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A Bgirls Travels
This section is dedicated to my travels, globetrotting and the Hip-Hop heads I meet up with along the journey. San Fran "The Sco" Sisters of the Underground Anniversary Party First off let me just say how much I love the Bay. I fucking love it, I really do. For those who may not know, my pops lived in Richmond across the street basically from Hilltop Mall from 1983-2001. I stayed with him for periods at a time and once I moved to Cali visited every couple of mons. Henceforth I consider the Bay my second home. The reasons I love it: 1) The folks got mad style, hello, and I aint talking about just they gear, but their entire steez from the talk to the walk baby, straight pimp. I fit in over there like hand in pocket. 2) The clubs is bangin, sick Hip-Hop, soaked in Bay area sounds of E feezy, Mac Mall, Dru Down, Rappin Fortay, Tupac, Spice 1, Too Short, and Hiero fam. Hyphy all day!! 3) That fuckin Hippie vibe, from Berkeley to Haight Street, u cant front on that freedom love vibe, and they got dope pizza! I get off the plane the first thing I here is some cat saying, "Girl, I like your style" and I'm wearing some prokeds, a Denver Bronco jersey baggy jeans and some truck Chanel jewelry. Cazals. I fuckin love it! Anyhow I had to grab me a quick tofu sandwich and bean pie from the Nation of Islam cart at the Oakland airport. Jump in Jena Jones classic mustang and was out to the Sco. We dropped the bags at my crib for the weekend, the vacant apt. of Sara Smalls and Machine, grab some cheap sushi and go the spot for soundcheck. I chill up in VIP with Ken Swift and some other heads in town for the jammy. Everything is totally copasetic, feel me..no drama just good vibes. The beats finally start getting crunk, and everybody's there, Remind, Wicket, Shawn Supreme, Tony Styles, RoxRite, Beta, Kaia, Profo and his bro, Foots, and a bunch of other not as ill cats. (sorry, I tells it like it is) Anyway I don't know if the spirits of Buck 4 and Kuriaki got into me or what but I was going awol. Remind was like, "Yo Asia, look, u making other cats not want to dance." If u know what we mean this is a compliment like u shuttin fools down type thing. Well all I can say it is I was getting Buck! Wicket was like "Yo Asia, who u been trainin with?" I was like "nobody" He was like, "stay that way". Ahh compliments real G's in this, today was a good day…Hahahah…Anyway it was fun mixin it up with those cats. Beta and Kaia were busy getting liquored up but by the time they got in the circle the liquor really turned into firewater cuz these bitches were burning it up! I mean I have really not seen Beta that ill and I love the girl already! Well she was bringin it to me, and we were going back and forth with nothing but l-o-v-e. The real treats were served when Beta and Kaia would improv some routines. Their styles really compliment each others. The performances started and I have to say I was really impressed by the Sisters of the Undergrounds show. The routines were all on pizoint and they were coming with that essential B-girl feel that u just cant fake the funk with. The Conscious Daughters also put it down. Remember them? We had a dope panel also addressing situations in Hip-Hop, media vs. Hip-Hop type dilemma. More importantly we each talked about what we are doing to give back to the community through Hip-Hop. Kenny dropped science about his new program, his new school, and warehouse/ practice space. As well as a new club he has that I have been hearing good things about. I am so proud of Kenny for doing his think in NY. He is really keeping things moving, doing a jam a month for like the past year or something. All the special guests threw down in an impromptu performance for the crowd. We was kinda killing it, each trying to outdo the other. I am trying to remember who was djing, hmm. The beats were crazy hype and fast, I just remember that I did the longest headspin drill I have ever hit. Yippie! Remind went nuts too. It was great seeing Remind feeling the vibe. That is one brother that is truly connected to the music, and u can see it when he is really feelin it, his energy is so light pulsating it is hard to top him when he is in the zen zone. Bboy Footz from Sac town, down with Dynasty Rockers is putting it down, I commend the kid for travelin to Mecca and learning from the pioneers Kawon, and King Uprock. The next day I went to some ill spa that Kaia works at and steamed it all out, alternating with plunging my body into a cold pool then warm one (great for your circulation and skin), had a nice Asian meal with Tony Styles a fly Bboy (my Chinese brethren), and scooped up Footz for a little session. We chilled out for a minute and went to some club that was playin some bangin house and Hip-Hop. I was in vibe mode and stayed dancing the entire night. We went over to Sara, Jena, and Machines crib and smoked blunts and drank some liq choppin it up until the wee hours. Went back to the pad and crashed the fuck out. Jumped on the plane the next day, barely made it by the skin of my teeth. Hated to leave the city, cant wait to go back. Did yall know they have those weed clubs over there? U have to have a medical marijuana ID, but it aint really a problem getting one, feel me.. Asia and Yas Europe smash tour Destination: Rotterdam and Berlin Jams: Gimme a Break "Bgirl Edition" Red Bull BC One I love traveling with Yas, she is a great traveler, and so social! I can't front though the luggage situation is drama though. Next trip together we will just have to thug it out and turn our underwear inside out! Eeewww. Well my back was kinda banged up and the heavy bags didn't help, we barely made the plan cuz Teal's fonky azz picked us up like one hour before the plane was suppose to leave. Well they waited and we made it, thanks to the creators intervention. 13 hours later plus the time difference (9 hours later in Europe) we made it over there after a change over in Amsterdam. I really wished we got to chill in Amsterdam cuz I hear it is poppin over there and Rotterdam is kinda boring. No offense to anyone it just seems kinda lame. Shot me, oh well. I just report the news. Well I guess it was the days that they celebrate the rising of our main man Jesus Christ. Seems a lil strange that we celebrate his rising a completely different month then Europe does, oh well, I guess the time difference really fucked things up or something. Well not a damn thing was open, much less something for my Vegan ass, oh well I had to break into my starvation supply of Larb Bars a little earlier than expected. I wasn't trying to share with Yas so I had to sneak the bites. Hehehehe. We met up with Nika Freak and Snappy (Martha Cooper) and chilled a bit before crashed out. A nice cat named Michael picked us up with his cute daughter Cheyanne. Her and Yas spoke 2 different languages but you wouldn't know it by the way they laughed, played and hugged each other. Michaels like this OG cat from Rotterdam that has been breakin since the 80's. A real mello, cool dude. We stayed at some weird European type hostel attic thing but at least it had a bathroom and seemed clean enough. We crashed out fast and woke up at like 4 am brisk ready to do something. Nothing to do so we crashed out more until they banged on the door. It was this cool girl named Aruna who as it happed to be is one hell of an organized promoter and Bgirl. She was cool, blessed me with some nice Nike gear. We went to the jam, "Gimme a Break, Bgirl Edition". I was ready to meet some sick European Bgirls and vibe out. Well it wasn't exactly like that. The Bgirls were kinda standoffish I felt, or maybe it was the language barrier a little bit, or maybe they just aren't friendly I don't fuckin know. Anyway, me being the social butterfly and bored out of my mind approached all of them to say whats up. The seemed like they may have been sizing me up so my battle guard was on high alert, defense mobilizing. I remember what Aruna and Michael told me like a thousand times, that there was to be no battling , that this was just a vibing type jam. Well there was no vibe or no cipher so I made one. Never timid I jumped out to test the waters. The only girls that wanted to go out was a crew from _____. They had some cool energy and were down. The Dirty Mamas were there too and after like an eternity they started going down. They weren't dirty at all let me tell u kinda stale more like it. The nite kinda creeped along this way. The highlite and only thing really worth mentioning about the entire trip was this OG bgirl that came from the UK, London to be exact named Bubs. Wow, this chick was DBL, I mean she only went out a couple times but here toprock style was buttas. She reminded me, I hate to compare, but like Kenny. Short jab style rocks and here knee rock style of footwork was bananas also. Even though she was crazy rusty and tired she still had it, ya know? Well me and here chomped the fuck out of it the rest of the nite. She and me were like kin, talking about wanting to here just the drum breaks, nothing else sometimes. She had some old school footage, (this chick has been breakin since like 1980) or her and her brothers the Bubbles Boys catching wreck on stage at some performance way way back. These dudes looked super sick let me tell u, as good as New York City Breakers, or even Dynamic. Well I am going to end this here on a high note, not much else to report. Big ups to Aruna for running a tight ship and on the Nike fits! Next stop: Berlin Red Bull BC One Red Bull BC One Berlin June 21 Holla! Finally a pimped out room! Yeah! Things is definitely looking on the up and up, 5 star accommodations, deluxe chow, spa services. I can dig this. Red Bull Intl pulled out all the stops for the BC One Jam. This is the 2nd BC one, the first was in Switzerland, pretty ill, put not as pimp 4 sho. Threw the bags in the room, and went out for a little looksy around Berlin. Lots going on, very touristy with the fall of the empire, the wall separating East (poor) and West (rich) Germany in 91. We checked out a Sea Museum for Yas, cuz she wanted to see some sights, that was aight with Moy, Omar, and Beenie (Africa) Next day most of the 16 bboys came in from all over the world for the contest pre-promotions. Lots of radio, magazine, tv. The venue is the old East Germany Parliament house, so it is very official. Now it is just a gutted out building with old ghost floating around with Nazi war ties. The Red Bull people got their moneys worth out of everybody. We were all there like 6+ hours flicking it up. Yas was the front and center attraction, doing radio and TV drops at 4 yrs. Old. It was good to see everybody, I hadn't seen some of these cats for a year of so we was all buggin out together. Yas was in love with Ronnie and was chilling with him, Omar and Moy. The environment was completely family. Poe One was there, one of my closest roaddawgz, Storm was in the place with his wife Deborah. The Koreans came massive, Duckie, Physicx Hong 10, Born, John J, with their manager. Yas was sad that Wake Up wasn't there like last year, but she soon settled on picking Physicx as her favorite. The French were in the house, Brahim, Lilou, Junior. A dope cat from Brazil, Pelezinho and his manager Juny. Sonik from Denmark an ultra cool bboy! Of course the US finest, Moy, Omar, and Machine. The Red Bull team of hosts was made up of Milli, Thomas (BOTY), Stephie and Miss Nicc. Mode 2 and Zebrocski were there too holding it down on the graf tip. We were looking for walls to smash..hmmm Red Bull had 3 training rooms for the bboys to get loose in, which we did. It was a cool vibe all around, no disrespect, some language barriers that we got through with dance and our Hip-Hop slang. Next day everyone was ready to get down, jam time. The roar of the crowd was deafening, the house was packet with around 1500 spectators all seated arena style with the red bull round stage in the middle. Rahzel was the crowned host of the evening and he was fucking up everybodys crew affiliation! Ya heard, Omar from the Wild Turkeys.. hahahah! And Brahim, the footwork master of the world.. even funnier…hahahhaaa. But Rah killed it with his show set, beatboxing the chorus and beats at the same time. Wrecked shop, no doubt about it! Everyone was anxious to know who they were going to battle. This is how it ended up going down. Lilou took the title over Omar who got second, third was Ronnie and fourth was Pelezinho. This was definitely one of those battles that you had to have mad blow ups to win. The crowd was in love with Lilou and Hong 10 and I even heard them chanting go home a couple times to an unlucky contender or 2. The halftime show was dope, Storm did a solo performance boogaloo style and these crazy ill lockers from Japan Hilty and Bosch smashed. After the jam we all went to the afterparty that was cracking! Everybody was there, from the judges to all the bboys and fam that came to check out the event like Ghost crew, and I even saw Amigo, legendary from the Battle Squad days! I heard that Swift Rock was at the jam, didn't get to see him, which im bummed about since he is defiantly one of the illest! Sir Scott was pouring Tequila like we were in Tijuana, in between circle rounds, finally we all said fuck da bullshit and just grooved all together party style. Ronnie, Machine, Poe and me were going neck on neck to see who could handle they liquor. The next day we all were feeling it. Poe ducked out like he does and did some sightseeing, me, well I did 2 walls, just quickies but still clean, with Zebrocski and Mode. Ahh, to bask in the glory of it .Red bull treated us to a nice cozy nite at a Sushi spot and we all chilled together watching footage from the jam and images that Martha Cooper had shot at the jam. It was lovely, really, watching the sun setting on the rooftop feeling everybody's energy. We caught one last session all together in the training rooms at the hotel. Shout out to Big man Born from Korea, definitely doing it with the bboy skills and technique. Me and Yas were sad to leave, I felt a great connection to all of the cats, no attitudes just a really cool vibe. Red Bull really impressed me with the overall organization and caliber of the event. Be Bgirl B Summit Minneapolis Minnesota June 3-5, 2005 Fresh from Germany I landed in Minneapolis still a little jet lagged. I was mad excited to be at an all female Hip-Hop conference though and amped to get down on the walls with some of the world's best female writers. Though the name was a bit misleading, it wasn't a Bgirl Summit, (only a couple bgirls involved) but more of a female Writer's Convention. Lady Pink, 2 Fly, Silhouette and others were in town to paint the Inter Media venue. Mad Belton paint, in every juicy hue imaginable! Wow, I was officially in paradise. All I could think of was painting! But first, as soon as me and Bgirl Shorty, my lil partner in crime for the trip, got off the plane, accompanied by Shorty's mom and bro, Fox news was there to see us catch wreck. It was like 6 in the morning, a very godlike time, just not my time. But being the Pro-fessionals we are we wrecked it in Tribal gear, dropping jewels on the Fox people who didn't what had hit them. Then painting time, I had a nice lil outline, but I opted to just freestyle my piece. There was some initial confusion who was going to paint where, I got the stepchile, treatment, obviously they didn't know… But they sho did afterwards! hhahahha, my joint was blazing Haitians. Pink really came off though, she did an entire wall dolo, lovely check the flicks. I was really impressed by Silhouette's stuff too, and 2 Fly's characters. The Women's media panel was hot. Their were some radio personalities (Queen B), magazine editors (Miranda Jane), Kuttin Kandy (Dj and Activist) and myself (Asia One). Lots of interesting dialogue and points brought up about accountability, activism in Hip-Hop, taking a stand and demanding better radio, controlling and providing for our own community with a Hip-Hop union. A very emotional theatre show by the a group of students in Minneapolis who were inspired by Rachel Raimist's film "Nobody Knows My Name". A documentary about women in Hip-Hop from LA done in 1997. Great performances by Psalm and emcee out of Chi-town, doing serious damage on the m-I-c, Kuttin Kandi and me and Shorty. The crowd was eating it up like pancakes and syrup. All the men in the house were crazy supportive, just being there to catch the talent and be part of the overall flava the weekend had to offer. The after party club was held at one of Prince's spots was aiight, funny people acting funny, but we had a ball anyway. Next morning I did a keynote lecture about the transformation of Bboying from 1994-2005, and then did a class called "thinking outside the box" where I take basic foundational moves of bboying and twist them up a bit, adding individual accents to encourage adapting the movements to one's own style bringing additional flava, and technique. Went back to the venue and did one more "Bgirls" piece, in dedication to the bboys and bgirls in Minneapolis, it was a burner. An excellent event, very well organized by Rachel Raimist and the Inter Media Arts. I look forward to next years! Coming next.. Flame Jam/ Freestyle Session Switzerland |