This past Thursday, July 25th, saw history in the making. It was the beginning of the four day long Rock Steady Crew 25th Anniversary celebration. Spirits were high as over ten thousand hip-hop devotees from around the world converged on New York City from Thursday to Sunday to honor the world’s best-known B-Boys and B-Girls.
Kicking off the festivities on Thursday was a celebrity basketball game to benefit the Greenwich Youth Council College Fund. Participants included radio/TV personality Sway, graf legends TATS Cru, Grandmaster Caz, and Rock Steady legend Frosty Freeze. Bobbito’s Film Festival, curated by Bobbto Garica followed. Both events, staples of the yearly anniversary, were well attended and set an upbeat tone that would last throughout the weekend.
Friday commenced with dance and MC battles, held at NY’s Manhattan Center. Starting around 1 p.m., the seven hour event was filled to capacity, and was broken down into three parts: the B-Boy/B-Girl Battle, the Renegades of Funk popping battle hosted by RSC senior vice-pres PopMaster Fabel, and the MC Battle hosted by Q-Unique of the Arsonists. Spectators were treated to the turntable stylings of hip-hop icon GrandWizzard Theodore for the “Legends of Funk” battle, won by Puppet Einn, while a live band (Buttah) provided beats for the B-Boy/B-Girl battle, won by Be Be of Ground Zero. DJ DV One spun sounds for the MC Battle won by Poly-Rock, an up and comer whose skills strong-armed the crowd into giving up respect for a kid from Baltimore.
Considering these events alone, the fifty-dollar advance ticket price was well justified. But the party was just getting started…
