film but
to process them to cut them up it is a
lot it's a big size yeah so they're
still like old-school footage that we
never even seen a second archives
because of the last part it's editing is
kind of rough but anyways um yeah the
thing is he's a big fan of the dance he
loses the dance and so he documents it
and for me no I love the dance but in a
way that I want to be part of it I want
to do it yeah yeah I'm not the person to
kind of like document it all the time I
just want to be dancing instead of
filming but he's on the other side where
like he loves to just like he's a fanboy
o/s time parts with dance yeah and he
loves the certain cruise if certain
dancers
he loves following up with them he makes
friends with everybody
and I was like yeah the scene needs
someone to document because that's like
if if we're not documenting it like I
look at it like this this breaking is
very young hip-hop is very young in
terms of like other cultures and stuff
and
hundred years from now it's still gonna
be around and you look at it now we are
in the infancy of it and so if we're not
documenting it people 100 years from now
are gonna be like dude what was it like
when braking was only like at this point
50 years old right here what was it like
then oh no there's nothing that exists
really and definitely like before
YouTube like what the heck that's not
even that long ago but where's the
footage I don't know I mean I got some
random VHS tapes but yeah like a lot of
that stuff is lost I think yeah and
especially yeah I feel like you feel
before YouTube a lot of support really
mm-hmm
yeah it's really whose rep survived yes
for sure
no like that's actually why I really
started this podcast is because I want
to like get those stories out there and
like have it documented somewhere and so
like I mean I've been trying to reach
out to a lot of um oh geez and stuff and
definitely guys that haven't had their
story told a lot like I just had a Sanh
ace from master movements yeah it's not
like Cujo and stuff had him on recently
had a big conversation with him but
anyways like getting those people on I
think is really important to just
document what's going on yeah and you
know this kind of work there is no money
in breaking yeah and the breaking scene
you know it's a lot of egos a lot of
drama a lot of things you have to kind
of go through in terms even today's me
like internet media and it's just you
really have to do it for the love oh
yeah and to really stick for this long
and right now yeah we're coming up with
like each of us probably over 10 years
of being documenting the scene yeah and
it's just
yeah we're aching for probably like
almost 20 right
yeah 19 20 that's like how much I I
think I've been breaking 18 years yeah
almost 15 for sure okay but yeah he know
a lot of the people like I think people
kind of like see
like oh we're so big there must be no
rolling in dough or whatever but really
breaking its it's not quite there - yeah
no sustain ourselves like all of us
stands we are doing this as a side mmm I
right now I'm like you know a software
engineer on the side to support what I
want to do yeah and everybody else is
same you know they have a another job to
help sustain them but we are working on
really trying to grow and be able to
hire ourselves full-time yeah yeah so
we're working on that you think it's
gonna get there actually we might
because there are there are an increased
interest in breaking and like hip hop
and movement and like and stance we're
not just hip hop we kind of want to make
that clear we're not only hip hop yeah
we are it's pretty much we're a group of
friends who document things that we
think are super cool yeah including
tricking huh yeah tricking is not really
hip hop so but it's like we that's we're
also in that community as well and also
all the other things that we think are
cool like we that's what you see on the
channel like although we most I will say
probably all of us upbeat boys on the
team that's why you see it all be boy
footage but if we did have like someone
who's like a popper thing we would love
to feature more like popping footage if
you have someone who is like more like
maybe a shuffler you would love to have
someone who can help get that part of
into dance okay yeah so pretty much
that's division we don't really have
actually we'd only have a vision right
now is this really whatever we think is
cool
yeah we put up because in the end of the
day like we want to do something that
really excites us so that's why we don't
really have like a coherent like vision
is like oh we want to be the the best at
this or we want to do that or
it just comes down to your group of
friends um but this year we were going
to try tighten that up a little bit
because as we take on bigger gigs we
need to be a little bit more organized
so we're working on that and be able to
expand and go beyond just like a group
of friends because our channel has grown
by a lot yes since 2014 on all channels
like we really Bank on Facebook so I'll
Facebook picture page is pretty big
Instagram and we just started tik-tok oh
you guys got a tik-tok - yeah dude tick
tock is weird as hell I don't understand
I mean I don't have a tick tock or
anything but I get everything I see on
tick tock is like well now a lot of the
viral stuff or the funny content comes
from tick tock yeah it reminds me of
like maybe vine but yeah it's pretty
much like vine but I think what first it
was before
well tick tock merge with musically and
before like emerged the idea of putting
music on top of your videos in different
ways and different in creative ways yeah
and then when they merge into tick tock
and I even pushed even more okay so
there's a lot of creative content on
there and yeah I'm uh I have to admit I
spend a lot of time in there just really
yeah because it's there's so many like
funny stuff
there's funny skits they're like really
good dancers on there too really good
music producers on take on that create
like amazing music creative content on
there ok I'm sorry I was mind blown by
the things on there on there and then
yeah it's just it's a different way of
creating content because the app itself
it's really unique way that how you can
record add effects dub music over yeah
it's it's it's really cool it pop laughs
oh my oh say yeah I'm like so
views about social media I like yeah
about like five or six years ago I was
just like oh I gotta stop using this
stuff it's it seemed like an addiction
and actually I read a bunch of stuff
where they're comparing it to a gambling
addiction
okay I gotta just stop this before it
gets like crazy not that I was addicted
to it or anything but it was just like I
could see it happening so I just kind of
stopped a lot of it I still use Facebook
once in a while because like my whole
family is there and it's easy to
communicate with them and a lot of
people are there so social media no it's
true there is a downside to I don't
having I just don't understand it
anymore
my take on it is like no with the
internet you know there's the pros and
cons the pros is we have access to so
much information and you have a bigger
platform to express ourselves in yeah so
it's just different ways of expressing
ourselves in more ways on the other side
of it is if you get trapped into there's
so many things coming at you and you
don't even know what's real and what's
not
mm-hmm and if you don't have that real
filter or you don't have that real like
come by select you know what you know
this is not real life this guy is yeah
yeah yeah he makes it seem better than
it actually really like yeah is or
whatever you kind of have to kind of
know about that if not a coup that's why
I feel like there's a higher rate of
depression and there's a high rate of
suicides because it's robbing how much
we are exposed and how much we're like
we have access to yeah and the kind of
voices that are on the internet like
amplified so there are good and bad
voices that's it now being like out
there amplified oh that's interesting
yeah so think of that that's why I like
I feel like growing up nowadays as like
kid it's a lot to deal with it's
definitely different than when I was a
kid because it was like you know when I
was 12 years old or whatever it's like I
couldn't go on
tik-tok and be like I'm gonna make a
video and then everybody's gonna dislike
it I'm gonna feel like shit it's more
like my mom would be like
God sign and dig a hole I'm like okay
COO I'll go dig a hole yeah no you know
how no back then like you know we have a
social life that we kind of have to deal
with yeah now it includes social media
that's a part of your social life yeah
yeah yeah it's I feel like it's a bit
much when if you especially if you don't
know what's good or like what would be
healthy for you yes not yes that's good
that I'm social media have much event
yeah I think it is I never cared what
people thought so I was like yeah I was
able to kind of filter out like the so
I'm all about good energy versus like
whenever I see something that's like
along the lines of like oh it's not
something I would want to have around me
yeah I would block it off or I would
filter that out and so now I have just
like and yeah within social media you
can create your own echo chamber yeah
what do you want to see so you only take
for your own bubble so I kind of created
that and like it's my bubble would be
dance funny dance skits funny dance
videos music music production and yeah I
could see myself follow like all on
social media being like a freaking
internet troll just trolling people so
we're hitting an hour and 15 minutes at
this point okay what and we should
probably wrap up soon but I wanted to
talk to you about music production
before we close out because I know that
you started producing music when did you
do that
it was it's a year now okay yeah so it's
recent it's something that's new music
has always been really intimidating for
me you know even back then when someone
was showing me how to spin a vinyl it's
just like it's a bit much and then like
the collection of music is just so vast
it's like a ocean that you can just dive
in a deep end so that was just like way
too much for me the most I've ever
doubled in was just like doing small
mixes for perform dance
so that was the most I'd ever did before
that but what really inspired me now was
electronic music mm-hmm so me and to my
friends in LA we started going out to
shows to events so our first event
really changes was it's a festival
called cross festival in San Diego and I
it was actually my friend he's also a
b-boy okay
he never was into electronic music he
thought all the electronic music are
like EDM UNT's UNT's type of music
because we met in Korea and all the
electronic music in Korea was just trash
all the clothes was trashed so I I don't
blame him but his girlfriend now brought
him to like a show it's a seven lines
show and then I showed him another
artist Griffin Griffin from the Bay Area
mm-hm and his mind was blown he's
flipping he's like oh it's not just on
science you can actually have like feels
and more melodies and more feelings and
it's not just like party music oh yeah
yeah so that's me seeing him just kind
of like flip 180 and going to like all
the Rays all the events really like has
all the energy for all this and I really
started goddess-like wanting to be more
involved yeah and then we have another
friend that's already learning how to do
music and that got us into it yeah so
and I have to say like the music that's
coming out now is it's another goal in
there you know how we oh it is yeah yeah
because of how technology allows us to
do more there's so much more
possibilities and it's connected genres
is what I've seen is like you get some
weird stuff where it's like electronic
music mixed with like I don't know some
wild freaking death metal or whatever
what the heck is this but it sounds kind
of crazy and yes people are
experimenting a lot what what really I
got into electronic music
let's actually partly because of a game
who got in the house way before I did
and house music was really my anchor
into electronic music and actually with
the history that I know
electronic music originated like has a
lot of it
owed to house music Chicago house house
music uh-huh disco so that's just
another thing and I love that music and
I love the culture and I loved them
dance house dancing freestyling the club
culture yeah so all of that and then
back then I got into house 10 and then I
was exposed to new music through this
YouTube channel calm with just a casual
mm-hmm
2012 okay and that opened me up to a
whole new sound what is this yeah it's
like it's not fully like because I was
exposed to house music and then like no
dubstep and all that but just a casual
brought in another different type of
sound that it's like mix of hip-hop a
mix of yeah like different parts of
electronic I don't mean no and pop so
yeah
I was always inspired by the new sound
but never really like got into it until
I have like friends to learn with so
that's the nother thing if if someone
it's the same with breaking it's love
better to learn with friends you
learning new things is so much more fun
with people and music has this amazing
impact on people and I've seen at events
how music has affected people and I kind
of like oh dude I know and then let's
try it and then it's amazing how you
have tools on your like fingertips that
could do that like bring thousands and
thousands of people out and make them
feel something
yeah that's I look at music as like is
like dancing to me yeah I've been doing
music production for maybe like about a
year too I guess well I started when I
was in
Highschool DJing I learned how to DJ
like basically as I learned how to break
we would sometimes bring turntables to
our practice and just you know one guy
with DJ and the next guy would switch
out and then people were practicing as
it so me and my brother and a couple
other people do it I started DJing
actually learning had DJ and back in
september/october oh really
yeah I I've been meaning to pick it back
up cuz when I learned it was before like
Serato and stuff and so I don't know
really how to use any of that crap I
just have vinyl mm-hmm and I don't even
have a big collection of vinyl but I
just had a lot of like breaks and crap
yeah and I learned on some pretty crappy
turntables and stuff and I had a pretty
crappy mixer but you know I guess what I
could
I guess my DJing is like more mixing and
song selection aggresses like actual
like turntablism or like yeah DJ vinyl
but I'm more interested in yeah song
selections and like interesting
transitions between tracks and like
mashups and edits mashup so yeah things
that you can that is fresh yeah cuz I'm
just blown away by kids who produce like
bangers from their bedroom yeah that has
millions of like hits and it worked
really well it's just yeah it's amazing
and I know like some people be like oh
you know music now is trash and all that
but I feel like you know there's a thing
that's you know the golden years is
always going to be your formative years
of when you grow up
ya know between when you're a teenager
to like college those will always be or
considered as your golden age for every
no different that's different for
everybody yeah but you know they fail a
lot of people fail to realize to open up
their ears eyes that know what's going
on now is someone else's called in here
yours yeah
and it's just as amazing as the
generation before you know what I like
to remind people of is that like
especially with hip-hop it's always been
kind of a counterculture you know and we
wanted to do something different and so
we would make our music different than
what's going on now we would get
influenced from stuff jazz music soul
music whatever yeah um and you'd pull it
in and then you'd make something cool
you know with it or inspired by it and
that's you know that's what our golden
year was years were and nowadays they're
just doing the same things out there
except they're getting influenced by the
stuff that you know like we we were
influenced by you know or or what we had
created so it's kind of just like
stacking on itself now and so and they
still have the counterculture to them
because they're like I don't want to do
what those guys did that's why it
doesn't sound the same and that's why
people from our generation a lot of them
are like oh what are these young uns
doing and it's like dude shut up man
like they're just doing what we did and
that's you should you should want them
to do that because they're they're
expressing their creativity you don't
have to like it I mean there's not I
don't like everything but I like what
they are doing because they're they're
traversing around the sounds that they
hear and making something cool out of it
and a lot of times you have to travel
around a whole lot of garbage to get to
something dope and I think that the
journey is still is a good one and I
mean I hear so much good music nowadays
but I know that they probably have a
backlog of trash that they made
you can't deny millions of plays
you can't deny yeah if following you
can't deny the fans and the culture that
that music creates yeah you know the
music is like the backbone for a lot of
different cultures we're shooting
breaking like if it weren't for DJ Kool
Herc is more for the breaks we would not
have been really breaking the way that
would do yeah and so like yeah all these
music has their own legitimacy you know
that I it's my work it's
my pet peeve to see guys even our age or
older be like trash-talking kids and
what they create attached to
trash-talking their culture mm-hmm when
though they went through the exact same
thing when they were kids it's the same
appreciate like open up a bit appreciate
the beauty of everything yeah which is
like I yeah I was so inspired just okay
the other thing is you know I didn't
understand
dubstep today's stuff oh yeah dubstep
yeah the hard the hard stuff I did not
understand it I did not understand
head-banging to dubstep which is like
know a thing before I didn't think it
was like a thing to even head thing to
dubstep the OL dubstep was much more
like a lot more crime here a lot more
not grime here a lot more slow and
definitely I don't think people were
head-banging to those type of dubstep
but now
yeah that's what you do and I didn't
understand it I was like I thought that
wasn't my thing I say that's way too
hard for me yeah but I actually went to
EDC and then that opened me up like
completely like that made me know I get
it now I understand it because it's you
just have to be there with the people
who are in it yeah be immersed in that
culture to understand like yo this is
dubstep is crazy cut like when I first
heard it I was like what the heck is
this it sounds like Optimus Prime like
taking a shit yeah but I was like dude
this sounds hella crazy it didn't sound
like music to me at first yeah because
it sounds like a bunch of like noises
noises but like the more you listen to
it and like I guess embrace like what
they're doing it's like the more you
appreciate it and I think that once I
started seeing that I'm like dude this
is really tight they're taking it
somewhere else taking music somewhere
else there they're doing there I mean
there it's a counterculture that's
saying like I want to do something
different BAM here it is what do you
think about it and then it evolved and I
mean now I feel like so many types of
styles of modern music take elements of
dubstep
now yep but the other thing I've grown a
big appreciation for his mumble rap is
like because when I first heard it I was
like dude what the hell are they yeah
yeah there's no like dude what the hell
are they doing and then I I've always
really liked punk rock like screaming
and freaking just going crazy and like
basically making some inaudible kind of
noises and then when I made the
connection that dude punk rock is based
on a counterculture just like mumble rap
is and the same reason that they were
making music the way that they were
doing in punk rock is the same reason
that they're doing it in mumble rap I
was like dude I can't be a hater because
they're doing the same thing but they're
doing it their own way and that's when I
really grew a big appreciation for it
exact same and I started listening to
actually what create helped me
appreciate that music in that genre a
lot more was the covers the covers of
songs uh-huh like the acoustic covers
yeah that really brought out the
different elements and the melodic and
the composition it is very melodic
actually yeah out of it and I was like
dude it's beautiful it's amazing yeah
and then and you know the issues the
lyrical content is just it's kind of
like the same how no out and back and
out there you know all the hypothesis
about booty hoes and Cash Money and all
that it's a shout out to Cash Money yeah
I love cash money yeah so it's it's yeah
it's a different flavor it's just uh and
there's so much good talent and there's
a reason why they're big because the
kids connected to it people connected to
it on a different level on an emotional
level yeah on you know a level that
makes them feel a certain way yeah it
can feel good yeah so and that's for me
truly what music is is the goal of music
is to move people and if it moves
anybody you've you've accomplished
you'll go as a musician yeah for sure
for sure no and it doesn't matter how
you get there you know there's a meme
that says Oh DJ's are not real musicians
they're just pushing buttons and then
the mean was like another piano so it's
it's it's it's crazy yeah and things are
moving so fast that we just don't
understand or some people just can't
embrace that change how like the more
things change the more they're kind of
saying yeah
a lot of times when I make music I get
into the mentality as if I was gonna
dance and I just sit in front of my
keyboard a lot of times I don't have
anything in mind I just have a feeling
that I have yeah and then I'll just like
kind of scroll through some different
like sounds and stuff and I'll be like
okay this is cool or maybe like I'll
just make a sound yeah and then I just
start playing and whatever and then like
stuff just happens for me and I'm like
okay I kind of like what I'm playing and
whatever and then I'll just like record
it and then just play around with it and
that's how I just make my all my stuff
and I don't care if it's trash I mean we
all gotta start somewhere for any
artistic endeavor you just keep pushing
it go through your phases you're
learning phases yeah
and I'm actually surprised I just loved
I'm just soaking in so much knowledge
about music now that I'm surprised that
I've be able to even talk about music
mmm because a year ago I just that's
just like - like I was but it's it's I
think it's very similar to dancing
though and because because I'm a dancer
I think I understand music pretty like
on a subconscious level sort of because
it's like you already know how music is
composed because you dance to it and so
you like know you know the kind of
pattern
that makes something sound good and so
now instead of listening to someone
else's music you're like okay how do I
do that okay I know the pattern okay
I like these notes together BAM now
that's music no I think I've always been
kinda like musically challenged I didn't
never really had the ear and then even
when I'm dancing I feel like it's there
I let my body react to it yeah but I'm
not consciously like soaking in the
types of patterns or the type of
melodies okay what's going on in the
song usually when I dance I let my body
react okay I always like to listen like
when I dance I'll pull in a song and
I'll you know I'll try to pick out all
the sounds in it like here's the drums
you know here's a snare it goes on this
pattern there's like high hats do it
goes on this pattern yeah okay here's a
horn and it's doing this and then here's
the bass line it's doing that so I try
to pick out every layer of the song and
it makes you be able to dance better I
think because now you go okay I'm gonna
follow the bass line right now now I'm
gonna go hit all these snare beats or
whatever now I'm gonna focus on this
horn sound dude and I don't know just
being able to pick that out in a song
yeah is really helpful because when you
go in and create it now you go okay I
know what good music sounds like with
all these layers now I'm gonna make my
own kind of thing I want to have a layer
that's you know in a high frequency okay
I want to do this dude it it it I want
to have some low frequency stuff you
know whatever and then you just layer it
all together and then just play around
it's it's fun cuz you're just playing
really that's crazy yeah you definitely
have an ear for it
I had to learn like yeah how do I even
listen more and it'll look analytically
do you think you're better at that now
uh no because that's not my automatic
mode of listening me to music I just
when I listen to it I just like follow
apart like a normal listener just follow
the lead or just like go with the mood
of the song and never really if I would
if I need if I were to break apart I
really
to like put mental energy to like I need
to break this apart yeah this is what's
going on here and that's later and
here's the later yeah but on normal
listening I don't do that when I first
started doing it it wasn't easy but
eventually it just became natural to to
like do it because you'll hear something
and then you'll hear like a random sound
you like Oh where's that going doo doo
and then you follow it oh I didn't even
notice that it did this and then stuff
like that so I don't know and it's fun
to just yeah yeah I should really get on
that and that's more like I think that's
what they call ear training
mm-hm and I should be more conscious of
it to just listen to the radio and do it
I do it all the time because it's like
you'll hear just a song that's just
playing all the time on the radio or
whatever and you know how the song goes
so then you don't need to pay attention
to like what is obvious in the songs and
now you go okay I want to find out
what's deeper into it so then sometimes
you'll try to follow like sometimes I
just try to follow one drum sound like
what does a snare doing dude dude dude
sometimes it's really simple sometimes
it's kind of crazy sometimes it's in
some weird pattern that doesn't even
make sense
but you never noticed that before yeah
because it's not the most obvious thing
so yeah I would say just pick out a
sound and in just try to I think that's
part of being in the moment and really
be present because I think when I listen
to music I would be like something else
is going on yeah you think about
something else yeah so it was actually a
popper that taught me how to do that
okay the name is Brandon great house
from Sacramento he's nobody if you know
who that yeah yeah yeah he's got an
amazing ear and he just taught me how to
do and I'm not as good as him by any
means but like yeah he really helped me
understand what I think oh yeah I took
that advice and really work on that
listening more intently and following a
journey of a song through a sound yeah
yeah dope well we've been going for
about dang over 30 minutes oh no dude
that's good I think this has been a
really good show
so is there any shoutouts you want to do
or like anything you want to plug before
we close the show yeah I guess it's in
my shitty outro
oh yeah shout out to hybrid crew on the
San Jose be voice a 1 crew a woman yeah
another crew am part of Stan's you know
we are out here trying to make things
Comments (0)
To leave or reply to comments, please download free Podbean or
No Comments
To leave or reply to comments,
please download free Podbean App.