Friday Recap

The Summit has a long history, 25 years of Hip-Hop culture honoring the Bboy and Bgirl dance form. Since our early days from Bboy Summit 2 in 1995, we have incorporated Funk & Soul styles of dance into our event platform, starting with our afterparty. Eventually we became the first Hip-Hop Bboy/Bgirl event to incorporate a Funk Styles platform at our event.

We thought it was only fitting at our 25th Anniversary to pay homage to the roots of Funk & Soul dance of South-Central LA, the home of Locking, and Poplocking, and the subsequent breeding ground for LA Hip-Hop dance. Leimert Park Plaza and the Kaos Network partnership allowed for a historical look into the people and social culture of South-Central LA that contributed to the birth of Funk & Soul dance.

What transpired was a deep connection to music and people’s reaction to it that was funky soul filled with many ingredients including symbolic gestures, clothing, and social structure emulating the street code foundation laid down by gangs as broken down by Skeeter Higgin Rabbit, Sir PopLock, and Midnight. Damita Jo added in the freestyle character and social approach and connection of people to music, shown in the nature of Locking style of dance and soul dance in general. Medusa connected the impact of pre-Hip-Hop music, Electro Funk, and the emerging battle scene spread across southern California, in schools and lunchrooms where notorious battles popped off, literally, and important spots such as Uncle Jams Army, and later Unity.

As the music changed so did the dance, and the trendy days of Hip-Hop stimulated a new style of dance and music, dressy and flashy with fast paced syncopated movements. This branched out into freestyle dance era with the Soul Brothers holding court in LA. Vluv and Legendary talked about the significance of the dancers to Hip-Hop music acts of that time, including Def Jeff and Divine Styler who all had dancers incorporated in their groups.

Lastly, J styles and Tierra, who spent the evening enraptured by their elder statemen and women, connected the lineage of LA rooted street dance heritage to their predecessors and them following suit, creating dances like Krump in response to music, and the energy and social culture of the streets and experience of Black people there.

After the panel, the energy was pumped up and we went outside into the street plaza and just danced! Damita, Midnight, Vluv, and Tierra got us all on the good foot with social dance combinations including Locking, Popping, Freestyle Hip-Hop, and choreo. After all that people just grooved to the music – Popping, Locking, Freestyling, and Breaking. The feedback was strong, that this evening was an important milestone and needed to happen, and more importantly that the story of LA rooted in Funk & Soul dance needs to be told, and we need to work together to make the story that started in South Central and spread around the world known. Mad props to Mark Luv, Kid Fresh, and Rox Swift for keeping the DJ continuity funky soul, breaks and electro all night.

Saturday Recap

Bboy Bgirl Summit is deeply rooted in the tradition of Hip-Hop, so it was only right to have the 25th Anniversary be a park jam celebrated in the open and expansive location of Grand Park. We have never produced an event on this scale and production value, and in collaboration with such an established location like Grand Park, so we would like to state our gratitude and appreciation to the Grand Park staff, especially Nicole Mauricio, for helping us out throughout the whole day.

We would also like to thank Utmos from Utmos Marketing for helping us organize all of our vendors. We had many vendors, and we would like to take this moment to say thank you to each and every vendor. Vendors provide a special environment to a Hip-Hop jam where people can come, browse, and find something unique that they can bring home, which hopefully reminds them of the event.

Thank you to Ho Lee Chow from Green Truck Sales for providing great quality + healthy Asian cuisine to our event. Please reach out to them for any food truck needs in the future at greentruck.sales@gmail.com.

We began the day with an info session and panel on breaking being in the Olympics. House from Furious Styles Crew and Eric Luu, Bboy Bgirl Summit’s intern, helped facilitate the conversation amongst other legends on the panel – Easy Roc, Jeskilz, Zulu Gremlin, and Asia One. The crowd was given all the current facts and information that is released at the moment, which was organized after talking to Jean-Laurent Borquin, a former IOC executive who consults to international sports federations and serves on the UDEF Board, DJ Renegade, Storm, Moy, Crazy Legs, Cros One and Ken Swift. The panel answered questions on how the events are to be structured and ways the community can help increase the likelihood of the Olympic Games representing breaking in the correct manner. This was one of the first community discussions on breaking being in the Olympics, and we are proud of continuing our tradition of panels being a part of Bboy Bgirl Summit. They continue to create a space where the community can come together and find solutions for the scene in a proactive and productive, efficient, and straightforward manner.

We strive to make Bboy Bgirl Summit as much of a family friendly event as possible, and with the addition of the kids all-style battle, we were able to invite families to come and celebrate their children in an authentic Hip-Hop environment. Thank you to everyone who battled and put their heart on the floor, because Hip-Hop was created by and for kids. A strong shout out to Jeskilz, Brother, and Swoop for judging, and Kid Fresh for djing, as well as Zulu Gremlin for hosting. This battle was dedicated to Cameron “Bboy Truth” Boyce who was a part of X-Mob. His loss was a huge hit to the breaking community, so we felt that it was only right to dedicate the battle to him. We love and miss you, Cameron.

Thank you to DJ Luman for kicking everything off with your super Hip-Hop selections and the DJ Safire who spun her personally crafted breaks after. These DJs play an integral part of a jam, because without them we would not have the music to dance to. Thank you to the Bboys who took part in our Bboy Exhibition Battle including Jihad and All Nations Rise and Invince, Kid Flight, Dale, and Problems.

As ambassadors and leaders of Hip-Hop culture, we work to create a platform that highlights all of the people who love and practice the culture. This is why our Bgirl Showcase is so important for us because it gives visibility to the Bgirls who are important contributors to the scene. Shout-outs to those who danced on our stage – Asia One, Ladie One, Jeskilz, Mantis, Jessica Aceret, Eizel Lingad, Pebblez, Feenx, Mia Flows, Ruby, Lily Breeze, Goldi Rox, Shan and Logistix. Maximum respect to DJs Tiff Starr, Kaotic Blaze, and Safire along with GI Soul Beatboxer for the music coordination for this segment.

Always showing respecting for the art of Popping, such an integral part of the West Coast and Summit is the reason for the Poppers Showcase this year, to display for the public the incredible, artistic, and animated nature of the dance. Thank you to Midnight and all the poppers representing – Phantom Poppers, Medusa, Lil Rob, Animated J, Jeckle, Playboy Eddie, Tronic, and Lil Niko. Much love to OG Hex for showing us so much love with the artwork for Summit including the flyer, stage banner and t-shirt, and to Ervin Arana for his design work for our promotion campaign.

Bboy Bgirl Summits originality stems from putting the culture first, all elements together, in honor of the Bboy and Bgirl. We celebrate the pillars of Hip-Hop: peace, love, unity, positivity, knowledge, skills and having fun. Big love to Infamy Art, Mobile Graffiti Yards, and Loop paint for being a part of Summit. They together facilitated the Graffiti Yard, complete with Walls, Infamy writers supply booth and writers bench where families and kids of all ages were getting down in the black books. Shout-outs to all the writers who painted – Cease MZK, Skew MZK, Teal FC, Teknyc FC, View FC, Ladie One HRTBRKZ, Cre8 RTN, Fearo UTI, Bus166 MSK, and for them dedicating their work to the Bboys and Bgirls, especially Cameron “Bboy Truth” Boyce and fallen Bboy hero’s Frosty and Float. R.I.P

Continuing our development of Hip-Hop, we created a history of Bboy Summit throughout the years, which was curated and developed by Bboy Easy Roc with photography asset assistance by Ani a longtime Summit photographer and supporter. As one of the cofounders of Summit, Easy Roc created a retrospect timeline of all of the major pictures and videos, artifacts, and history for participants to see and remember the growth and impact Bboy Bgirl Summit has had over the past 25 years. It was a very special part of the event, and without Easy Roc’s help, would not have been possible.

Later in the day, we began our performances, and our first showcase of the night was by LA luminary MC, Medusa. Medusa had an electric energy that captivated the crowd with her bravado and presence. She was able to get the crowd hype, and perfectly demonstrated the creative personalities that Hip-Hop helps develop and nurture.

Following Medusa was LA’s finest funky sole group headed by Miles Tackett, The Breakestra. We’ve missed them in the past years at Summit and wanted to bring back the funky energy that only they brew for the people. Seeing how the crowd was alive charged with music and dance was satisfying! After, in tradition of bringing a legendary DJ to bless the wheels, we sought Breakbeat Lou who performed a full DJ set with 45s. He started off with breaks and slowly transitioned into 80s-90s era music that got the crowd and the dancers hype. He helped develop a party vibe that was open to all ages and styles of dance. Much love and respect to Breakbeat Lou for blessing our event with his magic.

Lastly, we had Souls of Mischief perform. This was special for both them and us since they hadn’t performed in LA for years. With their Oakland outlaw style vests on they took the stage, while many crowded the stage for their showtime, and you could see and feel the crowd connect to their music. They played many classics including their infamous “93 ‘Til Infinity” which was a great closer to their set.

We want to give a special shout-out to everyone who came and was a part of our 25th year anniversary. Keeping an event going this long isn’t easy, especially to keep it thriving on a creative level. The Bboy Bgirl Summit is something special for the community that we are honored to be organizing and a part of, produced annually by 501c3 nonprofit No Easy Props. This event would not be possible without the support of the community who we do it all for, who came out and celebrated on the hottest day of the summer! Equally thank you to DCA for their financial support and help with making the Summit possible and free for everyone, especially the people of Los Angeles.

Sunday Recap

After a jam-packed two days of workshops, panels, music, dancing, and graffiti art, we thought the best way to wind down and relax was to host a beach day at Dockweiler Beach. It’s important as a community to not only just break and get down but have the opportunity to chill and socialize outside of the frenzy of an event.

We had many different crews and communities come to decompress and enjoy the beach with us. Special shout-outs goes to Teknyc, Ladie One, Wonda, Teal Steel’s family, Pebblez, Dyno and the SD family along with folks who brought food and drinks for the event.

This event was simple, but what made it special was the people who were there. Thank you to all of those who came and chilled with us.

The Bboy Bgirl Summit is produced annually by No Easy Props, a 501c3 Hip-Hop cultural arts nonprofit. Your donations enable us to keep the Summit an annual tradition of 3 days of events for free! Please consider donating at our go fund me: https://www.gofundme.com/f/1paor80dw0