[numbers]

just wanted to hear how they first heard of uprock? and what they were told about it?

for myself i had a few cousins that were into bboying around 1980 in the city of gary, IN. they called it "dancing on top". they did some moves nothing too impressive. alot of spins etc.
around 1991&1992 my inerest was in some house dancing and breaking. thats when i started asking questions about uprock to poeple like cartoon from east chicago. and gangsters that my father would hang out with. guys from the invaders, the outlaws, and hells angels from chicago. they would tell me that when they went on runs in nyc some of the brothers out there would dance against each other in their club houses.

then they would mimick it for me. after that i wanted to learn soooooo bad.

anyone else?

[PJAY71]

My first experience.

It was Summer of 1977. If anyone is familiar with East New York, then they would know where St. Michael's Church/School is at... by Liberty Ave. They have a huge full-court gym, which is where they host receptions, shows and jams back when. Well that Summer night I went with my family and mutual friends to what I guess was a family gathering but more of a jam [you know Puerto Ricans, lol]. Throughout the night alot of Salsa / Hustle was played but towards 3/4's of the night BAM, the DJ threw-on Apache. I kid you not... it was one of the biggest Apache lines I've ever seen - shit had to be 50 or more deep. This shit turned into a serious battle... no lie. Once they started Rocking they didn't go back to any other genre of music. Families didn't know what the hell was going on and many familes started to leave, lol! I was in total awe - this was the greatest shit to me. Even moreso when I saw my boy oldest brother Hector and friend Benny in the line. Then I looked at my boy and he was doing some Jerks and I was like wait?!! "You know how to do this shit??!" He said yeah... and that he would have his brother show me at another time, lol. It was intense! It got heated when cats would touch by accident but resolved quick and the line continued. So the line went on and on cats getting eliminated until it was down to 4 cats - one of them being that cat Benny. That's when shit got crazy - crazy Burning! I could tell the last two cats had it in for each other, by the look on their faces. It got to the point all they were doing was straight Burns, to end the contest. They repeated Sex Machine at least 4 times because no one could decide on the winner - when it finished they put it on again, until that last cat was standing - shit was nuts! I remember my boy brother telling us the winner was a member of The Jesters. Rumor has it they rumbled afterwards becuse of the outcome of the battle. ENY was bananas like that back then.

Anyhow, that's when I got my first taste of Rocking - blew my mind and I've been in love ever since. As dope as other dance styles are and as much as I'm fond of them... I never got that high like that day from Rocking - it's embedded dogs.

[numbers]

that story makes me jelous. man i wish i had grown up in brooklyn. but iknow there are alot of stories like mine. but i do feel fortunate that i had the means to go out on my own and find out for myself.

i love to hear from kids that i meet in other cities about their history and their path to where they are now. your right pjay something is embedded in our souls that makes us crazy about the whole senario. the movements, the music, the atmosphere, style of dress, etc..
i love it!
numbers
founder1
dynasty rockers

[PJAY71]

Word-up my brother BUT don't feel jealous because you Rock like you grew-up in BK, lol... and that's what counts. Like Rakim said: "It ain't where you're from it's where you're at!

Let's hear from some more cats - drop your first experiences.

[Mogwai]

OK - the other side of the coin here - Im still new to this - still trying to understand it.....

Like all bboy kids from the UK sticks- Id seen bboying -tried it for a while - done abit of toprock - but I just didnt have a clue.

The first time I ever saw true uprocking was about a year or so ago - when I met up with Stiff_UK in Manchester, after jamming at a club for a bit we drove back to his place - and he showed me a snippet of footage - just like 20 seconds - of King Uprock and Break Easy battling at a training they were holding in NY - he pointed out the burns to me, and told me to watch and listen to the lyrics.....I was pretty astounded......

That and a bit of Break Easys halos........sooooo smooth. That was not long before i decided to give up bboying....I knew I'd never be able to come even close to that kind of physical ability learning at 24.....so I became interested in uprock. Since then ive been learning Salsa to give me some rhythmic foundation - uprock has taken a back seat to Salsa and popping for now - but what good are roofs without walls to hold them up forever?

I havent had the chance or the money - or the balls - to come out to NY and get trained yet......but maybe soon........I@m ordering King Uprocks DVD in about a week - for some inspiration.......but like any dance - until you can do it - you just dont.....get it. Ive been popping for a year or more now - getting pretty good- still basic but clean at least.........Uprock is still my enigma, and I refuse to die without staking some sort of claim to it in my own little way.

What else do you have in this world but your dreams? Just your reality. Life is what you MAKE of it - not what comes along down the road.......they're the nasty surprises.

I'll finish with a quote from the original British Bulldog - Winston Churchill.

"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never, in nothing, great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. "

haha - that dude was a wise brotha.......

[PJAY71]

Nice Mogwai... follow your dreams my man.

Ok, let's hear some more.

[STIFF_UK]

Guess it's my turn.
My main route in was through bboying. I'd learned the bboy-style "uprock" that most people know and really enjoyed that.
I read the dynasty website, but never really realised that what I had learned was so far removed from the real deal.

Starting about 2 and a half years ago, I started hearing from really just 2 or 3 people that uprock wasn't what I thought. One was a guy called Serval from Seven Dollars Crew in Geneva and Lausanne in Switzerland.
The others were from Newcastle City Crew in the North of England (Shay and D-Rock).
Shay and D-Rock had been to Brooklyn and learned some of the dance from King Uprock and co. It was when Shay showed me a little of what he learned that I decided it was about time I got to learning it myself.

In March/April 2004 I flew out to New York for a couple of weeks of breaking, east coast overdose, and hoping to get to learn some rocking from Break Easy. I got a LOT more than I expected.
It started out with Break Easy taking me the most basic of steps in Bushwick. The following day I was in Ridgewood talking to and learning from King Uprock. Even then I still hadn't really seen rocking done for real though. I'd seen people practicing and it looked good, but I had no idea what was to come.

Day1 of ECOD I stepped into the circle, as did another guy, long story short it got heated and we started rocking - bboy style. I looked over and saw Break Easy, Tiny Love, King Uprock, Erock and some others looking at me like "what the hell are you doing?" so right then I tried to do what I could remember.
Then it got more heated and I stepped back.
At that point Tiny Love jumped in and started burning this guy. The guy's mate backed him up, so King Uprock jumped in too. I was pretty gobsmacked that they'd taken my back like that, but shouldn't have been really - cool guys and all that.

The following day I saw Break Easy and King Uprock going at it to Sex Machine and was well impressed (this is the footage Mogwai mentioned)
The best was still to come though.

On one of my last days there, King Uprock threw a Dollar Jam, I entered (and got completely roasted in) the footwork battle. But my main reason for wanting to be there was the uprock contest.
Dan Duce and Julio ended up in the final and Julio was killing it (he won).
Then came what I would say was the thing that made me really appreciate rocking properly.
Clarkie and Little Dave did a demo after the contest, and I was blown away.
The way they actually switched between attack and defense was like nothing i'd seen before, the way they moved back and forth in time with eachother was something else.
Even seeing the different styles they both did was amazing.
When Break Easy asked me what I thought of it, I was genuinely speechless. I just couldn't find the words to describe what I'd seen or how it made me feel. Truly amazing.

At that point I was trying to figure out a way to delay my flight home and stay longer but there's no way I could have afforded it (and I wasn't about to stay and work illegaly)
I've been wanting to go back ever since, and I now make a point of practicing what I learned at the start of every training session.

I'll be back there soon.

[PJAY71]

Awesome... let's keep them coming.