Red Bull BC One Cyphers are taking place all over the globe to see which B-boys will be rocking the floor in Moscow later this year. Get into battle mode with our Six of the Best B-boy records of all-time.
Tour de France – Kraftwerk
The electric tentacles of Kraftwerk not only reshaped the musical landscape but also had a profound effect on B-boying. The German electro outfit’s 1983 single Tour de France featured in Joel Silberg’s groundbreaking b-boy movie Breakin’. The song itself was inspired by Kraftwerk’s Ralf Hütter’s cycling obsession and in a cruel twist of irony Hütter was left comatose after crashing his bike shortly before the single’s release. When Hütter woke up his first question was “Where’s my bike?”
Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five – Scorpio
The freshest beats in the early days of B-boying came from Barbados-born Joseph Saddler, aka Grandmaster Flash. Grandmaster’s turntable tricks included innovations such as Backspin, Clock Theory and Scratching and this meant no self-respecting B-boy could exist without his records. Even today, Scorpio, The Message, Freedom and White Lines get crews pushing, popping, rocking and locking. Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five were the first hip-hop artists inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Jason Nevins v Run DMC – It’s Like That
Run DMC’s 1983 debut single, along with b-side Sucker MCs, was a big hit with B-boy crews back in the day. Fast-forward to 1998 and a remix of Joseph ‘Run’ Simmons, Darryl ‘DMC’ McDaniels and Jason ‘Jam-Master Jay’ Mizell’s track from Jason Nevins led to a worldwide sensation. The song hit the top of the charts in over 30 countries and the music video featuring a battle between two crews introduced B-boying and B-girling to a new generation. Music lost a true pioneer when Jam-Master Jay was gunned down in the borough of Queens in 2002.
Sugarhill Gang – Rapper’s Delight
“I said a hip hop, a hippie, a hippie to the hip hop"... Is this the sentence that started it all? What would rap, hip-hop and B-boying be without the Sugarhill Gang? Wonder Mike, Big Bank Hank and Master Gee were in on the ground floor of so much of the street culture that is taken for granted today. Rapper’s Delight is officially recognised as hip-hop’s first success story and the lyrics “Hotel, Motel, Holiday Inn” have been recycled by everybody from De La Soul to Dr Dre. Even though the trio from Englewood, New Jersey never hit multi-platinum again, Rapper’s Delight along with tunes like Apache and Kick It Live From 9 To 5 ensure they will never be forgotten within the circle.
Twilight 22 - Electric Kingdom
At 16-years-old, Gordon Bahary was handed the kind of gift the majority of young musicians can only dream about. Bahary received a personal invitation from Stevie Wonder to take part in recording sessions for the 1976 classic Songs In the Key Of Life. Bahary learned everything he could while working with Wonder and went on to form Twilight 22 with Joseph Saulter. The Bahary/Saulter collaboration was short-lived but the duo’s lone single Electric Kingdom proved to be a seminal moment in the history of electro and gave B-boys another great reason to get down.
The Bar-Kays - Freakshow on the Dance Floor
The Bar-Kays were formed out of the deep south’s sixties soul scene and their tight groove convinced Otis Redding to take on the group as his backing band. Tragedy struck in 1967 when Redding and four members of The Bar-Kays were killed in a plane crash. The surviving members rebuilt the group and the sound shifted towards psychedelic funk. Out of this new direction The Bar-Kays discovered fresh fans on the B-boying scene as Freakshow On The Dancefloor hit a nerve with crews up and down the country.
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