The Massive Monkees Blog
Some insight on the life of a Massive Monkee
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Almost every Massive Monkee learned practicing in the living room in front of a VCR.
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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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Rawness
Freestyle Session is arguably the most prestigious event in the world. It has a huge stage battle yet in my opinion still has that rawness that makes a bboy event what it is. FSS was also the first major event that we entered as a full crew. When we entered FSS6 in 2003 it introduced the whole Massive Monkees Crew to the scene and at FSS8 we established ourselves as one of the top crews in the world takin' out some crazy all-star squads yet we still fell short at both events taking 2nd place twice.
My physical preparation consists of training my body, eating right and practicing. Mentally I am staying focused making sure to give myself time for meditation and staying disciplined by cutting out my vices. Also, I am making sure to give my family time and getting ahead on business so that I don't have anything weighing on my mind at the competition...
tags: Freestyle Session, Massive Monkees, B-Boy, Battles, Iron Mike Brysen, Training
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tags: Lil Lazy, Massive Monkees, B-Boy, Training, Dance
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