Method To The Funk Madness - Breakestra / Radikal Forze 12th Anniversary Jam 2010

It is the end of an extremely crazy week, with all that amount of funk the past two days. If you, for some illogical reason, missed all the action (which you shouldn't have), then you should be kicking yourself.

Breakestra performing at the Mosaic Music Festival was full of pure live funk energy. Nothing beats a live performance and Breakestra certainly did not disappoint. Mixmaster Wolf could not make it for the show, so Musicman Miles Tackett had to stand in for vocals, among the many other instruments that he was playing that night. The night, however, had a special guest, Afrodyete. As Afrodyete came on the stage, she took over the mic and sent the whole energy in the room to a whole new level, as she belted out track after track, in true funk/soul style. Throughout the whole performance, she always had a big smile, which was as infectious as the music and the energy. The crowd took a little bit to ease up but as soon as the funk starts playing, the people were all grooving. The whole performance was a mix of classic essential funk tracks by legends such as James Brown, Quincy Jones and Curtis Mayfield and their own Breakestra tracks, back to back, non-stop just like a live DJ mix. Breakestra was tight throughout the whole performance and the instrumentalists were very impressive, and it goes to show that they are at that level because they are good.

Have you ever been to one of those mainstream clubs, where they play bullshit music and the crowd is only interested in fronting and sizing up one another? Well, none of that crap was present at the Radikal Forze 12th Anniversary Jam. The only thing that they were interested in was what was going on, on the dancefloor. The vibe was awesome. The music was awesome. The b-boys were awesome. Everybody who was there was awesome. The jam saw a good mix of b-boys who were experienced and the relatively new cats. Regardless of experience, it was pure passion and all the b-boys gave it their all by blazing the dancefloor. There was no prize money involved, so for the b-boys who made the effort to participate and those who took time to fly down, it was about pure unadulterated passion for their craft. The DJs for the event were DJ Koflow and DJ CTB from Switzerland. They never missed a beat and their music selection of premium funk and breaks provided the groove the b-boys needed and the crowd was left wanting for more. Most of the battles were pretty much neck-to-neck as the b-boys showed their mettle.

Never, at any one point in time, was the event lacking in hype and energy. The semifinals battle, between Big Toe Crew (Vietnam) and First & Last Solution (Japan/Australia) was no holds barred and with all that mad breaking, sent the crowd into overdrive and the energy level through the roof. The finals was between 99 Flava (Thailand) and First & Last Solution, which saw First & Last, comprising of b-boys Katsu, Toshiki, Babylon and Pepito, taking top spot. As the MC of the event, b-boy Felix from Radikal Forze Crew, puts it, if you think Akon and Sean Kingston is hip-hop, you're wrong, THIS is Hip-Hop. He went on to add, no racism, no politics, just pure b-boying, this is what the jam is about. Well said.

To me, it was an eye-opener and it is great to see the b-boys from Asia, especially South-East Asia, coming up and constantly pushing the boundaries. Congrats to all the b-boys from all over for putting up a great battle and most importantly, congrats to the Radikal Forze Crew for putting together a great jam. Happy 12th anniversary and may there be more to come. = )

All in all, it is extremely difficult to put in words the kind of energy and hype both events had. So if you had missed it all, well it is just too bad. To end this crazy funk week, let us soak in the groovy tunes of some more funk. You can never ever get enough funk in your soul now, can you?

Brownout - Another Fire