The Massive Monkees Blog
Some insight on the life of a Massive Monkee
Watch out
Brysen trusts me with his life, and we just did this photo to scare the coosh legal team.
When we went to Kochi, Japan it was big news. We had the best week of our career on that trip.
Suspense is Killing Me
It was a funny experience to do those video shoots. I got in character, played it really cheesy and went over the top, over exaggerated even. It has a hand held video camera look, and that helps since it was a parody. It reminded me of Naked Gun movies and Hot Shots. Our humor can be exclusive to us, but this hopefully comes across to all the people that see it. We are excited about the launch and announcing the collaboration. I wanna see what other people think. The suspense is killing me. We have an official sponsor now, and they support what we do and pay us for being good at what we do. I'm not getting up thinking about what I'm gonna do today to make money, I'm think about being good at dancing. That's how I'm paying the bills and the health care. Doing crazy stunts and I got a daughter - I gotta have that. Most of my practices are with a stereo. I use the coosh on long travel. Planes, trains and all the wild ways I get to these spots around the world that I usually haven't been to yet. My car and house are wired for stereo so I keep it on ice at home. It's hard to explain but it has an invisible feeling to it, like its not even there.
tags: Massive Monkees, B-Boy, Twixx, coosh, Video Shoot
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Cramming for the Test
We come from a generation where a lot of bboys didn't last, and people know about us no matter what because of that. We were in touch with that on the first day. And our battle was a tribute to how things were done in that era, the flow was different and people noticed that. We hit the hotel and tried to perfect and polish the routines until late that night for Day 2. I thought it should be committed to memory before we left Seattle, so that already was part of our struggle right there. We should have just been relaxing at that point. We felt rushed. It takes weeks to let the steps settle into your brain. It's like cramming for a test. We thought we knew it but drew a blank against Supernaturalz/Flex Flav, our routines were on the tip of our tongue and we couldn't get them out.
Supernaturalz/Flex Flav duplicated our style and formula so we were battling a mirror image as far as routines, and commando style. There was no pace first of all. We couldn't hear the music when the battle started because a curtain split the funk music room for poppin/lockin and their side was so loud. We couldn't hear the beat on stage because the speakers were on the other side. The judges thought it was a toss-up with crews not wanting to go out first. It's always an advantage to respond rather than going out first. There is a time limit on each battle, and we were a minute and 30 seconds behind already standing around. Nobody understood we couldn't hear the music. Then the battle had no rhythm. We are being pressured by the host, the crowd, the DJs and then finally they turn the music up. Our mistakes were beginner mistakes. Little screw ups that add up. They didn't out dance us, as much as we beat ourselves. Those hit the hardest, we tripped over our own feet.
Tim the Pit was saying how he beat Phantom to some other bboy on Day 1, and that guy went to Phantom and told him. Phantom came back to ask Tim if he said that and Tim didn't deny it. It was word against word. So if that's the case lets do it right now. If there is space and opportunity that's where it happens in breakin. Tim accepted the challenge. Phantom came back with his crew on Day 2 and an exchange started, security interrupted because we were blocking an exit. Fire codes, city ordnances and what not. It's like a street fight to where they plotted on calling Tim out to belittle him like Phantom was belittled. It went from 1-on-1, to 2-on-1 to crew on crew. The frustration from the loss was major, so we did it like the 70s and 80s before there were Freestyle Sessions. It was a substitution for gang warfare, and rather than fight we brought back the old essence. No organized tournament, all raw, un-cut street rules. Other than the battle between two 6-year old bboys, that was the most talked about thing that happened that weekend.
tags: Freestyle Session, Massive Monkees, B-Boy, Battles, Twixx, 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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tags: Massive Monkees, B-Boy, Twixx, Dance, coosh
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