Breaking
Breaking
Against the odds: how RoxRite and Lil G became pro b-boys
Red Bull BC One All Stars RoxRite and Lil G are full-time professional breakers – a career many seek but few succeed in. This is how they made it happen.
RoxRite and Lil G have achieved what so many b-boys and b-girls dream of, full-time careers as competitive breakers. As sponsored dancers, they travel the world battling, teaching, performing, judging and more. But the status they have now wasn't just handed to them. Both b-boys came from humble beginnings, never thinking they would make a living from breaking. But through years of hard work and competitive success, they took opportunity after opportunity, which finally led to both of them being able to break full-time. These are their stories.
01
RoxRite’s beginnings: homelessness, pizza delivery and the desire to break
RoxRite grew up in Mexico until he was six years old when his family moved to America. They lived in Los Angeles for two years before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he experienced homelessness for a while. RoxRite started breaking when he was 12 and practised hard, even though his family didn’t see any benefit in what he was doing.
RoxRite started breaking when he was 12
© Kien Quan / Red Bull Content Pool
Fast forward 11 years and, at the age of 23, RoxRite had built a solid reputation as one of the best b-boys in California. "From December 2002 to August 2005 I won nine straight solo battles, and won like 13 out of 14 tournaments in the span of about four years.”
It was in 2005 that RoxRite won the UK B-Boy Championships in London. One of the biggest solo battles to win, RoxRite beat Hong 10 in the finals to take the victory, elevating his name even more.
RoxRite says: “The UK champs win really pushed things to a higher level, giving me worldwide visibility on a new front that I hadn’t reached. Before that people had heard my name outside of the States, but now they could put a face to the name.”
But even with all his competitive success, RoxRite still had a regular job and was not even considering trying to make a full-time living as a competitive breaker.
“I was delivering pizzas, getting tips, working in Foot Locker on holidays and performing for the Golden State Warriors. Sometimes I’d get a booking to judge in somewhere like Asia, go for the weekend, then come back and be delivering pizzas on Monday.”
Back then, with a regular job and also winning in competitions, life was stress-free for RoxRite. “I liked having constant money in my pocket and was living within my means at that time of my life.”
02
Lil G’s beginnings: social rejection, food delivery and birthday showcases
More about Lil G
Lil G was born and raised in Venezuela, skating and playing basketball as a kid. He started breaking at the age of 11, inspired by seeing b-boys in his city.
Lil G started to break at age 11
© Carlo Cruz / Red Bull Content Pool
Choosing to break forced Lil G to face the issues that came with the way breaking was perceived in his country. In Venezuela, breaking was looked down upon, as it was seen as something that was practised by kids who hung around in the streets and got up to no good. Lil G had to deal with social rejection and a lack of support from his family whenever it came to his desire to be a b-boy. Regardless of this, he continued to break and practise hard, saying: “When I started in this dance, I did not know that I would earn money from it, or that I would take it to a professional level as a job. I just enjoyed it.”
He also had a period in his childhood, when he was around 13, in which his family suffered some issues that resulted in them being kicked out of their home and having to move to another city. Lil G had to stop school for a while and was living away from his friends, but he continued to dance even in that uncertain period.
At 16, still dependent on his family as a teenager, Lil G worked various jobs to make money, sometimes including breaking.
Lil G says: “I worked for friends who paid me to deliver food to their job and would also do breaking showcases with my crew for people’s birthdays. Then, if I needed extra money, I would work with my dad at his job.”
03
Hard work pays off
With a growing reputation as a high-level power mover who wasn't afraid to take risks in his breaking, in 2007, Lil G decided to focus on competing full-time in breaking.
In 2008 and 2009, he competed in his first two Red Bull BC One World Finals, and then, in 2010, a string of opportunities came to Lil G that boosted his standing as one of the top competitors on the scene.
Lil G is known as an expert for power moves
© Little Shao / Red Bull Content Pool
He was invited to the Notorious IBE in the Netherlands to compete in their famous 7tosmoke battle. He didn’t win but did take home the victory in the IBE power moves battle that year. Lil G also got invited to compete at R16 in Korea and again at the 2010 Red Bull BC One World Finals in Tokyo.
Unlike Lil G, it wasn’t until 2008 that RoxRite started to pursue competitive breaking as a full-time career. He was 26 years old when an opportunity presented itself to him that pushed RoxRite to make the change in his life.
RoxRite explains: “My girlfriend at the time got a really good job opportunity in the Bay Area and wanted to move in together. She said that I should push to pursue breaking full-time and offered to take care of the rent while I did.”
By then, RoxRite’s international reputation made it difficult for him to pick between his regular job and the many breaking opportunities he kept getting. So, when he finally quit his job, RoxRite was able to say yes to all the opportunities breaking was bringing him and started to build a career for himself.
Sometimes I’d get a booking for somewhere like Asia for the weekend, then come back and be delivering pizzas on Monday
RoxRite had also already competed at two Red Bull BC One World Finals in 2006 and 2007. In 2007, he was part of the breaking documentary Turn It Loose about that year’s competition and competitors. In 2008, Turn it Loose was shown at festivals worldwide, which brought new opportunities to RoxRite’s career.
RoxRite says: “They would fly us out to do some of the film premieres. We’d go, teach a class, talk and do interviews. That big opportunity also kind of led to building what became the Red Bull BC One All Stars.”
It was during the film tours that, RoxRite says: “I brought up the idea of having a Red Bull breaking team.” When RoxRite was in Australia with B-Boys Lilou and Pelézinho, all three breakers realised that they all had a similar idea about a team.
RoxRite, Pelézinho and Lilou had a similar idea about an all-star crew
© Nika Kramer / Red Bull Content Pool
Through meeting the right person on tour and getting help to put their ideas down on paper, it was around 2010 when RoxRite found himself in Austria signing his sponsorship contract. This landmark occasion helped form the Red Bull BC One All Stars crew – a brand new opportunity for competitive breakers to aspire to.
This was an opportunity that Lil G got in 2011, after winning the first Red Bull BC One Latin America Cypher. He got a phone call asking him if he wanted to be a part of the team, and that moment was the biggest and most unexpected opportunity of Lil G’s career.
Lil G says: “For me, it was like finally getting something that I never expected.”
04
The showdown at the Red Bull BC One World Final: RoxRite vs Lil G
In 2011, RoxRite and Lil G came together in Moscow when the two b-boys faced off in the eighth annual Red Bull BC One World Final battle. Both b-boys were sponsored, full-time breakers who, on that day, symbolised the heights you could reach through competitive success in breaking. When the judges’ final cards went up that day, it was RoxRite’s extra years of experience that earned him the title of Red Bull BC One World Champion 2011.
5 min
RoxRite vs Lil G at Red Bull BC One 2011
Watch how RoxRite and Lil G compete for the world champion title in the final battle of Red Bull BC One in 2011
05
Taking up opportunities and living the dream
Even though Lil G didn’t win in Moscow, he had once again proved he was among the best breakers in the world. Since then he has continued to take all the opportunities the competitive breaking scene offers him. He won the 2018 Crashfest battle in China, the 2019 Paris Battle Pro solo competition, and crew battles with the Red Bull BC One All Stars at Freestyle Session (USA) and Paris Battle Pro. Lil G also regularly teaches workshops, judges battles, performs in videos, and has helped to organise the Red Bull BC One Cypher in Venezuela – he strongly believes in sharing the opportunities he got with up-and-coming breakers in his country.
RoxRite is the first B-Boy to complete 100 documented battle wins
© Markus Berger / Red Bull Content Pool
For RoxRite, becoming the 2011 Red Bull BC One champion was a landmark achievement. After that, he was out to be the first breaker to get 100 documented competition wins. He succeeded, finally getting his 100th battle victory at the 2018 Circle Industry competition in Austria. At the end of the same year, his fellow crewmate Wing completed his 100 wins, as well.
Through pursuing a full-time career as a b-boy, RoxRite has also learned how to better take the opportunities that were coming his way.
RoxRite says: “Before, my mindset was strictly about winning battles and wanting to smoke everybody, but when I went full-time, I started learning more about the aspects that go with breaking as a profession, besides just being a competitor.”
RoxRite is the co-creator of the Red Bull TV series The Crew Code, with fellow Red Bull BC One All Star Lilou, creating new avenues of work and creative expression for himself. He's also enjoying learning the art of visual storytelling as a content creator with his own YouTube channel. RoxRite enjoys the teaching opportunities, as they have opened his understanding of how he developed the breaking style that got him to where he is today.
RoxRite adds: “We can get so caught up on the pursuit of this lifestyle that we don’t get much time to sit and reminisce, so when you do teach, it’s that moment where you get to ask yourself: how did I come up with that move? What was the thinking behind it, and how did I develop it?”
06
What it takes to become a professional breaker
Even though RoxRite has built an understanding of other ways he can be a professional b-boy, he still says: “The number one thing I’d tell everyone is that your skills and talent are supreme and come first.”
Fully aware of how he got to where he is, RoxRite says to those wanting to follow in his footsteps: “Your skillset and the respect that you earn in the scene is what will take you the furthest, so develop your craft, get good with it, show up to jams and keep proving your point. Once the skills are there, you can promote them however you want because the evidence is there, and that’s the only way people have ever blown up.”
Skills are what takes you furthest in your career
© Piper Ferguson / Red Bull Content Pool
Lil G advises breakers who want to be full-time professionals to think about how they can take advantage of the opportunities that competition success brings them, saying: “Work to not only be good at dancing, but also at languages, organising events, and managing your social networks. Learn from those with more experience than you to build connections and opportunities. Also, never stop learning, and do everything from your heart, then great things will come.”
Never stop learning and great things will come
© Little Shao / Red Bull Content Pool
RoxRite and Lil G have shown that anything is possible if you truly work hard for it. They may be two breakers with different stories and backgrounds. Still, they both had the same drive to become successful, competitive b-boys and are now living proof of the amazing opportunities available to those breakers who get to the top of the scene in the competitive era.
Download the free Red Bull TV app and watch unmissable breaking action on all your devices! Get the app here.
