Everything about Rock Steady Crew totally explained
Rock Steady Crew is a
breakdancing crew and
hip hop group that was established in the
Bronx,
New York City in
1977.
The New York Times called the Rock Steady Crew "the foremost breakdancing group in the world today."
History
The original founders were Jimmy D and Jojo, two early popularizers of
breakdancing. Although breakdancing has since become a well-known subculture, in the late
1970s it was little known outside of New York, as such their early rivals were from the other boroughs of New York. In the beginning, membership in the crew was only granted by battling with another Rock Steady member; it was a competition few people won.
In
1979 when b-boying began to die down, Jimmy D added
Crazy Legs and
Lenny Len to the crew. This fresh talent came at a critical time for the crew, if it hadn't been for these fresh new faces Rock Steady quite possibly would have ended then. Crazy Legs then was living in
Manhattan and would return to the Bronx on the weekends to "hang with the boys", but that eventually became too expensive. At that point Crazy Legs began to explore the hip hop scene in Manhattan, this meant losing contact with some of the other members of Rock Steady. Crazy Legs wanted to start a crew of his own and went back to the Bronx to get Jimmy D's permission to start a new Rock Steady chapter in Manhattan. Unable to find Jimmy D he instead joined Rockwell Association (a competitor to Rock Steady) on suggestion of his cousin Lenny Len. After being turned down the first time they immediately added him to their crew as he'd a lot more to offer this time and gave him a chapter in Manhattan.
It wasn't until the early part of
1981 that Crazy Legs finally got permission from Jimmy D to start a chapter of the Rock Steady Crew in Manhattan. Crazy Legs immediately switched the affiliation of his crew from the Rockwell Association to Rock Steady Crew. Although none of the current members of his chapter had battled anyone from the Rock Steady Crew they'd already gained the respect of Crazy Legs and so were accepted by the Bronx chapter without question. It would be this Manhattan chapter that would eventually rebuild the popularity of breakdance in NYC.
1981 would be the real turning point for Rock Steady, in August photographer
Henry Chalfant, from National Geographic offered Mike Holman for a chance for the Rock Steady Crew to perform at the
Lincoln Center Outdoors Program. This outdoor performance was covered by local New York City television stations, as well as
The New York Times,
The Village Voice,
New York Daily News and
National Geographic. This performance, a battle against rival crew
The Dynamic Rockers, would later gain them worldwide exposure. Founder Jimmy D saw the broadcast on television and was so impressed with the buzz that Crazy Legs had created for the crew he made him President of the entire Rock Steady Crew. Crazy Legs then made two members of the Manhattan chapter
Frosty Freeze and
Ken Swift Co-Vice Presidents.
In winter
1982 the RSC was invited to perform at the Ritz nightclub, the list of other performers that night included the post-punk group
Bow Wow Wow,
Afrika Bambaataa, and the
Jazzy 5. After this performance, Crazy Legs and Frosty Freeze asked Afrika Bambaataa if they could join the
Zulu Kings, considered then to be the most highly respected of the b-boy crews. Bambaataa allowed them to join, and included the entire RSC as members of his "Zulu Nation". Soon after that performance the RSC became caught up in the diverse
1980s NYC club culture, which at the time was a mix of
Rastafarians,
Punk Rockers,
New Wave listeners, and, of course, hip hop fans. The Rock Steady Crew expanded at this time into a large family like group consisting of women, children, roller skaters,
graffiti artists, and
DJs. This would also be the year the group, and breakdance in general, became bigger than NYC.
In early
1983, the Rock Steady Crew became managed by
Kool Lady Blue, who booked them on the
Roxy Tour sponsored by
Europe One Radio. This tour took the Rock Steady Crew, Afrika Bambaataa,
Fab Five Freddy, the
McDonalds Double Dutch girls, various DJs and graffiti artists from the rubble of the projects to
London and
Paris, and was the first international
hip hop music tour. The Crew also appeared on the
Jerry Lewis Telethon for the second time that year. In November of that same year
Elizabeth II asked them to perform at the
Royal Variety Performance in aid of the
Artists Benevolent Fund. At this time the London scene was developing fast and furiously and was responsible for such innovative moves such as the fabled 'English back spin' said to be invented by Jonathan Fletcher in Covent Garden.
The tour would lead to a short record deal with UK record label
Charisma Records. Their release "
Hey You, The Rock Steady Crew" went
gold and was a top ten chart hit in
Great Britain. The RSC saw little of the proceeds however, due to their lack of understanding of the music industry and their poor contract negotiations. The RSC alleges they were taken advantage of by Charisma Records who wouldn't allow them any creative input. When Charisma Records went out of business they were sold to
Virgin Records who indefinitely shelved the deal. This deal caused friction among the members of the group who decided to put RSC on hold for a while and concentrate on other projects.
1991 was a very important year for RSC up and coming rapper
Q-Unique gave Crazy Legs a demo tape and lobbied for the revival of Rock Steady. Crazy Legs also had been receiving pressure to restart Rock Steady from World Karate Champion Jerry "Fast Feet" Fontanez.Grand Master Fast Feet Persuaded Crazy Legs to restart the group; Fast Feet took Crazy Legs to the hottest clubs of that time,The Circle in the Bronx and the World Famous Nell's to name a few.At the time clubs would play Hip Hop so Fast Feet got the DJ's like The Duke of Denmark to play the Mexican,Just Begun and James Brown.They started doing routines and the crowds went nuts! The official return of The Rock Steady Crew was at
The Source Magazine Show that summer,That night right after K.R.S One performed.Lead by hype man
Q-Unigue Crazy Legs,Mr.Wiggles,Ken Swift and the new members Fast Feet and Kwik Step.
Crazy Legs also did the first RSC Anniversary free of charge at Rock Steady Park 99th and Amsterdam avenue in Manhattan. Since Tommy Boy record's New Music Seminar was in town people from all over the WORLD were there.Including Afrika Bambaataa,KRS One,
King Sun ect,ect the line of MC's who didn't get on are Pioneers and Legends!
1991 also saw the return of RSC rocking in a music video,Fast Feet's Karate student DJ Professor Paul of E.S.P
Select Records invitted them to dance in his song Finger Tips.This tme
Pop Master Fable also performed,once again RSC put Breaking in the mix.
In
1991 Mr. Wiggles approached Crazy Legs about an idea he and Fable (from Magnificent Force) had for a hip-hop musical called "So, What Happens Now?". Ken Swift and Buck 4 came on board and helped provide a scenario for the musical:
» "You don't know what it feels like to go fill out a job application ... where it says, ‘what do you do?’ what do I write? I spin on my head?" – Buck 4
"So, What Happens Now?" was a critics choice in
The New York Times and received rave reviews in
The Village Voice,
The Daily News and
El Diario.
In a
1992 performance, they received a standing ovation led by
Gregory Hines at the
Kennedy Center Honors where
United States President George H. W. Bush, and
Gregory Peck were in attendance.
As of
2005 Crazy Legs is still president of the crew, with Fabel as vice presidents. There are now
Las Vegas,
Orlando and
Los Angeles chapters in the
United States, as well as members in
Japan, the
United Kingdom,
Italy, And
Canada. Currently approaching their 28th anniversary, they've more goals in sight. They remain active in the community and are involved in several different outreach programs, having held several food drives for NYC pantries. One of their goals for 2005 is to start a Rock Steady foundation for children, which will provide dance classes and other after school activities.
In
Japan, Rock Steady Crew Japan is lead by a dancer named Crazy-A, who was one of the original Japanese break dancers. His group of dancers was originally known as the Tokyo B-Boys. Now, Crazy-A leaves it the younger members of Rock Steady Crew Japan to do the dancing. Many of the new members of Rock Steady Crew Japan come from Soka Daigaku, a University which has a well known break dancing team called D-Crew.
In
2007 a remix of "
Hey You, The Rock Steady Crew" by Jay C was released.
Rock Steady Crew anniversaries
The RSC holds an annual anniversary party in the Bronx, to "symbolize the preservation of the history and the evolution of Hip-Hop Culture." This party is a community event which brings out many local DJs, breakdancers, graffiti artists, MCs, and hip hop fans from all over the world. It is also a time where the current members honor the past members who have retired, and those who have died. The 30th anniversary climatic concert, held in Lincoln Park in Newark, NJ on July 29, 2007, featured what may have been the most impressive lineup of legendary hip hop luminaries, including EPMD, Biz Markie, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Soulsonic Force, Dana Dane, Chubb Rock, Craig G, Just-Ice, Lords of the Underground, and Naughty by Nature, as well as contemporary acts like Thirstin Howl, Planet Asia, Polyrhythm Addicts, and DJs like DJ Scratch, Q-Bert, JS-1, Tony Touch, and Evil Dee.
List of members
Pre-1984 Hiatus
|
Jimmy Lee
Nut Blaster-1
Chrome
Boo-Ble
Pauly
Lime-5
Rubberband
Ain-yuc
l-Mack (Weebles)
Doctor Ace
Slick Rick
|
Popeye
Buck 4
Trace 2
Trac 2
Rim 180th
Tito 183rd
Me 2
Green Eye Joe
Braces
C.N.
Les
|
Angel Rock
Bon 5
Kippy Dee
Baby Love
Mr. Freeze
Pee-Wee
Kuriaki
Sou
Doze
Rip7
|
EastSide Rock Steady Crew..
Pop Master Fable,
FunKy Frank,
Punk Rock Pete,
Frankie Jask,
Tony Rome,
Son one,
Raschid,
Chris Swift,
Shop one,
Moe,
DMX,
Strings,
Lou the Jew,
Curly,
Chino Chan,
Kool Aid.
Scooter,
Kevin Nac143
Post-1991 Revival
Discography
Albums
"Ready For Battle" - 1984
Track listing
"Uprock" – 5:10
"Me And Baby Brother" – 4:11
"She's Fresh" – 4:02
"B-Boys B-Girls" – 4:49
"It's Just Begun" – 4:38
"(Hey You) The Rock Steady Crew" – 5:25
"Digital Boogie" – 5:49
Singles
"(Hey You) The Rock Steady Crew" - 1984
"She's Fresh" - 1984
"Uprock" - 1984
"Used To Wish I Could Break With Rock Steady" - 2000
"Hey You" - 2007Further Information
Get more info on 'Rock Steady Crew'.
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