What is your involvement with the Red Bull BC?
I’m an ambassador for it this year and I’m just adding my two cents where I can in terms of what to do or if I have an idea. Being involved with Red Bull can make you involved in almost anything they do especially on the culture side. Red Bull has done a lot more than just one-offs. They really got deep into the scene. They stayed beyond the seasonal scene and have supported events and created their own events when it comes to hip-hop, as well as b-boy on its own.
What do you look for in an aspiring b-boy/b-girl? Should they follow in your footsteps?
I think everybody should create their own lane. I would definitely suggest that if they’re going to follow in my footsteps, then pick the right steps to follow because not everything that I’ve done has been the best decision. I would say that if you are going to follow any of my footsteps, then take on dance form as an art first. If you take it on as an art first, then it’ll stay with you for the rest of your life and you’ll have a true appreciation for it. You’ll understand that it isn’t just about the moves, but it’s about the very DNA of it, which is the music, the response to the music and love for the preservation of dance as well.
You’re one of the Latino pioneers of hip-hop culture. What do you remember most about those early days?
For me, going to my first jam is always going to be my first memory. It was the first time that I witnessed all of the elements happening at the same time. It was summertime in 1977 and you had a lot of things going on in the midst of the Blackout of ’77, the Son of Sam, and the Yankees winning the World Series. I was being introduced to what eventually became known as hip-hop culture and becoming part of hip-hop was like me being born again because it gave me an opportunity to have a voice. It wasn’t something that was thought out, but I knew that I was very shy when I was a kid and as I became a b-boy and became involved with things, my confidence developed. That’s very important to me.
Are you miffed that mainstream media appropriated hip-hop as a solely African American creation rather than something created by both African Americans and Latinos?
When you’re growing up around Afrika Bambaataa and black people and Afrika Bambaataa says, “You know you got black too man, we all together” then it doesn’t really bother you as much. But then you look at it as you grow up and you realize that white America at that time decided that you’re either black or white no matter what you are, in terms of Latino, Asian or anything other than that. I’ve started to feel more slighted now than back then because back then we weren’t on any kind of conscious tip like self-awareness or self-empowerment. We were just kids having fun. You have to think about how old we were. As a 10, 12, 13-year-old person, I’m not going to rise up against the system, especially when I live in the Bronx and it’s just survival mode. This was our way of having some sort of recreation. It just didn’t affect me on that level because I don’t think I knew enough about myself to fight for myself, or my people. That was something that I learned later on.
I have a sense of responsibility because I know that my name carries a certain amount of weight and if I can do something that inspires other Latinos to say, “Hey, that’s one of my people and he’s doing this, and I admire that. I’m going to do that too and I know I can do it because there’s one of us doing it right there.” If I can serve in that manner then I think I’d be foolish to just not do it.
How was your Puerto Rock Steady Festival this year?
It was great. It was better than the year before and it’s growing. As it grows, it’s going to have more of an impact on the community and more of an impact on my opportunity to create a tutoring program in Puerto Rico. It’s something that I really want to have grow as a destination vacation/music festival for people that like many genres of music. It’s not a hip-hop event—it’s all genres. I think we’re on the right track. We’re going to get Puerto Rico tourism involved, we’re going to get the governor’s office involved, and we’re going to keep striving to make it as successful as possible.
After years of b-boying, how is your body holding up?
My body is holding up the way I allow it to hold up. I stay training and working out and it’s really about maintenance and not giving up on yourself. Like anyone else, I’ve been hurt. If you’re an athlete, you’ve been hurt and you know what it's like and I’ve had my share of bumps and bruises. The big thing is being resilient and living to live. I enjoy being an example to my crew because I can’t ask them to be at their best if I’m not doing my best to stay on top of my game. I also want to be an inspiration to my son. I want my son to see me taking care of myself so as he grows up, he can do the same thing and never give up on himself.
Are there any moves you don’t perform anymore?
I don’t even think it’s about “can’t perform.” I just go to events and watch them perform everything. I’ve had my time! I’ll do my moves when I’m teaching. I think you also have to pave the way for the next new talent that’s behind you and be welcoming to them and never be that old person that says, “Oh back in my day . . .” I’m all about being supportive.
Battle rapping is experiencing a rebirth with Total Slaughter. What needs to happen for b-boying to go through a similar revitalization?
The realness is already there. We have somebody in Rock Steady named Myzerse, and she’s one of the newest and hottest battle rappers out there. She’s done three battles already and two of the girls she battled already quit rapping after they battled her. That’s how on fire she is. You look at BC One and it’s a one-on-one battle and it may have a budget to put on all these things, but at the end of the day, you have straight up raw talent out there and they’re training hard and they’re all rookie boys. So what you’re asking me about actually already exists all around the world. It shouldn’t be confused with the fact that it’s coming from a corporation because the integrity behind it is there. Red Bull has enabled b-boys and legitimized them to teach around the world and put food on their families’ tables. I wouldn’t be too scared about the commercial aspect of it because at the end of the day, no one would have heard about hip-hop if there wasn’t a record label. I think there are a lot of great things going on.
When it’s all said and done, what do you want your legacy to be?
Your legacy is written by the way people perceive you so I’ve never really put thought into that. All I can hope is that whatever that legacy is, it only helps my son and my family when I’m gone. I could sit here and tell you the best things in the world and then somebody that’s really important out there calls me an a**hole and maybe he’s so important that people are going to run with that.
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