Interview with B-Boy / DJ Shakey Shake

                                                  Interview with B-Boy / DJ Shakey Shake

                                                     

B-Boy / DJ Shakey Shake

                                 conducted by Sir Norin Rad (The Intruders / Germany) 

SIR  NORIN RAD:"Where exactly were you born and raised?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"I was born in Harlem, New York but I was raised going back and forth between Harlem and the Bronx, you know? So what happened was... at the time my mother lived in Harlem. When she first came she lived in the Bronx, right? She migrated from St. Croix, the island of St.  Croix.  Then she moved to Harlem. When my grandmother first came here from Trinidad by way of Tobago she was living in Harlem. She sent for my father and then she migrated up into the Bronx.  So they did a little switch. So I would travel. Sometimes I would stay with my mother in Harlem. My oldest siblings are born in the Bronx. Sometimes I would stay with my grandmother in the Bronx and sometimes I would stay with my father who also lived in the Bronx. So I was always between the three households."

SIR NORIN RAD:"When were you born?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"I was born in 1966."

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

SHAKEY SHAKE:"I was exposed to a lot of music the reason being my parents came here and they was singing Calypso music. My father would play a lot of Soul music. I listened to a lot of Rhythm & Blues. You know R & B is Rhythm & Blues. A lot of that.  A lot of Disco. A lot of records with a lot of breakbeats in it."

SIR NORIN RAD:"You have stated that you were always between three households. Where exactly in the Bronx did you live?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"The first part of the Bronx...I was at 981 Union Avenue, right? And that is directly around the corner from what we call Forest Projects. That's the east side of the Bronx. "

SIR NORIN RAD:"Isn't that very close to the Blue Courts?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"Yes, directly around the corner. As a matter of fact I went to 23 and that's the school right across the street also. Grandmaster Flash played the Blue Courts a lot." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where and when did your first encounter with Hiphop take place?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"Well, you see my older brother was always jamming in the streets. He was always jamming, doing block parties. So I'd be at his block parties. It was also a popular DJ by the name of Teddy D from D&D Express down in Harlem. I would be at his jams all the time. I would go around the neighborhood to different jams, you know? And they would jam together. They would hook up. There came a time when DJ Teddy D and my older brother Eddy aka DJ T they would combine and they would be jamming together. So I'd be at a lot of jams." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"How old were you when you started attending those jams?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"I was still in elementary school. I would be at the jams at an extremely early age."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Okay, and when and where did you see people do breakdancing for the first time?" 

SHAKEY SHAKE:"That was back in the 1970ies. My older brother Terry he is the one who was teaching me how to break. So you had the older guys from the earlier generation. Terry and his friends used to break to together and I would watch them. "

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where did you practice Breaking in order to improve your skill level?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"My brother started to teach me Breaking when we was living on 182nd Street & Buchanan Place in the West Bronx. Let me just say this. Most people have the word "B-Boy" mixed up and confused. Now I'm the hybrid and the reason why I say that I'm the hybrid is because I was born in Harlem even though as soon as I was born my father came and got me and brought me up to the Bronx. So the term "B-Boy".... Most people think that if they break that they are B-Boys.  It don't go like that. The B-Boys were the local knucklehead guys in the neighbourhood. To me the B-Boys were the boys from the Bronx.  So they would call them the Bronx boys. And then they started doing this dance. So I would definetely practice in the house and I would practice in front of the building. Me and my friend Omar we would practice together. In Harlem I had a friend named Wesley and we used to break together down in Harlem. Practice was right on the concrete. We didn't have cardboard. We didn't know nothing about cardboard!!! So we practiced in the house, we practiced on the sidewalk wherever and then, you know, a jam is going on so we're racing to the jam just so that we could be there to listen to the beats and to go  down on the floor and do this dance, you know?"

SIR NORIN RAD:"To which jams would you go and breakdance?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"Well, I would even be breaking in school. I was attending PS 180 in Harlem. So you know, they used to always see me break there. I would also go to Morningside Park, you know, right where Sugar Hill was. D&D Express used to be always jamming there. So I was raised to go jamming in Morningside Park and break all the time there. Right on my block 318 West 123 rd Street right there on the corner of Manhattan Avenue my brother used to jam in front of my building. So we'd be doing a lot of Breaking there. You know, at the block parties in the Bronx we'd be always Breaking. Always Breaking!  Later on I would break in 82 Schoolyard in the Bronx.  When I moved to Queens I would be breaking in 217 schoolyard. That was a junior high school. They would take me to U.S.A. Roller Skating Rink. I'd be Breaking there.  A whole lot of places!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"Wasn't 82 Park the stomping ground of DJ Whitehead & The Triple A Crew?" 

SHAKEY SHAKE:"Sometimes it would be Dr. Pepper and DJ Whitehead. Now we would take turns. We would be jamming on different days. By that time I had already gotten into DJing. Me and my partner DJ Spice Nice we would be jamming in 82 Park. Sometimes DJ Whitehead and Dr. Pepper would be jamming there and sometimes it would be DJ Hutch and DJ Supreme. DJ Hutch and DJ Supreme from Mother Earth Productions also used to jam on the Blue Courts." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"So you would be Breaking in Harlem, in the East Bronx and in the West Bronx as well as in Queens. Is that correct?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"Yes!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"You're the teacher of the legendary Queens B-Boy K-Won 138, right?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"Yes, I met him when I moved to Jamaica, Queens. We was in Junior High School 217 together."

SIR NORIN RAD:"How old were you then?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"I might have been 14. When I got out there and they saw me Breaking evrybody's eyes became open because they were like,"This is the first real situation where we are seeing a genuine real B-Boy go down and break." Because, you know, the people out there were trying to do the dance. I remember Breaking in the schoolyard because I heard some music that we would play Uptown in the Bronx and Harlem that had me go down on the floor. So  I am not 

realizing it but there's a big crowd around me in the schoolyard. So when K-Won came in the schoolyard he thought there was a fight going on because there was a big  crowd. So when he made his way over to the crowd and he saw me dancing he was like, "Oh, that's the guy that I be cracking jokes with in class!" And he said,"Now I understand what the other guys in Queens are trying to do." Now he could see the full picture what the dance is supposed to be like. So hanging out with the Nice & Nasty Crew....the Nice & Nasty Crew was coming to get me to take me to battles. So they would bring me to Hill Crest High School, they would bring me to U.S.A. Roller Skating Rink and they would cut me loose in there."       

B-Boy Kwon 138

SIR NORIN RAD:"Is it accurate to assume that there was no competition out there for you in Queens?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"Yeah! Nah, there was no competition. They couldn't compete with me. I  asked some of my friends,"Do y'all Break out here? So they replied,"Yes!" So I was like, "For real???" Before that I had moved to Brooklyn and, you know, it was the same situation out there. There was one guy that tried to Break and my brother saw him. We was living in  606  Newkirk Avenue in Flatbush, Brooklyn. So my brother ran upstairs to come get me. I said,"What's going on?" So he told me to go down against the guy but the guy didn't know how to do it. So living in Queens I was the person that they saw that could really Break. Somebody that could do the dance in its entirety."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Were they also missing that whole flava and finesse that is characteristic of that Bronx B-Boying?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"Yes, but, you know, I started teaching some guys and they became extremely good."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please elaborate on that! Who were they?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"Well, K-Won he is still phenomenal to this day! Big Darryl! His thing was the Shadow Star Rockers that's what he would wear on his shirt. So I did notice before I met him when the Nice & Nasty Crew used to take me to U.S.A. Roller Skating Rink...I noticed a big statue of a guy standing in the circle with his arms folded looking at me and you would hear him say,"Who is this kid taking everybody out?" He was going to 217 also. When we was in 7th grade Darryl was in 9th grade. He was about to leave 217. So then I started to teach him how to Break. I also taught Giorgio Laquentes. A few more guys....The guys from the Dynamic Rockers came to me and wanted to learn how to Break...like Airborn....different guys. One day a friend of mine..he was a little older and he was from the south...he had moved out to Jamaica, Queens....he came to get me. That was my friend Bones.  He said, "Come on, man! Come with me! I'm having a problem with some guys up the block." So it was a bunch of Hispanic brothers. They were trying to dance on the floor.  They were trying. So he brought me over there and, you know, I beat everybody but then I took them across the street and started teaching them how to Break. And those guys later became the Dynamic Breakers. So you had Dynamic Rockers AND Dynamic Breakers. They became real good."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Who were the members of the Dynamic Breakers?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"Tony Float, RC, Little E, Al, Professor."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please talk about what you experienced as a B-Boy at 82 Park in the Bronx!"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"82 schoolyeard...My boy DJ Spice Nice he was jamming there. I forgot the name of that crew but they was in the circle Breaking and I just went down for fun 'cause by the early 1980ies I had mostly stopped Breaking. I had gotten into Locking and Electric Boogalo by that time. There were a few times I would still get down for fun. But when I got down in that circle you saw that look of fear in their face. Once I went down in U.S.A. Roller Skating Rink, right? I wasn't Breaking no more but I just went to have fun 'cause I seen some guys coming to the U.S.A. Roller Skating Rink and they was Breaking. And that was...God bless the dead...Glidemaster and Fastbreak and Fastbreak would say that this was the hardest battle they ever had: Me against them two.  But I always tried to tell 'em I didn't Break anymore I was just going down for fun. When my brother Terry used to watch me Breaking he would always say,"You had the fever!" He's the one who taught me. Big Darryl was always in amazement when he saw me Breaking. He would say, "Go down, Shake and do the Forever Spin!"

B-Boy Fastbreak

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe how you ran into Spy and Twinkle Toes of the Crazy Commanders Crew!"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"Now check this out! When we first moved over to Buchanan I used to get lost. Now we lived on 182nd Street & Buchanan Place. So right directly at the corner....'cause we lived in the corner building....but directly at the corner is Davidson Avenue. The next corner I believe would be Grand Avenue going up the hill. So coming home as usual I would make the mistake and walk  past Davidson Avenue up to the next corner to go to Grand Avenue when I should have made the turn on Davidson Avenue 'cause my building was right there towards the corner. So I'm walking up the hill and I hear some music from there. So I start moving fast. That's the exact thing everybody did. When they would hear some music going, they knew that they was jamming and they would start moving fast to get to the jam. So I'm walking up the hill and I hear somebody on the microphone saying,"We're having a dance contest and we need somebody to go against Spy!"  My friend Omar that I used to Break with he used to always say,"Yo, you gotta see Spy!" But me I used to always shrug him off like,"I don't wanna hear about that. I don't care about no Spy." The reason why I used to say that is because your name never meant nothing until we saw you dance. It was two guys on the microphone and I saw two speakers stacked on top of each other. I was looking for the DJ. So when I looked at the wires, the wires were going upstairs into the window. I looked up and I saw two guys shuffling around in the window. So I said,"Okay, they got the turntables upstairs in that window and down here they got the speakers. Like I said the guy was saying,  "We're having a dance contest and we need somebody to battle against Spy." So I felt like,"Okay. So I guess this is Spy I'mma get to see what he got." So I signed up for the dance contest. It was three pairs. I signed up for the dance contest. So it was me and some kid that they said was a Zulu King, Spy....and I noticed that girl from the left corner of my eye coming across the street. You could see that she was kinda happy and jolly and when she came across the street you could see that Spy gave her a hug. They was laughing. So she was the person that was gonna Break against Spy. And the third couple...nobody else came up. So I had to go against this other kid, this so called Zulu King. So I burnt him quick. I did a move that I had seen a Freestyle guy do in Harlem that had blown my mind. It was the first version of what they call the Hollowback. I did the first version ever of that in Breaking. That was one of the moves I would do all the time. So I beat the guy and I won like 2 $. So I'm waiting now to see what's gonna happen now with Spy and this girl. This is the only time in life I ever seen Spy. I remember his go down to this day. He was more advanced than the girl, he beat the girl but you could also tell that they was having fun 'cause they knew each other. I did get to see him Breaking this one time. Other cats who lived in the neighbourhood who I didn't like who I was always ready to Break against was Cadillac Mel and Lil Eldorado Mike.  Twinkle Toes he would always bump heads with my partner Omar. I did get to see them battle right there on 183rd Street & Aqueduct on the sidewalk. This was live!!!!! They're Breaking against each other. Omar beat him but Twinkle Toes was very good. You also had The Little Burnside Crew. There was Spy, Rubberband, Weebles and Tell 2. A little further over by River Park Towers it was Spice Nice, June Bug, Munchy...... All of these guys would be Breaking over there. Spice Nice was very good, too. Harlem had a whole bunch of different B-Boys. I used to go to Mount Morris Park and in the park there was guy that used to Break when we used to go to the swimming pool. His name was Cornelius. He would always be Breaking in Mount Morris Park. When he would be Breaking I would be in the pool and, you know, the concrete was rough and sandy!!! Nonetheless, he would always get down. There was a bunch of guys that used to Break on the other side of the Bronx. Early on I didn't go over to Bronx River Houses. I just stayed where I was 'cause I was a little kid. I couldn't travel too far from home but a lot of those guys later became my friends like Little Boy Keith. " 

SIR NORIN RAD:"What was the main difference between the B-Boys of the Bronx and those in Queens?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"Well, the style....definetely!!! The style and the finesse. It was different. You could see the style when the guys from Uptown went down. The guys from Queens had to learn that. They had to have somebody to teach them style so that you look like a B-Boy. When you saw those guys Break they looked too simple and dry and they didn't have that style and finesse. They thought that just because they did certain moves that they had that rhythm, that style and finesse. You wanna make people feel what you're doing and that attitude, that look, that charisma when you have that when you go down it draws people. They're feelin' you, they're feelin' your vibe! They're feelin' the character!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"How would you define your own style of Breaking?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"I feel like I'm aggressive with a lot of flava. You know, it's places where moves come from which a lot of these guys that came later don't know and they're telling a different story according to he say / she say. So you know, early on we saw Meadowlark Lemon from the Harlem Globetrotters spinning around his hand dribbling the basketball. We would use that! We would imitate that, you know, very early on. Wrestling..I forgot the wrestler's name but they did a move called the Figure Four Leg Lock. That's what we would call the Shoulder Freeze. When we would freeze on our shoulder, we got one side of our shoulder pinned to the floor, our head down and we wrap our legs. Now early on when we would do it real fast we would struggle to get our balance together.  Some folks would claim that they had made it up and they would call it the Chair Freeze.  How you made that up when what we been doing predates that??  We been doing the Shoulder Freeze! My friends would still call it the Figure Four Leg Lock."

B-Boy Shakey Shake Breakin'...

SIR NORIN RAD:"When did you come up with these moves? In the late 1970ies?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"No, we're talking the earlier part of the 1970ies."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe how those breakbeats affected you when you would hear them at the jams back then?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"That music made you lose your mind!!!! Hearing those drums, listening to it...the big speakers are playing. It made you lose your mind! You was out of control! You couldn't control yourself! You know, when you hear that stuff, those certain instruments, those elements playing on the record...you lose control. You just wanna get out there and go crazy! Just like how the dance felt good to us, the music felt so good! You just wanted to go off! That music... to this day and time...it's just unbelievable. And when you hear this being projected over the soundsystem through the big speakers....you can feel the music!! "

SIR NORIN RAD:"Would you say that hearing those breakbeats and going off to them was something like a spiritual experience?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"Yeah!! Yeah, definetely!! The music would get in your bones. You know, it's a tribal thing. So when you see another dancer or another crew you're ready to go down, you're ready to get it on. It's no talking right now. Let's get busy! Let's go to work! Let's handle this! That's how it made you feel."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Is it accurate to say that you were a freelancer as a B-Boy?" 

SHAKEY SHAKE:"Definetely! Like I said when I got out to Queens the Nice & Nasty Crew would come and get me. They would take me around. When I was up in the Bronx me and my friend Omar would be Breaking together. Or when I was down in Harlem me and Wesley used to hang out, get together and Break together. I'd be Breaking by myself but if Wesley is around we're hooking up like, "Yo, go down!!!" 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where did Omar live at?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"Omar lived on 185th Street, right there off Grand Avenue. Probably between Grand Avenue & Aqueduct."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Was doing different styles of footwork on the floor already a part of Breaking when you got into it? I'm asking this question since some people have come up with the claim that the black B-Boys didn't have footwork styles in their arsenal."

SHAKEY SHAKE:"Yes, it was...most definetely without a shadow of a doubt. That's what my brother taught me. Other older B-Boys that came before me did footwork, too. They need to study history instead of talking. WE created this."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe how B-Boys would dress back then?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"I used to like what we would call the Super Pro-Keds with the red and blue stripe on the side. They would have the regular Pro-Keds with the three stripes on the side. I didn't like the Chuck Taylor's at that time. They would have on Lee Jeans, Levi's, Sergio Valentes.....you know, mocknecks..different stuff. The Cortefiels, the pea coats, the snorkel parkas. Later on we'd wear Adidas, Nike Cortez.... "

SIR NORIN RAD:"What are your top 3 breakbeats?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:""Apache", "It's Just Begun", "The Mexican" and "Blow Your Head".

SIR NORIN RAD:"What does it take to become a true B-Boy?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"Well, first you want a good teacher. You wanna pay attention definetely. You wanna listen. You wanna study. You wanna practice. You wanna give it your all. You gotta be into this heart, body, mind and soul. These are some of the things that you need."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What is more important style or technique?"

SHAKEY SHAKE:"I say both. You need the style, you want the technique. You just don't wanna have either one by itself. You don't wanna be one-sided."

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

SHAKEY SHAKE:"Well, giving honor to God but let me definetely shout out my moms and my pops. You know, my older brother has passed on. My crew: Spice Nice...it would be too many names. I just wanna shout everybody out!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"Thank you! I wanna shout out my Intruders Crew, all my teachers from the Bronx and Harlem especially Puppetmaster. Shoutouts to Troy L. Smith, Pluto Seven, Sureshot La Rock, Input MZK, K-Won 138, Princess Teela (RIP)......UKUBAMBISANA!! Peace!"