Interview with B-Boy Cadillac Mel (The Magnificent Seven)

                                       Interview with B-Boy Cadillac Mel (The Magnificent Seven)

                                          

                                                    

B-Boy Cadillac Mel (The Magnificent Seven)

                                           conducted by Sir Norin Rad (The Intruders/Germany)

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

CADILLAC MEL:"I was born and raised in New York City. At first I was in Manhattan 'cause I was born in Mount Sinai Hospital and then I moved to the Bronx to Sedgwick Avenue. I might have been eight or nine years old when I moved to the Bronx."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Which year were you born?"

CADILLAC MEL:"1964."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Into which building on Sedgwick Avenue did you move?"

CADILLAC MEL:"1520 Sedgwick Avenue where it all started 'cause you know Kool Herc used to give parties in the building. So I used to go down in the community room and party with them."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe how you came across Kool DJ Herc's parties!"

CADILLAC MEL:"Well, okay..Kool Herc..before he started partying he used to ride around with his speakers in his car. He used to play his music in his car riding around. Then he started doing music in the community room in 1520 downstairs and then he went to the park.....to Sedgwick Park and he started doing music there. I used to live in apartment 6A in 1520. Kool Herc was on the first floor. I used to be right by his window breakdancing when he used to play music outside his window. When I would hear his music I would be there practicing B-Boying, you know? And then he moved to Sedgwick Park and we would follow him and we would start Breaking in Sedgwick Park. People from River Park Towers was hearing the music 'cause his music was so loud. So River Park Towers was coming over and the park would get crowded....everybody dancing and we started Breaking. Other B-Boys was coming around, they was seeing us Breaking and so we used to battle each other. So I kinda grew up with Kool Herc. Kool Herc saw me grow up. Put it like that. I know his whole family. I used to hang out with his younger brother Carl...God bless the dead! We was kool and I know both of his sisters."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What sparked your interest in B-Boying?"

CADILLAC MEL:"Well, what sparked it was....I used to go to a lot of parties. DJs like Herc used to do block parties in the street. There was a school called JHS 82. They used to party up in there. They used to party in Cedar Park. They used to party in this club on University Avenue. I mean I just loved the music and when I heard that record "Apache" that set it off!!! That was my record right there! When I heard that record I would lose it, you know what I mean? So we used to go around, you know? We used to hang out and then we used to crash block parties and stuff like that and see people Breaking. So we were still young and we would sit there and watch them and then we would join in, too! You see other people B-Boying so that makes you wanna go down. So me and my friends we formed a group. We was the Magnificent Seven. It was me, Spice Nice, Lil Eldorado Mike, Ace From Space, my man Rock Head and my man Manny aka Noose. We used to go around and battle other groups of B-Boys and that's how we got to know Spider Man, Baretta and Spider Web."   

SIR NORIN RAD:"I was told that you were also down with DJ Mr. Lee's Mission Impossible Crew. Please elaborate on that!"

CADILLAC MEL:"Yeah, that's true. Before we formed the Magnificent Seven I was down with DJ Mr. Lee and DJ Kool Tee. They used to DJ in 1520 also, in the community room and then they took it to the park....to Sedgwick Park and they used to be out there. They used to battle DJ Black Jack and his crew."

SIR NORIN RAD:"When did you form the Magnificent Seven?"

CADILLAC MEL:"That was around 1978, 1979. Around that time but I had already been Breaking for like two years before that." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"How and where did you meet the other members of the Magnificent Seven?"

CADILLAC MEL:"We went to the same school...I.S. 229. Me and Ace From Space we was in the same class and we used to be Breaking in the class! We used to always joke around and stuff like so that's why they put us in a special class. It was like a smaller class, okay? They had the 7th and 8th grade mixed together. It was mostly us that hung out with each other in the class. The teacher that we had she was nice where she would let us be in the back of the room and practice and do B-Boying. We would practice to breakbeats. So that's what we would do in school and then we would get outside and do our thing in the street."

                         

I.S. 229 in the Bronx

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where's Ace From Space from?"

CADILLAC MEL:"He's from River Park Towers. Spice Nice, Rock Head, Noose...they're all from River Park Towers."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Were all of you Black B-Boys?"

CADILLAC MEL:"Well, it was all Blacks until we merged with Spider Man (Jojo) and Spider Web. I think they kinda got down with us after a while. Once they met us and they seen us we all like formed together as a group. That's how we got to meet them. "

SIR NORIN RAD:"So the Magnificent Seven would also dance at 82 Park where DJ Whitehead of the Triple A Crew would play music at?"

CADILLAC MEL:"Oh yeah! We danced in 82 Park, Cedar Park and Sedgwick Park. We were just moving around. Wherever jams was happening at we was there!" 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe how you met Spice Nice!" 

CADILLAC MEL:"I met him because his brother DJ Ice, DJ Kojak and them they used to DJ in River Park Towers. They also used to DJ in Cedar Park. I used to hang out in River Park Towers a lot, you know what I mean? That was the place to be! They had the swimming pool, they had the gym. Everybody used to go to the gym to play ball (basketball). You know, stuff like that. They had the recreational center where everybody could play ping pong. Yeah, so we used to go down there a lot. That's how I met Spice and them in River Park Towers."

April 9th, 1977: DJ Ice and DJ Kojak are rocking at the legendary Sparkle along with Kool DJ Herc and Coke La Rock in the Bronx.

SIR NORIN RAD:"What's the story behind that name Rock Head?"

CADILLAC MEL:"He had a big forehead. So we called him Rock Head, you know? His real name is Marvin."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What did B-Boying look like when you were doing it?"

CADILLAC MEL:"You would start Toprocking and then you would get down on the floor and do your own moves with your feet. You would decide if you wanted to spin on your head or whatever or walk on your toes. We would practice stuff like that. We would also use little things like utensils or whatever just to do funny things.  You would stop and freeze and have a little utensil in your hand. It would turn into a fly move! Like I would freeze in front of my opponent and then peel a banana. Things that came to your mind! We would sorta like diss each other! It was for fun though."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So when you were Breaking you didn't dance at the same time as your opponent, right?"

CADILLAC MEL:"No, Trixie and them they used to battle like that. We were going one by one. We'd let our opponent go first and then when they're finished we would get down and do our thing. Like that."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Do you remember a B-Boy by the name of Spooky who lived in 1520 Sedgwick Avenue?"

CADILLAC MEL:"Oh yeah, Jeffrey Wyatt....Spook Juice. We called him Spook Juice. He was a good friend of my older brother. He was the man! God bless him! He was definetely well known on Sedgwick."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did the people who lived in 1520 Sedgwick Avenue get along well with each other?"

CADILLAC MEL:"We was like all family, you know what I mean? Brothers and sisters.We was all kool. We was always getting together and doing things together. It was like family right there! And still is to this day!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"Were there any B-Boys that influenced your style of Breaking?"

CADILLAC MEL:" Well, it was basically me making up my own moves but I got inspired when I seen the B-Boys of the Zulu Nation. I saw them doing the Zulu Spin and I took it and mastered it. 'Cause you know, we battled the Zulu Nation B-Boys. We battled a lot of crews back then. Like we would go around and battle people."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So you're saying that you travelled all the way to Bronx River in order to battle B-Boys of the Zulu Nation?"

CADILLAC MEL:"Yeah, we took the bus to go there. The 36 Bus takes you straight there. It was dangerous 'cause back then people who weren't from Bronx River got robbed over there. But it was kool. We'd go over there and the DJs started to play the beats that we liked and so we started going down, you know what I mean? Showing our skills!! "

SIR NORIN RAD:"What made you take that Zulu Spin and turn it into a move of your own?"

CADILLAC MEL:"I seen it and I liked it. So I took it and added my own flavor to it. I mastered that move!!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe what it was like to be at those jams in the parks and community centers back then?"

CADILLAC MEL:"Ah man!!! It was so kool 'cause like when DJs like DJ Mr. Lee and DJ Kool T came out with their equipment I used to help them carry their equipment to the park. Carrying crates and stuff like that. The records......I used to help them with their equipment....bring it out, the set up...So I was around. Matter of fact I even helped Kool Herc moving his equipment to the park when I was still very young. Once the DJs set up that's when we did our thing! Once they started playing the beats......To tell you the truth it was the best time of my life, man!!! Coming up in those times? Come on, man! It was real awesome! When we would hear the music we would be hyped up. We hyped up now so we're crashing the party. Sometimes we would just be walking around to see what's going on and everything. And then when they would play something that we liked we would just go off and draw a crowd, you know what I mean? That's it, man! The Magnificent Seven got loose! We all was nice! Lil Eldorado Mike, Ace From Space, Rock Head..we all was nice 'cause everybody had their own moves! People started gathering around us while we were doing our thing. Just like that! When the girls would see me get down and do my thing they would be like, "Go Cadillac! Go Cadillac!" They used to shout me out,"Cadillac Mel!!!" That's why a lot of people know me as Cadillac Mel. Me and Lil Eldorado Mike had a routine where he pretended to be pregnant or whatever. Like his belly was big and I would go and pick him up and then I would drop him and he would become a B-Boy and start doing his moves. It was hot. We was nice, man!!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you ever go against any B-Boy that was down with your crew, the Magnificent Seven? Like maybe before you formed that crew when you first met or during practice sessions?"

CADILLAC MEL:"Yeah, we used to battle each other to see who got the better moves and the best style. We used to do that when we hung out together but we always stuck together as a group and whoever tried to bring it to us we took 'em on."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So where did you meet Spider Man and Spider Web?"

CADILLAC MEL:"I think it was Cedar Park if I'm not mistaken. That was a big park and that used to hold a lot of people. We used to gp down there and Break. They used to see us Breaking. And I think we battled them, too. That's how we got to know each other. " 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Do you remember who won that battle?"

CADILLAC MEL:"Well yeah, I mean both crews were nice. We both was nice, you know what I mean? They had fly moves, we had fly moves. It was like we both was good. I would put it as a tie. They ended up getting down with us and then we added even more people to the crew. Back then it was a lot of Black B-Boys and then when we met Spider Man, Beretta and Spider Web that's when I started to see Puerto Rican B-Boys 'cause I wasn't seeing Puerto Rican B-Boys prior to them. It was mostly Black people Breaking. We inspired a lot of people."

B-Boy Easy Mike aka Beretta and B-Boy Jojo aka Spider Man 

SIR NORIN RAD:"How do you feel about the state of B-Boying today?"

CADILLAC MEL:"See, what they're doing today is too much of that acrobat stuff. We wasn't doing that. We were dancing, doing fly moves. Now they're doing gymnastics. We was doing fly moves, we wasn't doing all that crazy stuff that they're doing today. We're original B-Boys!! We were B-Boying, they're doing gymnastics now. When you heard "Apache" or "Bongo Rock" automatically you wanna do a fly move. Those beats unlocked your creativity! You wanna get on the floor and start Breaking!!! It gets you like that and I still feel like that today. At this age I still feel like that if I get to hear those reords. It's like it's in your blood.....that B-Boy energy!!! You can't get it out of you! "

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you wear shirts with your crew's name on it?"

CADILLAC MEL:"No, we wore regular clothes. We would wear Pumas and Pro-Keds, BVDs Kangols... The style of back then is how we used to dress."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe your state of mind when you jumped into a circle back then!"

CADILLAC MEL:"You wanted the people to applaud you! You wanted them go like,"Oh, yo that shit is fly!!!!!" The crowd and the music would get you hyped up. So when you did a fly move your opponent would be like, "Okay!" and he would come out and try to do some of his moves,  he would try to do something better. So it was going back and forth. You're doing something fly and the crowd would applaud you and then I would do something fly and the crowd would applaud me. So if you do something whack you're not gonna hit'em like, "Yo!!!!!!!!!!!!" So you always wanna come out with somethig fly to make the crowd go, "Oooh!!! What??" and to get the opponent upset. You had to be nice!  Don't come outside if you don't got  no fly moves! You had to be fly back then and you had to have fly moves....."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Which DJ's parties did you enjoy the most back then?"

CADILLAC MEL:"DJ Kool T and DJ Mr. Lee.....Kool Herc he used to play all the hot beats but Herc wasn't cutting and stuff like that. I loved his parties though. I also liked DJ Ice and DJ Kojak and DJ Black Jack. All the DJs from the West Side of the Bronx know about the Magnificent Seven B-Boys." 

October 6th, 1978: DJ Ice (B-Boy Spice Nice's older brother) & DJ Kojak are rocking at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. 

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

CADILLAC MEL:"Yeah, I like to give a shoutout to my crew: Ace from Space, Lil Eldorado Mike, Spice Nice, Noose, Rock Head, Kool T, Mr. Lee, Kool DJ Herc, Jerry D, the whole 1520 Sedgwick Avenue family!!! I appreciate the time that you took to talk to me about this so I give you a shoutout also!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"Thank you very much! I give a shoutout to my Intruders crew: DJ Scarce, Krwizard, Akira, A.G., to Troy L. Smith, Mr. Wiggles RSC, Pluto Seven, Pete Nice, Andre Wilson. To the Flyer Master Sureshot La Rock, Input MZK, Kenny IB UKUBAMBISANA!!!!!! To all the pioneers of Hiphop and those that follow in their footsteps! To Jasko aka Bo-Ink, MC Lonely........Princess Teela (RIP) and to my man Jerry Leader for making this interview possible!!"