UK B-Boy Championships

*review by Rude Gal

Since 1996 until now, the UK B-Boy Champs has taken place. Most of those years took place at Brixton Academy. One year was special for me because in 1999 when I was six years old, I performed as a JNR Sinstar up on stage. I was accompanied by five Sinstars.

This year (2005) was the first year I’d been to the Champs since that one time I had performed. As I entered the posh academy a crowd of people pushed passed trying to enter the stage area.

It was hard for kids of a shortish height to see what was going on from the very back and we didn’t have tickets for the seating area at the top so we had to push right to the front. It was difficult. But we had a plan. The hosts of the Champs were Crazy Legs and Afrika Islam. They were endlessly giving out free stuff, like laces, CD’s and T- shirts. So whenever they threw stuff out into the crowd the crowd would move back and we would push forward.

They had all sorts of battles going on and of course the competitors were all determined to win as they all wanted to be the best and get their hands on the winning prize. The Champs was sponsored by PS2 and the main prize was cash. The battles included showcase DJ-ing, Beatboxing, solo popping, solo b-boying, 2 on 2 locking and the crew battles.

All the battles were inspirational. There were only a few women participating but that few had nice moves and neat sets. Most of the participants were extremely good. They made you feel as if you would have to train terribly hard for a long period of time to be as great as them.

There was also another competition which involved the audience. Kid’s who had colour co-ordination and other great style got to go up on stage. I tried as I was wearing a white tracksuit with a red t- shirt and red and white Puma States. The security guard started pointing at me to go up on stage but Crazy Legs didn’t notice me.

Overall I think the right people won the battles and I would definately recommend going there however it would be good if you could see clearly what was happening. If you’re looking for inspiration, free stuff and entertainment the B-Boy Champs is a great place to go.