R-16 part 1

Last weekend was r16, a big international bboy competition. I had been looking forward to the competition since I bought tickets over a month ago. It turns out I reserved tickets 20 and 21 of everyone there. I also went to the r16 preparty, which was hella dope.

Anyways, I guess first I'll talk about the pre-party since that's the first thing that happened on my weekend. I went with M and Dre to Lotte Hotel in Jamsil (which by the way is hella fucking far from Incheon... 2 hours-ish). We got there early and we had time to eat dinner. Actually, where we ate there was a restaurant called Uncle Wong's. This is particularly interesting because in Dumbfoundead's Grindtime battle with Tantrum, Dumb says, "You're not just an Uncle Tom, you're an Uncle Wong."

Then, after eating, we headed to the party. It was a little confusing to find because we weren't really sure where we were going. naturally. We got to the place eventually and it was still hella early, like 8 p.m. At that point we caught the tail-end of some pre-competition elimination popping and locking battles. They were okay, and at the time I thought pretty good, but nothing compared to what we saw the following day. But that's for later.

Then, after the competition was over, we took a break and just sat and rested. It was kind of strange being there because I am not really part of the break dancing community. I mean, sure, I listen to hip-hop a lot, and I've watched a whole shit-ton of graffiti, scratching, and breakdancing videos online, but as for actually participating in the hip-hop culture, I fall definitively into the observer category. It's not that I'm a bad dancer, it's just that I'm not a bgirl.

Anyways, so it was weird with everyone being so talented and then me just kind of hanging out and watching.

While I was standing around one of the dance circles (everyone was breaking in circles which was cool to watch), I saw DJ Zo, and he said hello to me and gave me a hug and we chatted. Then later in the evening I saw dumb and said hello and he also recognized me and gave me a hug. I know that I probably sound ridiculous and fan-girl-y hear, but they just seem so cool and chill. I know they aren't super famous and it's not like they have millions of people banging down their doorstep for autographs and shit, but still, I've seen less famous people act like total dicks to their fans. It's nice to see artists who haven't let a little bit of fame and internet popularity get to their heads. In the off chance that one of the two of them sees this post, thanks guys for making my night a little bit more than just a concert, but an interaction. You guys are cool as fuck and I hope y'all stay that way.

So a bit later, dumb and djzo hit the stage. They absolutely fucking wrecked it. They did most everything that I really wanted to see and I got some great pictures and footage and whatnot. They did bullets of truth, Mr. Nice Guy, plus Dumb freestyled a whole lot. Plus he even called up other MCs and invited them to do a short freestyle on the mic. It was really cool. Like 4 or 5 people came up and spat verses in English and Korean. It was really cool.

Then M and Dre left because they were tired and dumb finished and that's the only reason they really went. Unfortunately, I wasn't ready to bounce so I was pissed and ended up staying alone to watch DJSoulscape (basically a Korean legend as far as DJs go). Soulscape was just ridiculously talented, and it turned out to be better than I had expected in spite of being alone. This Korean girl came up and talked to me and said I was a really really good dancer, and she thought I was a dancer (not that I was like poppping or breaking or anything), and that was very flattering since there were a lot of other dancers there and she was impressed by me.

Anyways this is the video I threw together this afternoon of the video/pictures I took during the concert. Enjoy, and check out my other videos over on my youtube channel! Thaaaaanks!!