Saturday, December 6, 2008

Interviews - Noise in Hip Hop

When Nas released his 2006 album ‘Hip- Hop is Dead’, not even he could fully understand the exact prophetic effect of his album. Fifteen years on, rappers have become the boy bands of the 90’s. Spouting meaningless rhymes for tweens, these so-called ‘hood niggaz’ have shamelessly turned their backs on true hip-hop to ‘roll’ with the likes of Britney Spears. Reminiscing about the days when hip hop came with heart not advertising, DeeTu talked to Arch Rival from Wikid Force, arguably Australia’s oldest and most decorated breakdance crew, about hip hop, bboying, and the soul behind the music.

DeeTu: What are some of the plans for Wikid Force over the summer and later in 09?

Arch Rival: At the moment, we’re doing a theatre show called Melbourne Breaks. We’ve been doing that in Melbourne since 2005, and we’re looking to do a 4 week season for in Tasmania. So, that’s on the books for 2009. But we’re also looking to possibly going to Dubai to perform at their Dubai Festival City event.

Sounds sweet man, so you guys will be representing Australia over there?

We will be representing Australia as bboys, but at the end of the day, it’s a showcase, so we won’t be representing like in a competition or anything. I mean, a couple of us are too old for that. (side note: Arch is 35, but his freestyles stops traffic)

Fair enough, Wikid Force and yourself has obviously been around for a long time, what was the breakdance and hip hop scene like back in the day?

Haha, it was crazy man. Wikid Force started in 88’, it’s the 20th anniversary for Wikid Force this year actually, but basically we’re talking about breaking in the 80’s. The breaking and hip-hop craze, or period, in Australia, in my opinion, was actually around about 82’ and 83’. I mean, Beat Street came out in 84’, and a lot of clips of Rock Steady Crew were coming over here at that time. That media exposure back then definitely helped the breaking scene. Me and a couple of the original Wikid Force members started out when we were 8 or 9, basically just as breaking and hip hop was being brought to the world. So yeah, the craze was definitely there man. We were learning from clips we saw and from each other. And the passion for the culture and music was really there, you know, which we never grew out of.

As a bboy, you are obviously been very much involved in hip-hop, so what does hip-hop mean to you, why is it so appealing?

Well, for me and Wikid Force, hip hop is more than just the music and dance. It’s really a way of life, I mean, pretty much all of us at Wikid Force teach, at United Styles and community centres, and we do a lot of corporate gigs. So hip hop has been really provided a professional pathway in that sense. But hip hop for me has always been about friendship. When Wikid Force formed, we were all like 14 or 15, and we’ve remained the best of friends. It’s really about that bond, that sharing of knowledge and common interest which really appeals to me for hip hop. I mean, I’ve travelled the world because of hip hop, and there’s been times when we had nowhere to stay, and people we’ve met would just invite us to stay at their place. So yeah, for me, that friendship, sense of community and dancing is definitely a big part of hip-hop’s appeal.

Speaking of the hip hop community, shows like So You Think You Can Dance and commercial rap artists has helped provide a lot of publicity for the hip hop and dance community, but there’s been disagreements of their value. What’s your opinion on this commercialisation of hip hop and breakdancing.

Shows like So You Think You Can Dance has definitely done well to promote dance to the general public. They’ve definitely gotten people interested in hip hop and dance, and inspired a lot of the younger generation to get a bit more involved. But I think, being someone who knows a little bit more about the culture, the show has generalised hip hop. I mean, a lot of the guys who are very involved in hip hop do have their disagreements with how these shows kinda just focus on the showy part of hip hop and breaking, to please the crowd so to speak. And that issue has definitely come under a lot of heavy discussion in the community. Don’t get me wrong, the commercialisation is definitely good to get people interested, but, I think, to really learn more about true hip hop culture and dance, you need to look a lot further.

Something that’s really bugging me is what bboys, poppers and lockers call, ‘having soul’ or ‘having funk’ when you dance. Being an accomplished dancer in all of these styles, can you give us a word on what ‘soul’ or ‘funk’ actually mean?

Man, basically, when you dance, having soul or the funk is releasing that ‘something within you’. It’s about being so inspired by the music that you just let it rip you know. I mean, some people are just born with the ‘funk’, like no matter what they do, it’s gonna look good. But it’s definitely also something that you can capture in your training in becoming the best dancer you can be. Ultimately, hip hop music and dancing gives you freedom man, and that freedom is where ‘soul’ and ‘the funk’ come from.

Just to close off, what’s your advice to some of the younger kids out there who are looking to get involved in hip hop and dance.

Well, firstly you should do some learning to know what it is you’re actually doing. Only then can you fully appreciate hip hop, you know. But yeah man, definitely get to a place where people are involved in hip hop and dance, be it dance classes, community centres, or anywhere else. If you got friends who are into it, get together and train. At the end of the day, you got nothing to lose by getting involved. By going to these places, and seeing and learning, you’re starting your hip hop journey, [at this point, someone turned on the jukebox and Hip Hop by Dead Prez started playing, no joke.], just like I did before, and the people before me. In the end, it’s just fun man, the whole hip hop experience is fun, you should never forget about that.

Check out Arch Rival and other Wikid Force members in class at www.unitdstyles.com

Sylli

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

hen you dance, having soul or the funk is releasing that ‘something within you’. i've learned something today!

Anonymous said...

mmm..SoYouThinkYouCanDance...yum!

Anonymous said...

this is sick...its about education..
dance is the movement...