MOVIES
Wild Style (1982)
The classic Hip Hop movie with many pioneers incl. the Rock Steady Crew. More info: www.wildstylethemovie.com
Flashdance (1984)
Contains a Breaking scene with the Rock Steady Crew incl. Mr Freeze, Crazy Legs, Ken Swift and Frosty Freeze. The played song “It’s just begun” of Jimmy Castor Bunch is still nowadays an all time classic and one of the most played breaks in the scene. Crazy Legs did also the backspin as double for Jennifer Beals.
Beat Street (1984)
Including the battle Rock Steady Crew vs. New York City Breakers in the Roxy.
Breakin’ (1984)
With Shabba Doo as “Ozone”, Boogaloo Shrimp as “Turbo”, Poppin Taco, Poppin Pete. More info: www.fast-rewind.com/break
Breakin’ 2 – Electric Boogaloo (1985)
With Shabba Doo and Boogaloo Shrimp.
DOCUMENTARIES
Style Wars (1982)
TV documentary about New York Graffiti scene, birth of Hip Hop, roots of Rap and about the Rock Steady Crew. More info: www.stylewars.com
History of Hip Hop (1984)
TV documentary.
Graffiti Rock (1984)
feat. Run DMC, NYC Breakers, Shannon, Kool Moe Dee and Special K.
Breaking and Entering
TV documentary.
Electro Rock (1985)
Documentary of an event in the Hippodrome (London/UK) incl. Rock City, Loose Bruce, Broken Glass, London All Stars, Look Twice,..
The Freshest Kids (2001)
Hip Hop legends Kool D.J. Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, KRS-One and many more come together to reveal for the first time the most comprehensive history of B-Boying, its evolution and its place within hip-hop culture and beyond. These are The Freshest Kids and this is their story!
More info: www.thefreshestkids.com
MUSIC VIDEOS
Malcolm McLaren “Buffalo Gals” (1983)
feat. Rock Steady Crew
Rock Steady Crew “Hey You” (1984)
feat. Rock Steady Crew
Rock Steady Crew “Uprock” (1984)
feat. Rock Steady Crew
Africa Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force “Planet Rock” (1984)
feat. Rock Steady Crew and Dynamic Rockers
Chaka Khan “I Feel For You” (1984)
feat. Pop-N-Taco, Boogaloo Shrimp and Shabba Doo
Break Machine “Street Dance” (1984)
feat. Break Machine
Lionel Richie “All night long” (1985)
feat. Pop-N-Taco, Boogaloo Shrimp
Lords of the Underground “Chief Rocka” (1993)
feat. Crazy Legs & Ken Swift of Rock Steady Crew, Quickstep of Full Circle
Beastie Boys “Root Down” (1997)
feat. clips of the movie “Wild Style” with Rock Steady Crew
Wyclef “We Trying To Staying Alive” (1997)
feat. Rock Steady Crew and Elite Force
Run DMC vs. Jason Nevins “It’s Like That” (1997)
feat. Animation, WillPower, Asia One, Kujo, .
BOOKS
On the top of the media explosion of Breaking in the middle of the 80ies several books with the subject “Breakdancing” were published although most of them were rather ridiculous than really helpful. All of them are hard to find because they are out of print!
A highly recommended book is the following which was written by the German B-Boy legend Storm (Battle Squad) and which covers his views and experiences during all the years (in German though):
“Von Swipe zu Storm” – Niels Robitzky
First print: 2000 / Backspin / ISBN 3-00-005526-6
We B*Girlz, documented by photographer Martha Cooper and writer Nika Kramer showcases the dynamic style and nonstop energy of B-Girlz in action, in practice, on stage, and at home:
“We B*Girlz” – Martha Cooper & Nika Kramer
First print: 2005 / powerHouse Books / ISBN 1576872696
more info: www.bgirlz.com
MAGAZINES
It is not easy to write regular articles about B-Boying, in contrast to MCing, DJing or Writing where you can present reviews and/or pictures. That must also be the reason why B-Boying wasn’t and isn’t featured that much in Hip Hop magazines.
It strucks that magazines which mainly feature the musical side of Hip Hop (or what the industry wants to sell as Hip Hop) are mostly (totally) commercialized whereas the biggest number of underground Hip Hop magazines are Graffiti related and cover mainly that side of the Hip Hop culture.
Unfortunately there are only very few print magazines around that feature and unite all elements of Hip Hop and that also cover the cultural aspect of it. Here is a list of some worth to check magazines:
Backspin Magazine
since 94, from Hamburg (Germany)
Language: German
Website: www.backspin.de