Artist: Crazy Legs
Interviewer: Alex Fruchter

What can I say about Crazy Legs? Really, though? I can talk about his younger days with Rock Steady when hip hop was shaping and taking form as it was traveled from the South Bronx to the other four boroughs. I can talk about how he is credited with revolutionizing b-boying. I can reference countless battles documented by movies like Beat Street and Style Wars to name a few. I could, but you could find that out on your own. I’ll just let Crazy Legs speak for himself. Check it out.

SoundSlam: You guys got honored at that VH1 Hip Hop Honors, it hasn’t been on TV yet, how did that go for you?

Crazy Legs: Actually I sent other members of Rock Steady to go there because I had to go to London. I was already booked to host this event that I host every year. It’s called the Playstation UK B-Boy Championships. So I sent Top Master Fables, Mr. Wiggles, Mr. Freeze, another guy Easy Rock from the West Coast. We had people performing, some of the newer generations of the Rock Steady members. They all said it was great. They had a nice time.

SoundSlam: What’s it like to be honored by VH1? Was that kind of weird?

Crazy Legs: The thing about that, people choose to honor us in a way they feel represents their memories as opposed to seeking out what we’ve really done outside of what think is the most important thing. I wish we would have had more input in the whole thing. They were showing clips, from what I heard…I don’t know, I have to see it for myself. I’m not going to comment too much on it. I don’t want to say anything negative. It’s not like it’s my own people honoring us. I am a fan of VH1. I do like a lot of projects that they do. On that level, that is dope.

SoundSlam: I understand. It’s kind of like, ‘oh, they decided to honor now.’ But it’s not like someone within hip hop is giving you these awards. VH1 decided to honor you guys but if they didn’t it would have been the same to you. Is that what you’re saying?

Crazy Legs: Yeah. And for the award ceremony overall, I think the way the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame does it, as far as standards to get in is really good. You have to have released a record 25 years ago before you can be nominated or inducted. So that means that the first people, the people that date back the furthest are going to be honored and kind of like, not forgotten. Even though it’s nice to be honored, and yeah, fine, we were the most recognized B-Boy crew, but there were other people who created the dance. It would be nice to see them get recognition as well. Then again, I don’t know exactly how they are putting this across when it comes out on television. For all I know we could be edited out the whole thing. Being a B-Boy, our world doesn’t guarantee us, because we’re not recording artists, the shine that we probably deserve or not based on the fact that we’re not as commercial as other people are. We’re the ones that you definitely can’t ignore when it comes to something like this. At the same time I hope it’s done the right way so I can walk away from it with my head up like, ‘yeah they did a great job.’

SoundSlam: When you started b-boying did you ever imagine that it would get this big?

Crazy Legs: Naw, our only focus was local ghetto celebrity status. That was it. This was never about, ‘yo let’s do this and make some money cause I want to buy a house.’ It was just what we did to have fun and to be competitive and creative and get the attention of the ladies.

SoundSlam: When hip hop started in the South Bronx as this reaction to society and a voice to the voiceless—

Crazy Legs: I think it was a reaction to boredom and social activites.

SoundSlam: You’ve been able to see how far hip hop’s gone, where it’s come from and where it is now. Do you feel that it’s still true to the roots that it started out with?

Crazy Legs: Ohh hell no! Not even close! Hip hop in terms of the commercial world, ahh man, it’s not even close. There’s a lot of stuff done with absolutely no integrity when it comes to hip hop. I think the integrity is lacking in hip hop.

SoundSlam: What makes you say that?

Crazy Legs: Well, originality for one. It’s missing. It’s the most important thing. We did it to stand out and be an individual. Other people, their motivation is solely money. There’s a big difference between doing it to have fun on the block and being creative because you enjoy the art form, as opposed to pre-packaging yourself and getting on stage after you’ve already been marketed. And people haven’t really seen you perform but you’re that hot shit because your record is hot. You could have the worst voice or the whackest stage show, or not really be….B-boys in a sense as well when it comes to the dance. You have people that go out and can flip and do all sorts of things and never even dance on beat.

SoundSlam: That goes into the forces that have come into play with hip hop since it started. When it started getting bigger and bigger now people are running it and putting out commercial artists. I saw you have an event coming up celebrating the 20th anniversary of Beat Street. You’re having a panel on there and one of the topics is ‘who soled out?’ You’re talking about, is doing something you really love and getting paid selling out? What are your views on that?

Crazy Legs: Number one, the reason for the panel is, don’t get me wrong I’m not some self-righteous B-Boy or hip hopper over here. But there should be standards that should be maintained. There’s nothing wrong with going out and getting your hustle on and being self-sufficient with earning money doing what you love to do. But at the same time, don’t set a precedent where you’re willing to accept any kind of fees just because you want to get a job real quick. It kind of cheapens what everyone else is trying to make, or everyone else’s value. That’s the fucked up part. So, we’re going to discuss things like that and kind of build towards creating some sort of united front. Not saying we’re going to start a union or anything like that. But we’re trying to teach people that what you do is valuable. Take pride in it, and you should be charging at least this much when someone calls you up for a video job or something like that.

SoundSlam: Kind of making them respect their value and not get taken advantage of.

Crazy Legs: Exactly. B-Boys are putting their bodies on the line.

SoundSlam: That’s what I was going to ask you. B-Boying is such a young man’s sport and so physical, what’s the secret to your longevity in it?

Crazy Legs: Well, I design what I do based on my body, always. What I’m capable of doing at the time and flow with that. B-Boying isn’t just acrobatics. It’s about rhythm, and expression, and character. Before the acrobatics came people we’re just dancing.

SoundSlam: Who do you mention as an influence that got you going or inspired you to keep inventing new styles?

Crazy Legs: Jimmy Dee, who was the original president of Rock Steady. B-Boy Spy, who was a member of this crew called the Crazy Commanders. Those two, and another guy called Willie Roe who was in a crew called Rockwell Association, those guys were very inspiring to me.

SoundSlam: Did you ever get into emceeing or deejaying at all?

Crazy Legs: I spin break beats from time to time. I have my system here. Everybody back in those days was a wanna-be everything. You had your cup of tea but you had to do other things as well.

SoundSlam: Now hip hop’s reaching this age where there’s elder statesmen that can look back where it came from and where it is now. You were talking about how it’s gone off the path, with the people getting older is there a way to bring it back to that?

Crazy Legs: All we can do is take on protégés, bro. We take on our protégés, we do our part, and we try to remain active as much as we can in the scene and not create a gap between the new generation and us. We have to be flexible in our thinking. We have to work with the evolution of certain things but also show them when something is not really evolution, and it’s just straight up wrong. Having an opened mind is what’s going to help the young brothers and sisters out there. That’s why we’re doing this panel. These panels aren’t really to criticize, they’re more about an exchange of information and opinions.

SoundSlam: You got one that’s how to set up a jam and how to get yourself started. I think something very prevalent in hip hop is the attitude of doing it yourself.

Crazy Legs: We want to just let people understand what happens when you throw these events, and what to expect, why things are done a certain way, and how you have to have a plan A, B, and C. Even if C doesn’t even exist you have to be able to be that on point to have some really good decision making on the spot. A lot of damage control is done at the drop of a dime when you throw events. A lot of times things can be going crazy backstage or behind the scenes, but as long as the audience is having a great time, that doesn’t matter. The success isn’t whether I have a good time throwing the event or not. It’s the audience having a good time.

SoundSlam: What advice could you give to younger B-Boy crews that look up to Rock Steady and other legendary crews that want to get on that level?

Crazy Legs: Don’t be scared to take the chance basically. A lot of things are a gamble. If you don’t gamble sometimes you’re going to be sitting there wondering. ‘Damn, I should have done that. What would have happened?’ The same old cliché.

SoundSlam: What does it mean to be part of the Zulu Nation for you?

Crazy Legs: The Zulu Nation is an organization that basically taught me how to have pride in myself as a Puerto Rican, as a person of color, as a hip hopper. That means a lot to me. They helped me to understand myself before I learned that from the hood. That is the hood. When I first got into Zulu, I got in as a straight up B-Boy. They put me down with Zulu Kings. That was one of the top crews back in the days. There was a whole legend behind them. And that was another crew I wanted to be down with. Bambatta put me and Frosty Freeze down as this whole new generation and we put the rest of Rock Steady on. It’s a proud feeling.

SoundSlam: You’re in that new video game, Fight For New York, from Def Jam. How do you feel about being in that game? It being a violent game.

Crazy Legs: It’s definitely rated mature for a reason. How well that’s going to be enforced is another thing.

SoundSlam: And it is a video game.

Crazy Legs: Yeah, it’s a video game. I’m not with endorsing violence to kids, but there’s not promoting this to kids either. If they were straight up promoting it to kids I wouldn’t be part of it.

SoundSlam: Kind of getting back to the Zulu Nation and when Bambatta coined hip hop and started as a reaction to gang violence. Instead of real violence they would battle through B-Boy competitions and emcee battles and such.

Crazy Legs: Let me tell you. All that shit is a myth, a fallacy right there. We did all that stuff because we enjoyed having fun doing it. It being a deterrent was a very indirect thing. Because in order to be good at whatever craft you chose, you had to spend time developing it. That’s where it lead to less bullshit. But, on the flipside, there were a lot of jams where there were throw-downs over rapping, B-Boying, a lot of stuff. It’s not like somebody said, ‘let’s create this dance so we can stop fighting, yay….’ The people that were doing this dance originally were gangsters. So, we figure if there’s a person that would normally be hanging out on the streets that’s gangster, but became a B-Boy, that meant he was on the street less cause he was in the lab practicing. And, maybe that turned into something more positive for him.

SoundSlam: These myths get going by outsiders, and that goes more into the VH1 stuff. Have you seen any of their documentary?

Crazy Legs: No, none at all.

SoundSlam: They have a documentary put together with stories, but how do we know the truth or relevance of these stories?

Crazy Legs: I know right. Who are they consulting? You can start with that right there. Who’s doing the research? How are they protecting their love affair with the idea of what it’s supposed to be as opposed to how it really is and what went down? I’m not saying it’s a negative thing. The whole thing is very positive on the real true hip hop level yeah, on the commercial level, maybe not. It’s something that has to be looked at, when you go into the history of it, with fairness. For instance, you have a lot of people are trying to claim certain things, and certain props that they shouldn’t get. So, it’s kind of scary sometimes.

SoundSlam: Props in terms of—

Crazy Legs: Who and what they were, when they were, all that stuff. That’s always a debate. Some people say Hollywood. Some people say Love Bug Starski.

SoundSlam: This was the first documentary I’ve seen on a major television station that showed more what I would think is the truth behind the Sugar Hill Gang. How they came together, and had somebody else’s rhymes and all that. I never saw that before on a major TV station.

Crazy Legs: Well, it’s about time, shit. Grandmaster Caz deserves major props on that one. He’s the one that it down, bro. He put that whole shit together.

SoundSlam: I’ve never seen that on real TV, I don’t even think a lot of people knew that.

Crazy Legs: No, cause people are in denial about it. They don’t want to admit some shit like that. Because they’re so in love with the idea that they thought they were legit.

SoundSlam: A lot of people felt that when that blew up, that in one sense, a kind of hip hop ended. I was just wondering how you felt at that time being so deep in it?

Crazy Legs: I knew they weren’t from the scene. I had never heard of them before. Although the music was fun and all that other stuff, I didn’t know the deal until Caz told us. And then I was like, ‘yeah that makes sense.’ He was saying Cassanova and other stuff. He’s saying words that were references to Grandmaster Caz as opposed to Big Bad Hank. I just hope that one day Caz gets his proper respect for that.

SoundSlam: Did you feel at the time, this is going to be a major change?

Crazy Legs: Not really. We were just kids. We were just having fun, bro. All we wanted to do was buy whatever records. Whether it was Super Rappin’ by Furious Five or whatever, and just bring it home and play it 25 times. And keep learning the rhymes and whatever. It was all fun.

SoundSlam: And now it seems some of that fun is missing.

Crazy Legs: That all depends on what kind of events you go to and how deeply you’re involved in hip hop.

SoundSlam: That’s true…What else is coming up in the future for you? You got the Beat Street anniversary, you got the video game. What else are you doing?

Crazy Legs: I’m going out to LA. I’m teaching at this place called Wood Word. It’s like an hour and a half outside of LA. I’m signed to Red Bull as a representative. I’m down with Red Bull and they support me a lot. I do a lot of stuff with them. I’m also working on Rock Steady 28th anniversary for July 28th next year.

SoundSlam: Those are crazy.

Crazy Legs: Those are so fun. We had so much fun this year.

SoundSlam: I see it every year the lineups are crazy.

Crazy Legs: We don’t try to do some stuff like, ‘we need Puffy, or we need….’ All that stuff is good, but we use it as a platform to present up and coming talent.

SoundSlam: Have you heard any of Talib Kweli’s album?

Crazy Legs: Naw, I’ve been on the road a lot…Why?

SoundSlam: It’s getting a lot of mixed review, I was just wondering if you heard it or checked it out….Who do you like?

Crazy Legs: I like Talib, I like Mos Def. I like Q-Unique. He has his album out right now. He’s one of the people in Rock Steady. Of course I’m going to say Razael, Tony Touch, people that are down with Rock Steady. I love Wu-Tang. To tell you the truth, a lot of the time I’m not even checking for rap anymore because it’s all just the same monotonous bullshit. It’s such a mission to find good music. To me, the way I judge a record is by the first time I hear it. If I don’t like it, I know I don’t like it. Even if they end up brain washing me later on, I will know it’s just brain washing and getting used to it.

SoundSlam: It’s kind of like what you said before. Someone has decided if someone is going to be good or bad before they even come out. They create hype and a following for an artist that may not even be that good and just continuously play their record on radio, tell people that they’re the hot artist so they like them. Even if they may not even be that good. A lot of artists are huge before you’ve really heard of them. When artists that are really good and fresh come from the bottom. They start performing in their local community and start building that buzz locally. Now you just have someone come out and everybody’s like, ‘where the fuck did this guy come from?’

Crazy Legs: A lot of that is missing man.

SoundSlam: Sometimes I wish I was older so I was around when it was starting up. And there was a bigger sense of community, that real grassroots focus.

Crazy Legs: It happens you know. I’m doing my part, I’m hanging in there. That’s all I can really do.

SoundSlam: Do you have any last words for people?

Crazy Legs: Keep checking Rocksteadycrew.com to see what’s going on. That’s basically it.