Celebreak

DJ’s and Music

Posted on January 15, 2009

When you see dynamic power moves and unbelievable freezes, it’s sometimes easy to forget that breaking isn’t a sport, it’s a dance. Breakers and music are joined at the hip. It’s our muse to create and motivation to continue. 

I couldn’t have a blog about breaking without paying homage to the music, and more importantly, the providers of it: the DJ. If it weren’t for the original hip hop DJ, Kool Herc, breaking might not even exist. Kool Herc was the first to loop rock records and repeatedly play their breakdowns, which is the part of the song that had the first b-boys dancing. Herc saw how the breakdown moved them and had the genius idea to loop it with multiple records, keeping that part going–and with it, the breaking–as long as possible.

This idea of looping and mixing appealed to many in the 70’s and is now bigger than ever. Today, DJing has competitions, events and workshops all over the world. It has it’s own culture and history that evolved philosophies, rules and mantras. It’s much more than just playing a couple of records.  

At b-boy jams, the DJ can make or break the event. And if you’re not fortunate enough to have a live one at your local practice spot, the perfect DJ mixtape can have you dancing non-stop for hours.

A decade ago, we searched far and wide for underground mixtapes but thanks to the web, it’s a lot easier to find DJ’s and their music. I just created a new Music page with links to some dope DJ’s including Skeme Richards, blesOne, Honey Knuckles and Zeno. I’ll be updating this page regularly, adding new DJ’s as I find them. If you’re a DJ, or know of any DJ’s that should be included, please contact me and let me know. 

It’s the music, stupid.