B-boy

A b-boy was originally a person who danced breakdance. Over time, the term has expanded to include any individual who identifies with that area of hip-hop subculture. The former synonym breaker retains the stricter original meaning, and another term b-girl has evolved to refer to females.

Notable B-Boys

• Crazy Legs

Storm Ivan Kujo Poe One Kim Yun Soo Tim the Serial Killer BJ Cloud

Etymology

DJ Kool Herc apparently coined the term b-boy in 1969 in New York City. During performances where Herc was DJing, he would yell out "b-boys go down!" which cued the dancers to begin breakdancing. 1969 was also the year that James Brown recorded "Get on the Good Foot," a song that promoted high-energy, acrobatic dancing and that Afrika Bambaataa (founder of the Zulu Nation) claims led to breakdancing (Toop, 1991). Many oldschool breakdancers prefer to be referred to as b-boys. "B-boy" was the original term for urban style dancers, though "breakdancer" is now better-known because it has been used more commonly by the media.

The "b" in b-boy stands for "break," not for "bronx," "boogie," or "boogaloo." Boogaloo was a dance style developed in the West Coast by Sammy Solomon and pertains more to the general Funk-styles dance scene than to the b-boying and hip hop scene, although those two cultures did end up intermingling. The Funk styles, or Popping, is an entirely different dance with origins in California, not New York and the hip hop scene.

B-girls

A b-girl (break girl) is the female counterpart of the b-boy in hip hop culture. This term refers specifically to a female who practices this dance style. The term has been used since hip hop's inception during the 1970s. Notable b-girls include the late Bunny Lee (the first female member of The Rock Steady Crew), Baby Love, Roc-a-fella (not the record label), Asia-One (the event organizer of the legendary B-Boy Summit in California), and many others.

Actress Debi Mazar started out her career as a b-girl in New York City before turning to acting.

Sources

• David Toop (1991). Rap Attack 2: African Rap To Global Hip Hop, p.113-115. New York. New York: Serpent's Tail. ISBN 1852422432.

External links

• Bboy.org - Largest Bboy/Bgirl community on the Internet.
• Loads of b-boy videos including popping, locking, powermoves, instructional tips, and battle footage from all over the world.
• BreakdanceCrew.com - Tutorials for many breakdance moves with animated step-by-step guides.