Tek - Event Planning, Breakin’, and Music Production - Noise of the Broke Boys Episode 005

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.

----more----

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