Breakdancing music, history and influences

Let's start to explore breakdancing music, how it all got started and who the main influences on the breaking scene were.

Best breakdancing music

The best type of music when it comes to b-boying is something that has a break beat. This ranges from the 70's to the early 2000's.

A lot of songs nowadays aren't made in the tempo or fashion that b-boys can comfortably dance to.
Some songs that are great to start off are:

• Anything from James Brown
• Erik B & Rakim - Don't Sweat The Technique
• Blitz the Ambassador - Losing Your Mind
• A Tribe Called Quest - Scenario
• Breakestra - The Family
• Anything from Breakestra
• Lack of Afro - P.A.R.T.Y (Instrumental)
• Dj Lean Rock - Sneak Peak
• Funky Bijou - Na Mee Hon
• DJ Format & Phill Most Chill - Beverly

When you're exploring breakdancing music, you need to spend a little time getting used to the rhythms and patterns of the beats.  To help you along a bit, take a look at my video on improving your musicality...

History of Breakdancing

Breakdancing, (original name b-boying or b-girling), started back in the early 1970s in the Bronx, New York.

B-boys or b-girls are known for dancing to the "breaks" or the "breakdown" of the beat. This is where the name generally comes from.

DJ Kool Herc was known for looping the breakdowns of the beat when he was hosting block parties.

He noticed that the boys and girls would dance mainly to the breakdown of a song.

So what he did to elongate that part was get the same record and have it loop from one record to the next.

DJ Kool Herc actually goes into a deeper meaning of the word b-boy. He describes the true meaning of it as an individual who has reached a breaking point or is "broken," and they're letting all their energy out onto the dance floor.

Breaking was influenced by a variety of sources such as gymnastics, tap dance, capoeria, and kung fu.

It was meant to be a way for rival street gangs to fight for turf. The best dancer of one group would come out and "battle" the best dancer of the other gang. Breaking, along with other elements of hip hop is what gave the kids of that time an outlet. It was a time where they felt like they were out of control.  This way, they had the opportunity to create something that was their own.

Naturally, a huge part of b-boying and hip hop is the art of the battle, where one challenges the other to test their skills and see who is the most dominant. It's through the constant challenging of skills that has lead this movement to evolve to what it is today.

In the late 70's (78-79), breaking was replaced by disco. In the 80's, breaking was popularized by mainstream media. By the late 80's, early 90's, breaking and breakdancing music faded away from the mainstream.

Biggest Breakdancing Influences

Four Elements of Hip Hop

B-boying is one of the four elements of hip hop.
The other three elements are Graffiti art, DJ, and MCing.
Other hip hop dances are popping and locking.

While these elements had already existed before, it was the Godfather of Hip Hop, Afrika Bambaataa, that brought all of them together.

According to the Universal Zulu Nation, the current representatives of the true essence of hip hop, the four principles of hip hop are: peace, love, unity, and having fun. It was these principles that brought many individuals to hip hop despite their background.

Four Elements of B-boying/Breakdancing

There are four elements when it comes to b-boying.

You can check out my breakdancing for beginners video demos of all of these moves here.

More from Emeroy

What's next?  Head over to my breakdancing basics section where I give you all the answers to your b-boying questions.

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