Scene Report: McDonald’s B-boy Royale 4
On August 26, I had the pleasure of attending the fourth edition of McDonald’s B-boy Royale at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Aside from being able to revisit a familiar stage from my college days, I appreciated the chance to watch breaking on stage from the audience’s point of view.
Event remarks
A few notes on the event itself before we get into the dance talk. First, all proceeds from the event went to the Ronald McDonald House Charities. It’s great that b-boys can get their shine while also helping a worthwhile cause.
GrandMixer DXT, a pioneer of turntablism and the man behind the iconic scratching in Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit,” received the Lifetime Achievement Award and DJ’d the battles.
The atmosphere of the event, with the flashing lights, and HOT 97 hosts, was likely designed to appeal to a mainstream audience. Production value is always good to have, although I’m not sure whether the people in the crowd were the type who wanted to see ring girls and a new school rap performance. Out of the ~400 audience members, there were many families with children and older attendees, and less young adults than I expected.
Two main things took away from my personal experience:
- The lights were generally intense, flashing, and scanning around the stage during the battles, which distracted from the actual dancing. This was also the case during Dynamic Rockers’ opening performance.
- Battles were timed at 3 minutes (4 minutes for the final), which often meant that the last dancer would have little to no time for their round. Several b-boys didn’t get to dance on stage at all because of this limitation. Venue time constraints are the primary reason for timed battles, so one option could’ve been to cut content like the rap performance in the interest of making more time for dance.
Breaking review
That being said, the b-boys were all top notch, representing many cities across North America. Most of the crews were super crews/combinations of crews for whatever reason, but this didn’t seem to be a problem.
The three judges on the couch were Crazy Legs of Rock Steady Crew, Macca of 360 Flava, and Gin of Floor Obsession and Wondrous Studio of Breaking. I like that the judges gave a little input after each battle to explain their thoughts.
8 groups entered, and 1 emerged victorious. That group was none other than Rock Force, whose members were Kareem, Morris, and Ives. We’ll take a closer look at this crew after some brief notes on the others.
ION (Illz, Onton, Napalm), Runner-up: These three are experienced competitors, and it showed in their performance last night. The well-practiced routines that they brought helped them stand out, as that adds considerably to the viewer experience by showing crew synergy. These b-boys are individual threats as well. Illz and Onton have that signature Toronto finesse, and Napalm is as dynamic as his name suggests. Check out Napalm’s killer ending to their semifinal battle below.
*Also, shout out to Illz and Napalm for teaching at the recent workshops produced by Breaks U — I went to Illz’s session myself and came out with a lot of new ideas.
Knucklehead Zoo (J Funky, Ali, Dr. Trey), Semifinalist: Another familiar name in the breaking scene, Knucklehead Zoo was as fierce as their name suggests, and did not disappoint. All of KHZ showed high level power moves within their individual styles — J Funky with clean technical skills hitting beats, Ali with the silky smooth flow, and Dr. Trey with raw power combos. My favorite round from KHZ was this opening from J Funky, because he does a great job of emphasizing attitude and musicality.
Retro Gnomes (Valme, Supa Josh, DQ), Semifinalist: Repping Philadelphia, Valme and Supa Josh have been consistent presences at competitions in the Northeast and beyond. DQ is equally prominent in his native DMV scene. I always enjoy watching Philly b-boys because of their intensity and spirit. Again, DQ has plenty of flavor as well. It did seem that this squad was less accustomed to work with the big stage and lights, which dampened the effect of some of their rounds. In any case, take a look at Supa Josh in the video below for an example of the aforementioned intensity.
Culturas Unidas (Dennis, Killa Chris, D-Tex): Texas came with the flames, displaying a high level of dynamics and technical skill. Unfortunately, D-Tex missed out on his round due to the time limit, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he had some sick moves up his sleeve, based on the other two crew members. Culturas Unidas also opened both of their rounds with clean 2–1 routines (2 members bringing in 1 member), and I wish there more rounds in the battle for them to perhaps perform more routines.
Fraggle Rock Felons (Tim Chips, Boxcutta, J Bugz): Like D-Tex from the previous crew, J Bugz was shortchanged by the 3 minute time limit. Tim Chips and Boxcutta are brothers who both have some interesting thread moves, although Tim emphasized power in his round whereas Boxcutta focused on footwork. J Bugz is from Vancouver and has his own brand of threads that are more flow-centric. Again, I wish there was enough time for him to show those off.
MKD (Mikey, Kilo, Divine): Mikey’s battle attitude is always on point, though he stumbled slightly in this battle for whatever reason. Divine did his usual, extreme difficulty power combinations, and it seemed that he was one of the audience favorites. Then, unsurprisingly, the time limit left Kilo with no time for his round. Kilo’s sets are based on his mastery of power move flow and his unique flexibility. That brief description is by no means sufficient, so I do recommend looking him up (and any of these other names that didn’t get to dance at B-boy Royale).
The New Chapter (Form, J Killa, Shorty): Form’s emphasis on composed back/shoulder and turtle techniques was an interesting balance to J Killa and Shorty’s crazy blowups. J Killa had solid control over his one-handed halos and airchairs, among other things. Shorty went out after the timer reached zero, so I’m not sure whether the judges accounted for his performance. It was actually a set with an incredibly dynamic beginning that suffered from the time limit effect.
Champion Spotlight: Rock Force
We now arrive at the first place winners of McDonald’s B-boy Royale 4, Rock Force crew, represented by Kareem, Morris, and Ives. Here’s a rundown of their respective styles: Kareem is a competition veteran with dynamic combinations and power move execution. Morris is an all-rounder with a large arsenal of signature moves and an ear for the music. Ives, the youngest member, also has great musicality and a scary level of battle intensity. I’d recommend watching the final battle of B-boy Royale in its entirety. All of Rock Force contributes to the victory, though I’d say Ives helps them pull ahead of ION, and Kareem seals the deal.
I was lucky enough to get a few words from Rock Force on their performance that night — here’s what they had to say:
What are your opinions on the time limit for the battles?
Kareem: You can’t really put a time limit on people’s rounds. If you do a time limit, it’s okay, but make sure that everyone gets at least one round minimum.
How did you prepare for today’s battles?
Morris: We’re a real crew. We’re Rock Force — 3rd generation [Kareem], newest member [Ives], I’m a newer member…The chemistry’s there. We did train before this, but we always have to make sure we’re on the same thought process.
Ives: Another thing, we’re also coming off from a couple losses ourselves. This was in a period of two weeks, so coming to this competition, we were really hungry to redeem ourselves.
What were some key factors in your victory today?
Morris: We all had a moment. So I felt like first round, maybe it was you [Ives], second round was me, and then the third round — which was the most important one, the finals — was Kareem, because he came through when we needed him.
Rock Force would like to thank Josh Cayabyab, Tiangi Fan, the judges, UBC, everyone who helped produce the event, and of course, the crowd. Kareem would also like to thank his sponsor, Monster Energy.
I, for one, am glad that a true, organic crew was successful in this event. The crew is undoubtedly an irreplaceable part of hip hop and b-boy culture. Groups like Rock Force show us that the essence of the crew can be preserved while also competing at the highest levels.
And that’s a wrap — we now conclude this installment of Scene Report. Respect to everyone involved with McDonald’s B-boy Royale 4. It’s important to make breaking accessible to traditional audiences, and that’s exactly what B-boy Royale has been doing each year.
Special thanks to Bboy Network Channel for the battle footage, and to Josh for suggesting that I cover this event. Check out all the footage here and subscribe on YouTube for more quality content.
As always, feel free to reach out if you have any questions or feedback. Follow me on Instagram @glissando for the latest updates, and please share to spread the knowledge. Thanks for reading — peace!
