Not sure if you knew but a bunch of rappers used to dance before they became famous for rapping.
After commercial success many focused on making money, but the roots in hip hop culture are deep in there.
Check the interview we found at Cornell Hip Hop Collection in which Nas speaks on his days as the popper of his crew B.I.A. (Breakin’ In Action). Nas would rock the boogie gloves, crew prints and all. His crewmate and best friend Will (Ill Will, RIP) would master the windmills.
The interview was done by Bobbito the Barber one month after the release of Nas’ first album, all time hip hop classic the Illmatic, and this was printed on the Rap Pages magazine May 1994.
“From breakdancing, backspins on the cardboard…” Nas rhymed reminiscing on the chorus of My Way on the Lost Tapes album (btw one of his best albums even though it was more of an underground release).
West coast legend 2pac started his career as a back up dancer and an MC for the group called Digital Underground. Check out his moves on the Humpty Dance over HERE.
Kool Keith from the Ultramagnetic MC’s was known as a boogie boy. HERE’s a clip of him on Mr. Wiggles’ new instagram page Bxstyle73 (a great resource for hip hop history, highly recommended to give him a follow).
Common is another mc who’s still not afraid to rock the floor. Common’s style is pretty classic too, love his flow and finesse:
Taking it back to the old school, hip hop’s first female mc Sha-Rock of the Funky 4 + 1 would break before she started rhyming. Many of the Furious 5 of Grand Master Flash and the Furious 5 were b-boys.
Even Kool Herc would get busy on the floor before started throwing parties and becoming famous as the first hip hop dj. But we’ll build more of this later 😉
Who’s your favourite rapper? Let us know commenting below. Who knows, maybe he/she has a move or two up the sleeve 🙂
-Focus / bboydojo.com
Ps. Here’s Elastinen from Finland’s most famous rap group Fintelligens rocking his footwork and windmill, he’s got style:
Wish to be the first to receive this kind of content? Join our free weekly newsletter at bboydojo.com/signup, get a 1h free footwork lesson on top.
Comments