Interview: Sway Talks Hosting the Red Bull BC One B-Boy Competition and the Art of Breaking (Part 1)

An interview with media personality Sway Calloway about his beginnings as a b-boy and what he learned from 16 national competitors.

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Complex Original

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The national finals of Red Bull BC One, the breaking competition that takes place globally each year, took over Sin City last Friday night at Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas. 16 b-boys from all over North America came to battle one-on-one for first place and the opportunity to compete in the world finals this November in Paris.

The host of this year's festivities is someone we know well, MTV personality and Sirius XM "Sway in the Morning" radio host, Sway Calloway. Right before he hosts the VMAs, he took some time to return to his roots in b-boying and facilitate the competition. 

We spoke with Sway about getting to know the 16 b-boys, how he got into breaking in Oakland, and whether he prefers one-on-one or crew battling. Tomorrow, we'll put up Part 2.



Whether I sit down with the President, or when I was sitting down with Tupac, I’m doing it with a b-boy mentality.


Are you excited to host Red Bull BC One tonight?

Let me tell you. These are the origins where I come from. B-boy culture—it’s how I got into the business. My partner King Tech and I, we started when we were teenagers. He was poppin’ and breakin’ at Pier 39; he would do it for money. I was MCing. I was dancing but not competitively. 

There has always been an admiration for b-boy culture. I’m a b-boy myself. Once you’re a b-boy, you’re always a b-boy, regardless of where you go. Whether I sit down with the President, or when I was sitting down with Tupac, I’m doing it with a b-boy mentality. When I’m on MTV, and I’m hosting red carpets, or speaking with Kate Hudson on my radio show, I’m doing it with a b-boy mentality. From covering politics in Haiti or covering Hurricane Katrina, or Jena Six marching. I’m doing all of that with a b-boy mentality.

So I’m extremely excited, and I’m humbled to be a part of it. To be able to host it and lend whatever contributions I can to it. Giving this more exposure, because I think it’s necessary. To me, it’s the purest form, the purest component of hip-hop. 

I was just thinking about this today. You got b-boys who rap. We have El Nino who is a part of the battle, and Jayd-illa who’s also in the battle. They came on the radio show, and after we talked about dancing, we were throwin’ beats, and they started rapping. If you gave them a Sharpie, they’d probably tag something. If you try puttin’ them behind the turntables, they can probably mix back and forth. But you can’t take a DJ or a rapper and tell him to do some flares into a backspin and end it with a freeze pose. You just can’t do that. Rappers can’t break. A lot of DJs can’t do what b-boys do, but b-boys can do what everybody else can do. To me, this is the purest form when it comes to hip-hop culture, and I think it’s important that we support it. 



You just wait to see who’s gonna fold, or who’s gonna break, or who’s gonna do something that will convincingly devour the match. 


What else did you learn from interviewing the 16 b-boys who are competing?

I learned that there is something about the purity in it all that gets lost sometimes when you get deeper in the game—the more success you have, the more celebrity you gain, the more money you make. But when you’re in these breaking circles, it’s still 100 percent pure.

It’s hard. To keep up, you have to be invested—to know who Tata is, who Vicious is, who some of the legends are…Like Do-Knock, who’s performing with Super Cr3w. Like RoxRite, who’s down with the Renegades. It takes a lot of investment to know who’s who, and to me, that’s part of it all—really investing in the culture. I’ve learned that the purity hasn’t been lost. 

You know what it is. You work at Complex. It’s a constant struggle. It’s a balance of integrity and business. You guys have to make sure you got the headlines online. You gotta make sure you get the right interviews. Sometimes you gotta interview people you may not really be into. You gotta write about trends that you think are horrible or wack. But you need to do it, because you need those metrics. 

It’s that constant balance. For me, when I come back here, it’s like a cleansing. And then next week I’ll be hosting the VMAs. But I’ll be doing it refreshed and assured that nothing has changed in my evolution. 

Do you remember your first introduction to breaking?

It was probably in the movie, Style Wars. Or Wild Style. Or Beat Street. And Prince Ken Swift from the original Rock Steady Crew, when he was doing the “Jam On The Groove,” off-Broadway play in the ‘90s. He got injured, so he had to come to San Francisco. I was still in the Bay, and he stayed at my house for about a week while his knee healed. He just sat and told the most amazing stories of his beginnings and what it was like being a part of the original Rock Steady Crew. That was probably my best experience with a b-boy—sitting with Prince Ken Swift and just hearing him tell some great ass stories. Those things stick with me. 



I like mano y mano, person vs. person the best.


Do you have a preference for crew battling vs. one-on-one? 

That’s an interesting question. Actually I like them both. I went to Battle of the Year in Montpelier in the South of France two years ago. I like watching the different countries from around the world and their interpretation of the dance. The Koreans are extremely advanced as breakers. Brazil and South America are extremely advanced, as well. But one-on one, gladiator vs. gladiator is always....You just wait to see who’s gonna fold, or who’s gonna break, or who’s gonna do something that will convincingly devour the match. 

One-on-one, mano y mano is the best, for me. I think that might be the competitive spirit in me. Plus, the moves have become so advanced and complex from back in the day when we first came into it. It’s fascinating to watch what people can do with their bodies now, and doing it on time and in rhythm. 

For a long time, dancers around the world were just learning the power moves. But the top rockin’ was kinda wack, and the footwork was kinda wack; they just came to dance, but they didn’t know how to really keep in rhythm or stay in the pocket. I think a lot of dancers have advanced now. When you get a combination of power moves and also finesse and dance moves that seamlessly transition between them all, with control and having proper sequence and vision…To me, that shit is hard to do. But I like mano y mano, person vs. person the best.

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