The Massive Monkees Blog
Some insight on the life of a Massive Monkee
Half an Hour on Concrete
After that battle it escalated. He didn't take it too lightly that I was telling my crew I smoked him so he confronted me about it. There was a lot of trash talking going on back and forth between us so we battled again outside. I also in all honesty thought I beat him outside too. I'm not saying he's wack or anything. He's good. I just edged him that day. The very next day with no surprise at all he brought the whole Zulu Kings with him to call us out. They actually cut us off to battle them, as we were about to leave. I'm not a bitch so there's no way I'm going to step down from a challenge. My crew Massive Monkees battled Zulu Kings for more than half an hour on the concrete. It was a very memorable battle. Both sides did dope. But you really have to see the footage. Me speaking about it wont give the battle any justice. All in all Freestyle Session weekend is something I'll remember till I'm 80... haha.
Gang Fight!
Dammit! I hate Freestyle session! Maybe we would have better luck next year! I really thought we were going to win this year and take it back to Seattle. That just means we need to prepare ourselves more than ever next time. Besides the fact that we lost, the best part of the trip was when we battled Zulu Kings. It was a really good battle and it was like a gang fight! That really was a band-aid that covered the cut we had from the jam. Yeah, I'm hella metaphorical dude.
tags: Lil Lazy, Freestyle Session, Massive Monkees, B-Boy, Battles, Coping With Loss
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Maps & Legends
My feeling was anxiety headed down there. I wanted everyone to see me, the doors I've unlocked and how my dance has changed. I had some feelings as to why we shouldn't do the competition because of lack of time to prepare. I went to Vegas two weeks before FSS with some Canadian bboys, and got loose down there. I remember what it felt like to just dance. No pressure to win a title. Just doing what I liked to do because I liked to do it. It was a test to see how my dance had evolved. Actually it was more of an experiment. I still had that charge when I got back to Seattle. It's supposed to be fun regardless, that's what I was feeling.
I use every opportunity to dance as training. I was at 80s night at War Room every Wednesday. That positive flow was still with me when we got on the plane. I had that look like many years ago when I had the cornrows and looked fresh out of prison going to jams. I had that Hulk rage. Like an any other family, it wasn't just about me, I had the Crew's back. But people weren't really listening to me about the issues. I was seen as negative, but I'm not gonna be phony so I had to speak out to my family members that I felt we were under prepared. I would have preferred not going to Freestyle Session, but it was important to certain members to be there, so I went. My Crew is my crew, and now look, we were all down in the dumps when it happened.
Tournaments have up and comers trying to get on the map, and established crews trying to be legends. The first day, it was a unique location and bboys from everywhere are getting down. They were all trying to be top-dog. Everyone knows each other from watching online, and in person it clicks, but they are still your competition so you can't get too friendly. It can be awkward. On the floor it's heated. Off the floor we go eat together. It didn't feel like we weren't ready the first day, the qualifying round was relaxed. All we had to do was show the judges we know what were doing. The Massive Monkee magic was there.
tags: Freestyle Session, Massive Monkees, B-Boy, Training, Twixx, Dance
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Not 100%
I knew I had to work twice as hard coming off a knee injury. I wanted to hold it down for the crew, using a new arsenal. I didn't tell anyone until after the jam, but I wasn't supposed to go 100% until September. I trained religiously twice a day on my own moves. I listened to my body though. But it was three a day practices leading up because I had Crew practice at night. I needed to build confidence in my knee. I did the coosh viral video shoots, went to New York to shoot the Way of the Bboy tutorial scenes. The whole thing was a marathon. Everyday I was hoping for the best. Mentally I had to get right. I had to do my part to get the whole crew prepared at the same time; my role is organizing when the battle is close. People listen to me, I have to motivate and get the individuals in their own zone. I do what I can. If they want to me shut up, sit down and just dance then that's what's up. It takes a little extra work to come up with strategies, and it burned when it didn't go well.
tags: Freestyle Session, Massive Monkees, B-Boy, Training, Jeromeskee
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Hungry Monkees?
Sometimes events have brought us together and got us working hard. That's what I want for us. We are all better than ever. I am only concerned that we are as hungry as in the past. The extra little bit of effort counts for a lot. I was waiting for Freestyle Session for a long time. Our training might be running its course, prepping for routines for the entire practice hasn't helped much. We set a standard for those routines and living up to that burns us out. We should be getting together and training. I wish we had made up a few new routines, rather than remixing old ones. There is more purpose and less walking through the motions. We need to be excited about showing some new stuff on that stage.
We hadn't had those accidental moments when we just come up with fresh shit. That when we are messing around not taking things too seriously. They weren't coming because we were too busy. I know the Crew is better; we just can't be about the same thing as the past battles. Preach a new philosophy. We are family with our own families, our foundation works together, but now individuals must gel as a unit. When the individuals change the unit should too. That forces us to stick together rather than focus on our selves. We landed Friday and stayed 20 minutes from the venue, but that's Internet time, which translates to 45 minutes in LA traffic. We were playing under water games at the pool, racing without breathing the night before and things were good.
tags: Freestyle Session, Massive Monkees, B-Boy, Juseboogy
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tags: Freestyle Session, Massive Monkees, B-Boy, Tim The Pit, Battles, Coping With Loss
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