Legendary B-Boy Crazy Legs of The Rock Steady Crew sat down with Rock The Bells this weekend upon the conclusion of the Breaking events at the 2024 Olympics to give his thoughts about the inclusion of Breaking in the Olympic games.

Judging

"I wasn't involved [in the 2024 Olympics], I was involved in the Summer Youth Olympics in 2018 in Buenos Aires, which was presented as a test sport. From what I gathered a lot of people anticipated that 3 on 3 Basketball would be the highlight of that moment, but the metrics and analytics showed that Breaking had higher attendance as well as social media impact and things like that. Hip-Hop was in full effect for that, and that's what led to Hip-Hop becoming an Olympic event. I was a judge for that.

I was asked to learn the judging system many years ago, and my immediate response was 'I don't wanna be a judge'. I'm not saying that I was asked to be a judge for the 2024 Olympics, but I would have turned it down. I do know that people had to pay for their own travel and everything leading up to the Olympics to be selected as a judge."

"I don't know how much they pay, but I know that it's a ridiculous amount. The only position that I would have accepted would have been as a commentator. I think that the commentating was very sterile. I understand that they are going for global appeal and the world view of things, but they've stepped into the realm of culture, and Hip-Hop culture is a response to socio economic living.

You have to understand that there is a lot of flavor, attitude and character that comes along with that, and when that doesn't translate, you're gonna catch a verbal beatdown from the world. The commentators are legitimate B-Boys, but when you're talking about something that comes from the dirt, if it has a sterile presentation it's a slap in the face to Black and Brown people."

Breaking As A Sport

"I would say that breaking is an athletic dance. Within the realm of the Olympics platform if they want to give it the title of a sport that's ok, but if we as purists start conforming and calling it a sport just to fall in line with the narrative that they wanna put across....look, I don't care if the Olympics calls it a sport, but your not gonna get me to call it a sport. The most I'll go is to call it a discipline."

B Girl Raygun

"I did a little digging, and there was only one competition that they had in Australia and she won it. Whether or not she chose to recognize that she was out of her league is another story, but she doesn't choose herself to be on the platform.

If the criteria allows for someone to make it that far and not be a full all around dancer with an arsenal of a vocabulary of moves, they should not be there no matter who they are or where they are from. The governing bodies should have a criteria that is going to maintain the essence of the culture, and not turn this into 'Live At The Apollo' for the United States to go in in her like that.

You have a girl who is being globally humiliated, and I'm not joining the party on that but I can say that she should have had the integrity to bow out, and whoever is in charge, whether it's the World Dance Federation or the governing body in Australia, its their fault. She doesn't select herself. She's a girl with a dream, and maybe that dream is a little far fetched compared to her capabilities, but it's still not her fault. Somebody on her team or in her country should have told her that she was out of her league."

The Music

"At the Youth Olympics in 2018 the music was trash! This year thankfully the music had some real breakbeats in it. Were there some suspect songs? Yeah, there were some songs that weren't B-Boy songs. They should have had a Grand Wizzard Theodore or Charlie Chase up there with a new DJ as well.

When it comes to the essence of the culture and paying homage to its pioneers they didn't make an attempt. Whoever raised hell to get them to play breakbeats, more power to them. Salute. They did a way better job than I could ever expected, I thought that I would hear some trash music. Somebody did something right when it came to that.

My top three [breakbeats] are 'Apache', 'It's Just Begun', and 'The Mexican'. For me personally I like 'Mambo Number 5' which has like a 120 beats per minute tempo. There's also 'I Can Understand It' by The New Birth. If you don't have the moves in between the moves, or the ability to half time or double time beats, you won't be able to rock it because you have to have a different level of dance understanding, and be able to let the music take you on a ride and get lost in that. It becomes more of the soul and nature of the record than the actual tempo because there are different beat drops and words. Sometimes you are vibing off the words.

The words are coming from a time of civil rights and the people who came out of civil rights. Songs like 'Say It Loud I'm Black And I'm Proud'. Those songs represented a sense of freedom and liberation for people, and there's a power to that. If you understand those times and what they meant to those people, maybe you can connect to that if you're younger."

The Dancers

"My predictions were Phil Wizard, Shigekix or Jeffro to make it to the finals. Jeffro got robbed. He's that dude who has everything. He's got that quality, flavor, and style, and his musicality was above a lot of the other people that were there, and we are talking about this being a dance before anything else. That musicality needs to shine. Victor, when I look at him I see the attitude that I remember from original B-Boys, at least the ones I saw coming up. His foundation is impeccable.

Phil Wizard is a horse. He gets better as he gets tired. He also gets better as the competition in front of him gets better. The battle that I saw him in earlier today (8/10) he was a little flat, but when he had someone better in front of him the next round,he got better. That makes you a special kind of person, because it means that you rise to the occasion."