Breakdancing Royalty Lights Up SummerStage

Photo: Steven Rosenbaum / @MagnifyMedia Breakdancing Royalty at City Parks Foundation’s SummerStage in Central Park

Photo: Steven Rosenbaum / @MagnifyMedia Breakdancing Royalty at City Parks Foundation’s SummerStage in Central Park

New York was a very different city in 1977. And the streets of the Bronx were rough. It was on those streets that break dancing emerged as a musical genre, an art form, and a hard fought gang battleground.

So, 40 years later — the breakdancing and hip hop group’s early founders gathered at CityPark’s SummerStage to celebrate the music, honor fallen brother Prodigy, and hand over the group to a new generation of breakdancers.

Leading the celebration was Richard Colón — better known as Crazy Legs. As president of the Rock Steady Crew, he brought the form to London and Paris in 1983.

The dancers, known as b-boys all competed to join the Rock Steady Crew. They had rivals in all five boroughs of New York and for every rival there were ten kids who wanted to join. The group’s hit song “Hey You — The Rock Steady Crew” from the group’s first studio album Ready For Battle, hit number six on its fourth week on the UK Singles Chart in 1983.

MC Lyte first gained fame in the late 1980s, becoming the first solo female rapper to release a full album with 1988’s critically acclaimed Lyte as a Rock. She has long been considered one of hip-hop’s pioneer feminists.

A New Generation. Crazy Legs brought out the present and future of The Rock Steady Crew for a performance at Rock Steady Crew’s 40th Anniversary show in Central Park, NYC.

Originally published at www.huffingtonpost.com on July 31, 2017.