Interview with B-Boy Billy Bill

                                                          Interview with B-Boy Billy Bill  

                                

                                                 

B-Boy Billy Bill

                                            

                              conducted by Sir Norin Rad (The Intruders/Germany)

SIR NORIN RAD:"When were you born?"

BILLY BILL:"I was born in 1956, making me 68 years at this moment."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Alright, and where exactly were you born?" 

BILLY BILL:"I was born in Harlem and I was born in Harlem Hospital."

SIR NORIN RAD:"In which part of Harlem were you raised?"

BILY BILL:"I was raised in Drew Hamilton Projects for the most part. Right there on 142nd Street & 8th Avenue."

SIR NORIN RAD:"To what kind of music were you exposed as a young child in your household?"

BILLY BILL:"Oh man, we listened to R&B. Mostly Motown...early Motown when they dominated the charts. We listened to Curtis Mayfield, James Brown of course. Anything that was playing on WWRL.  That was the station back in the day before FM came to fruiton and WBLS."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you do any other kind of dance before you got into Breaking?"

BILLY BILL:"Uh really I was kinda shy at a young age. I didn't really dance too much until I became a teenager...like 13,14.  And I became a B-Boy at 15, 16."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So you're saying that you became a B-Boy in 1971, 1972, correct?"

BILLY BILL:"100 percent correct!! Before Hiphop had a name! Put this out there! This is very important. "

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where did you see Breaking for the first time?"

BILLY BILL:"The very first time.. Me and my crew went to a place called The Factory West...125th Street in Harlem. And this was 1971..... late "1971, early 1972. So I'm not disputing the landmark they have as 1973. Like I said before Hiphop had a name you saw this dance and it was called Burning. Me and my fellas went down there and it was like, you know...we went there as observers. We weren't full participants as of yet.  So a couple of my fellas got in there. First time, they wasn't ready for it, right? And they danced against females who were seasoned veterans at this and who were known in this place. They (Billy Bill's friends) got their ass kicked!! (laughs) Alright? So we went to the drawing board. Like for a couple of weeks we went there and started making up moves. We were practicing and honing our skills. And the next time we went down there we was victorious, we was good. Yeah, we didn't wanna run into that no more, you know? And ever since then that was it."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What kind of place was The Factory West?"

BILLY BILL:"It turned into a club. You had to go up one flight of stairs. It was kind of dark and it had a good sound system and basically that was around the time when gang activity was at its paramount. A lot of gangs used to congregate up there. There was fights outside. As a matter of fact they closed because a guy we knew...he was like a gang leader from up in Harlem..he got killed there. Yeah, that was the end of the Factory West."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Do you recall which songs were played there?"

BILLY BILL:"First of all, it was James Brown! Of course!! There was Isley Brothers...."Get Into Something", Earth, Wind & Fire "Moment Of Truth", Kool & The Gang "Love The Life You Live"...the whole version. Just a whole lot of stuff!  Billy Shae-Rae...a song called "Do it!". Oh man! Like I said I'm a little bit more seasoned and there was tracks  that I listened to that I didn't hear at Kool DJ Herc's parties. Kool DJ Herc is my man and all that but there are some under the radar things. Like "Moment Of Truth"..they never played that as far as I know. At least when I was there."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What did the dance look like when you got into it?"

BILLY BILL:"We didn't really go down to the ground and all that. We did what the new generation calls Uprock. We stayed mostly up top. There was a lot of hand movement and fancy footwork. And basically it was kinda disrespectful because you danced against girls. That was the first battle, not with guys against guys. Let me set this straight for you right now because a lot of guys think it started like this (guys against guys). It started guys and against girls but it ended  because you danced against a girl and you embarrassed her or put your hands on her it's gonna be a fight or she would say,"I'mma go get my brother." You know, things of that nature.  And or you be trying to get next to her later on. So how you gonna talk to her after you embarrassed her? You wanna take her home or something, you know? So therefore that's how guys against guys started. It's important that you document that! I'm the only one to express that but that's the original truth."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please name those B-Boys that would accompany you to all those party spots back then?"

BILLY BILL:"Yes, two of them are still alive. One of them is Tony Shamburger. We called him Tee. He moved from the Bronx over to Manhattan in 1971. So we got tight. And then there is my right hand man...his name is Danny Harris. He passed away in 2013. He was a great B-Boy and a great musician. He didn't have a B-Boy name. Then there was Vernon England. Vernon had moved from Queens to Manhattan. We called him Vito. We had Maurice Montgomery. He passed away, too. And let me make this clear, too. Kurtis Blow was a couple of years younger than us and we took him into our camp, like about a year later."

Harlem B-Boy Vernon England

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe how you improved your dancing skills!"

BILLY BILL:"We was implementing what we saw and putting our own thing to it. Like Karate moves...We was observing other people down there, you know? The best dude down there...his name was John John. He was really animated and he was really really good. He was the best down there at the Factory West."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Which other places in Harlem did you go to in order to dance back then?"

BILLY BILL:"Chuck Center! That became our place, too, when The Factory West closed down. And then we would just go around to where the party was, man. You know, the P.A.L. down on 123rd Street. They had a place called "Wham" on 152nd Street. It was an acronym. It was run by a great man named Charles Mobley, a neighbourhood leader. It was a renovated police precinct. Then a lot of the housing projects had recreation rooms that threw parties. We would go to the Polo Grounds. That's where we met Dancin' Doug and his crew. Where I was from there was this place called "The Office". So the guy who got killed at the Factory West his mother was an community activist. Her name was Mrs. Kimble. She had a brownstone and converted it to a place where kids could go to to get off the street. So we used to dance there all the time, too, on the weekend and practice karate there. It was on 146th Street & St. Nicholas. And then that became a spot to go hang out. They threw parties in there and you could also get a summer job there, you know? They had John F. Kennedy High School that used to throw nice parties. It was a brand new high school..it had just opened. And the first time we went in there we drew the biggest crowd we ever saw!! We was dancing to "So Much Trouble In My Mind" by Sir Joe Quarterman & Free Soul. And that's when we knew we was really good!!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please explain what made you feel that way!"

BILLY BILL:"We was dancing against the girls that lived in Dyckman Street. So it was their girls and our boys. We was just dancing the way we normally dance and all of a sudden everybody stopped and came over, you know? It was a big circle. But those was our friends then so we didn't really try to embarrass them."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Who were the best B-Boys out of Marble Hill that danced in JFK High School?"

BILLY BILL:"I really didn't try to be friendly with anybody 'cause basically when we was in Harlem we was the top dogs. When we came in as soon as we started dancing there was a big circle. We became friends with a lot of the girls. They learnt the moves from us. They would say,"After school you wanna come teach us that?" And you know, we'd go and teach 'em. And next thing you know they was good."

John F. Kennedy High School in Marble Hill

SIR NORIN RAD:"Was there any place in Lincoln Projects where people were Breaking?"

BILLY BILL:"Lincoln had a place that you could go to after school for like two days a week. There was a school right there, right across from Lincoln off 5th Avenue & 135th Street. I forgot the name of the school. But we used to go there right after school. Like from 5 to 7 P.M. they would be playing music in the gym. A lot of people would show up there and they would be dancing." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you also go to The Tunnel or The Puzzle in the Bronx?"

BILLY BILL:"Like once. There's not too much info to give on that though. There was a lot of gang activity."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Was it important for a B-Boy to be fly back then?"

BILLY BILL:"Yeah, you had to be fly but you also had to wear stuff that you could do your moves in. They had like doubleknit pants and whatnot that stretched. A lot of colors back then. We would wear the  Flechet hats, the Kangols and the brims! That was really important! The brim hats! How you would do your hat tricks! Roll your hat around in like a 720 and pop it back on your head! A.J. Lester's was the spot to go to or Delancey Street. You would buy the leather Cortefiel coats. Mocknecks, Alpaca sweaters, doubleknit pants all that....."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you stay in Harlem or did you also go to the Bronx in order to dance there?"

BILLY BILL:"I went to the Bronx but most of my time was spent in Harlem because that's where I lived. But I went to school in the Bronx so I knew a whole lot of people. I went to DeWitt Clinton High School and I was comfortable wherever I went. Our crew never had no problems in the Bronx." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you also go to Kool DJ Herc's parties?"

BILLY BILL:"Yes, I went to Kool Herc's parties starting in late 1974, early 1975. Executive Playhouse, you know? Then he started going on the road and he did gigs in Hunter College and in the Promenade which is adjacent to JFK High School. So we followed him around a couple of times."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Were the Kool Herc parties similar to what you had witnessed in Harlem?"

BILLY BILL:"It was similar except the guys wasn't dancing against the girls and he had an outstanding soundsystem and he always played great tracks in a special way. Total credit for that!! I'mma tell you after  a while the Burning kinda played out with me, man. So like in 1975, 1976 I just hung out for the music. By that time the dance had changed. And me and my crew we were like,"We been there and done that! So we're just looking for the fly girls now.""

SIR NORIN RAD:" So were you still Burning at Kool DJ  Herc's parties?"

BILLY BILL:"If needed. Like I said by 1975 we got fly so nobody wanted to mess up their good shit down there. We would dance whenever Herc played songs like "The Mexican" or "Listen To Me".  By that time Dancin' Doug was with us.  We used to meet in the train station at 168th Street to go Uptown. We all had to get to the A train. We all hung out with the pretty girls from JFK High School. We had a common thing going, you know? We became friends with them. They was from the Polo Grounds. So if there was a party at the Polo Grounds we would go up there. Or if there was something happening in Drew Hamilton we would meet up. You always had information on where the party was. "

SIR NORIN RAD:"How did you find out about Kool DJ Herc's parties?"

BILLY BILL:"Word of mouth and we just always wanted to know where the good parties was at. It would be like, "Herc got a joint tonight!" So our crew would get together and we would get a gypsy cab that would take us to the Bronx."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Do you recall Burning or Breaking going on at the Renny (The Renaissance Ballroom in Harlem)?"

BILLY BILL:"Yeah, definetely at the Renny. They had the "Dollar After School" parties. Like five times a week. We would be going there right after school and danced til like 8 o'clock. Later on the DJs became the main attraction there. They would play beats and people would go off. That's before the MCees became the main attraction."

                                           

The Renaissance Ballroom in Harlem

SIR NORIN RAD:"I guess you are referring to the Sapphire Crew."

BILLY BILL:"Yeah, me and DJ B-Fats (Sapphire Crew) lived in the same building.  Also DJ Donald D and DJ Al-B.....we're from the same building."

SIR NORIN RAD:"I was told that at all the original Hiphop jams DJs would play slow joints for the males and females to get their slow dancing on. What do you remember about that?"

BILLY BILL:"Yeah, at the Factory West they would do that, too. They would slow it down and play six or seven slow records in a row."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please name some of the slow songs that were played at the Factory West!"

BILLY BILL:"All the singing groups.....The Delfonics "Hey Love!", "Lalalala Means I Love You". The Temprees "Dedicated To The One I Love". The Moments "Just Because He Wants To Make Love", "Sunday" and "Gotta Find A Way".  Blue Magic "Spell". "Day By Day" by The Continental Four. Yeah man, I was into that! I was into the slow jams!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe your style of Burning back then!"

BILLY BILL:"I was known as the puppet at one time. I would move almost like a marionette. So the girls would say something like,"Oh, there go Puppet!!! Billy Puppet!" The girl Shelaine from Dyckman Street gave me that name.  My dance style was looking like a puppet 'cause I basically danced to Funk and to Breakbeats that had the Funk."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What was your most memorable B-Boy battle back then?"

BILLY BILL:"The most memorable B-Boy battle. You know, it would be between John F. Kennedy High School and Chuck Center. Chuck Center had some good B-Girls back then. We go to be tight with them, too. You know, a lot of them were cute.  There was one B-Girl down there named Kelloggs. She was really thick then. She was solid built. She hurt one of my boys wrist. He hurt his wrist. He went to get up on her. I think he was in the air and she did something to him. You can't be messing with her!  She weighed more than he did. But she ways pretty!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"So at that time a B-Boy / B-Girl battle would go down like this: The competitors faced each other in a circle and danced at the same time. They tried to burn each other with various intimidating and/or ridiculing hand gestures. Is that correct?"

BILLY BILL:"Oh yeah, it was like one-upmanship. Although sometimes they just danced cool 'cause they liked each other. Getting burnt by your opponent was really initimidating. That's what happened to us in the Factory West.  Like I said the girls down there was seasoned vets. This place was already open for a couple of months before we went  down there. So first of all we had to get in tune with the culture. And sometimes you don't know who you're fucking with. There was a couple of B-Girls that I want to name......and they were from different places in Harlem. You heard of Dancin' Doll, right? Darlene Rivers?"

SIR NORIN RAD:"Yes."

BILLY BILL:"Well, we used to go to her house and teach her. She just stood there and be like a sponge and absorbed all the moves! Then she turned it into her own style. There was a girl named Nicky from the Factory West and she was nice with it. A girl named Stephanie....she is still alive.......she was good at it and nobody gave her no credit because they didn't know about her but me and my crew know. She was from Johnson Projects....like Lexington Avenue & 116th or 117th Street....over there down that way. Like I said Kelloggs was good. There was a few. I'm saying, you had to know who you was messing with! So we almost all became a crew. If a dude came and asked for them he didn't know what he was in for! They would fuck him up!!! (laughs) One of the most embarrassing things they would do to you is take your hat and throw your hat somewhere...shit like that.  Depending on who you was it would be almost a fight. Like a guy got his new hat on, he thinks he's fly. She would come up on him and break down and come up with his hat and crush it!!! (laughs) The girls brought it all the time!! 'Cause they was stars! They were the stars of the party.  Kelloggs was an amazon!!! She weighed more than a lot of dudes but she was nice!! And dangerous!!! Her crew would come up to hang out with us. My cousin had a place, we would move all furniture and have parties right there for a minute. That was more for crews. Everybody wasn't invited. We would be  like, "Y'all come on up!!! Come on up!" You'd drink Old English and all that good stuff. Smoking weed...."

Harlem 1st Generation B-Girl Dancin' Doll 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Alright, what were your top five songs to dance to back then?"

BILLY BILL:"Oh man, it's a whole lot of them! But James Brown "Give It Up Or Turn It Aloose". We liked Mandrill, we liked Kool & The Gang...you know, we liked groups. They had several songs that we might get off to. We liked Curtis Mayfield, we liked the Isley Brothers."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What about the Ohio Players?"

BILLY BILL:""Skin Tight"! That was their best one! It came out in 1974! We was going to Kool DJ Herc by then! Earth, Wind & Fire had a song called "Power". We used to go off on that! Those are a few of them! Man , these songs would give you that B-Boy feeling!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"Would you like to give some shout outs at the end of this interview?"

BILLY BILL:"Shout out to the Hiphop nation! Shout out to those who have passed on!To the people that don't get the credit they deserve. I'm here to say they deserve it. I have been one of them. To the people in Harlem! Peace to the Bronx! You know, I'm just saying there was inclusion in this. It wasn't always the Bronx. Harlem had their thing, too. Of course my fellas Dancin' Doug, Kurtis Blow, Tony Shamburger, Vernon England. To all the B-Girls! It was all love. It was all love!! And in closing it's been my pleasure to do this interview with you."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Thank you very much! I wanna give a shout out to my Intruders Crew,to Pluto Seven and to my man Sureshot La Rock!"