Breaking
Breaking
5 cypher call out breaking battles you have to watch
When two well-known breakers have a cypher call-out battle it always sets the scene buzzing. Check out a few that caused some serious hype.
Wherever breakers come together to dance you'll see cyphers – the circles that breakers form to dance within. And with cyphers come call-out battles, where usually one breaker calls out another to battle in the circle, with no judges, no set number of rounds, and no time limit: just skills and reputation on the line.
For breakers and breaking fans here are five of the best cypher call out battles:
1. Born vs Casper
Korean B-boy, Born, from the Rivers crew and American/Canadian B-boy, Capser, from the Boogie Brats crew, are two B-boys known worldwide for their foundational, footwork-based, musical styles of breaking. So when the two were at a jam in Korea years ago and Casper suddenly called-out Born after seeing him top rocking to a funky track that was playing, everyone in the room immediately went nuts and the cypher quickly formed, with everyone eager to see the two young breakers, with similar styles, go at each other. With both of them wearing caps, Born with his pulled low over his eyes and Casper with his sideways on his head, they had a cypher battle that was raw and full of style.
2. Ata vs Lamine
During a break at the 2006 Circle Kings event in Switzerland, the cyphers were popping all around the hall when suddenly everyone stopped dancing and a large, crowded cypher formed. In the middle was the young, fresh Finnish B-boy, Ata from Ghost Crew, who it seemed had called out the older, veteran French B-boy, Lamine from the Vagabonds crew. With his crew members, B-boy Freeze and Flaco, standing behind him, Ata exchanged round-after-round with Lamine in a battle that got the crowd more and more hyped with every move.
3. Pitbull vs Floor Phantom
Years ago, after day one of Freestyle Session, B-boy Pitbull (aka Tim the Pit) from the Massive Monkey's crew, and B-boy Floor Phantom from the Mighty Zulu kings, took a call-out battle between the two to the concrete outside to settle a dispute. With both of them being well-known footwork B-boys, they let their feet do the talking, with no DJ or music, right there on the concrete. The battle was short but full of fire.
4. Tsunami All Stars crew vs Rivers crew
With music playing and everyone sitting and standing around on the outdoor stage in Korea, at the 2008 R16 event, one of the Tsunami All Stars (possibly Pelezinho) suddenly came out and threw down some footwork. When he finished he span up and pointed right at one of the B-boys from Rivers crew, and as if he could sense what was about to go down, the DJ scratched and switched the track. Everyone sitting around suddenly jumped up cheering and within seconds a cypher had formed with the Brazilian crew on one side and the Korean crew on the other. The B-boy from the Rivers crew who'd been pointed at came dancing straight out, into the middle of the cypher, and so began the crew cypher battle. The two countries went back and forth until the music stopped and the cypher was broken up by a lady with a megaphone in her hand, trying to clear the stage.
5. Intact vs Lussy Sky
Whether it was after an event or training session, something went down in Ukraine that started a cypher battle between Ukrainian B-boys, Intact from the RuffNeck Attack crew, and Lussy Sky from the Navi crew. With no music playing, on the smooth, but concrete, floor of what looks like the large back room of a venue, the two B-boys battled to settle whatever had caused the call-out. Around them people had their coats and bags on, looking dressed and ready to go home from whatever event or training session had been happening. Some people sat on a wooden table watching the battle and others stood or sat on the floor. Individuals even walked past on their way out of the venue.
The exchange was somewhat intense and a few rounds into the battle Intact walks up to the topless Lussy Sky and extends his hand, in a handshake gesture, to seemingly end the call-out, but Lussy Sky doesn't accept the handshake and so the two go back to battling. A few more rounds later and Intact again walks up to Lussy Sky and extends his hand, which Lussy accepts this time with a hand slap, not a shake, and everyone watching claps for the end of the battle between the two well-known B-boys.
These are just a small number of the dozens upon dozens of cypher call-out battles that go down all the time on the breaking scene. And they happen everywhere and anywhere, from the nice wooden floors of a venue, to hotel hallways, back rooms or even outside on the hard concrete.
Sometimes the only music playing is the sound of breakers' trainers moving across the ground. Sometimes breakers are exhausted from dancing all day, but still push themselves to go round-after-round, not wanting to give up. That's the nature of a cypher call-out battle! It's about putting your skills and reputations on the line, settling beef, exchanging, pushing yourself and testing your ability to do everything you've trained to do, spontaneously, right there, on the spot, with no set number of rounds and no judges, just the call-out and the cypher in which it happens.
