Hip-Hop History Month #14

Since we last left off on dance, we covered locking. Now it's time to go to "locking's" offspring....pop-locking, or "boogalooing". And THAT'S going to be the discussion with no. 14 for Hip-Hop History Month; Boogaloo Sam. Leggo!!!

Now, before I dive too deep into this, know that like our New York counterparts will argue and debate DJs and Burroughs as it relates to hip-hop, on the west coast, dancers are just as bad. So I guarantee you, with all the dancers on my friends list, I am liable to get "checked" a couple times. This isn't an element I consider myself a "master" of, but this is what my research and conversations have brought me to believe. My god, I can already see the comments on this one!!! Ok....

First, let's dissect what boogalooing is: The "boogaloo" is style of dance where the dancer tries to give the impression that their body is lacking bones. The dance is loose, fluid and mimics  cartoons or animated movies.  The dance involves circular rolls of hips, knees, and head.  Developed by Boogaloo Sam in 1975 and is the signature style of the Electric Boogaloos. It can incorporate illusions, restriction of muscles, stops, robot, animation, and/or wiggling. The style also incorporates foundational popping techniques. It is related to the later electric boogaloo dance....or "pop-locking".

The Electric Boogaloos are a street dance crew responsible for the spread of popping and electric boogaloo. The name "Boogaloo" came from a song called "Do a Boogaloo" by James Brown, which was also adapted as a boogaloo street dance done from Oakland, CA. They were founded by Boogaloo Sam in Fresno, California in 1977. Their original name was the Electric Boogaloo Lockers but "Lockers" was dropped the following year.

On January 25, 2012, The Electric Boogaloos were honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 13th anniversary show of The Carnival: Choreographer's Ball, for their role in popularizing dance styles such as popping and electric boogie, presented by choreographer and dancer Toni Basil, who you should remember from the last post concerning Shabba-Doo.

"Boogaloo Sam", also known as Sam Solomon grew up in Fresno, California. He was inspired to innovate a new dance style after learning from the Bay City Boogaloos and meeting Tick'n Will and Darnell McDowell - the Ace Tre Lockers - they danced a form of Boogaloo from Oakland. Sam also watched dancers locking on the television. He innovated popping and the EB Boogaloo dance style from Fresno. Popin’ Pete, Boogaloo Sam's little brother, who was also mentioned in the Shabba-Doo post, and star of Breakin' 1 and 2, practiced his dance moves by watching Soul Train and doing the robot. Popin' Pete was taught how different styles of popping by his older brother Boogaloo Sam. He watched his brother pop and wanted to learn, too. The original members of the first group from long beach California were: Boogaloo Sam, Popin Pete, Robot Dane, Puppet Boozer, Creeping Sidney and Scarecrow Scalley. "Skeeter Rabbit of the EBs"who took his dance name from an early original Locker and Robot dancer James "Skeeter Rabbit" Higgins, Stephan grew up in Los Angeles, and originally was followed in his name sakes tradition as a locker until his cousins, Boogaloo Sam and Popin’ Pete introduced him to popping. Suga Pop was determined to become part of the Electric Boogaloos after he saw them perform on Soul Train. Later, he moved to Los Angeles where he met Popin’ Pete and Skeeter Rabbit and joined the Electric Boogaloos in 1979. He is currently a music producer. Mr. Wiggles is the most recent addition to the Electric Boogaloos, growing up from South Bronx, New York he is also a member of the Rock Steady Crew.

Much has been written about Sam and his place as an originator of boogaloo and poppin’ dance style. Articles such as Ben Higa’s 1996 “Electric Kingdom” and Fresno State professor Sean Slusser’s recent KCET essay “Straight Outta Fresno” document this history, yet little has been said about Sam and his life and influence on Fresno’s west side community.

Number 15 will be on more ladies of hip-hop. Stay tuned!!!!