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 was 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.
Yesterday, we put up Part 1 of a two-part interview with Sway, where he talks 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. Here, he talks about the Mike Brown shooting and how hip-hop and breaking save lives. He also shares how, in hindsight, he sees his iconic interview with Kanye West from last November, where they discussed Kanye's frustration at the fashion industry (birthing the line, "It ain't Ralph, tho!"), as "beautiful."
I see a lot of young people out there marching the same way we did with Oscar Grant, the same way we did with Jena Six, the same way people did in the Civil Rights movement.
It’s difficult to ignore what’s happening in Ferguson after the shooting of Mike Brown, even during a celebratory event like this. What are your thoughts on how we can improve America for young people everywhere and make sure that this doesn’t happen again?
This is such an ongoing issue in urban centers across America. God bless his family, friends, and his life. It’s an eye opener. I just hope that in weeks to come, people are still as passionate and as active in fighting for justice and taking all the steps it takes to make change. When you look at the police department in Ferguson, and the make-up of the staff, and what percentage of people are patrolling over that area who aren’t from that area and don’t look like the people they are policing…There’s something wrong with that. That needs to be balanced. Perhaps that can help make change.
I’m from Oakland, and for the longest time, one of the biggest problems was having police officers who live in the outskirts of Oakland, or in the suburbs of Oakland, coming into these urban centers—into certain parts of Oakland. Whether on 23rd Ave, where I grew up, or West Oakland, they don’t know how to deal with the people or the community, because they’re not immersed in it.
We can’t bring him back, but his spirit can live on. Michael Brown will become active in becoming more a part of the solution. Hopefully people will be inspired to become police officers to patrol their own communities, and then perhaps discrepancies like this won’t occur. I just can’t believe an 18-year-old boy lost his life.
I’m not a police officer. I don’t know what adversities they face every day. I know it’s a dangerous job. But the decision process really needs to be checked and rebooted. We all have to be very active in our communities now, and we have to treat each life special. We have to infiltrate these places like police departments and politics and political arenas to be a part of the change and policy, so maybe this can happen less, if not happen at all.
I see a lot of young people out there marching the same way we did with Oscar Grant, the same way we did with Jena Six, the same way people did in the Civil Rights movement. And I think that’s healthy. Those who are sworn to serve their community gotta understand that shit needs to change, or we’ll tear this mother fucker down. It gotta be that attitude, but we gotta be smart about it.
Some of those same people marching on the front lines should put energy into educating themselves on how to be on the other side. That’s why I went to work at MTV. That’s a totally different conversation, but there was a lot I didn’t like about the way networks covered hip-hop culture or music, so I complained and bitched and said it was wack, but I wasn’t making no ground. I wasn’t doing anything. So I went to infiltrate it and get on the other side of it in the decision-making process, and make change happen myself, to really be invested and involved. We gotta do the same thing on a more serious level when it comes to justice and social justice.
To me, hip-hop culture saved a lot of lives. Jay Z says in his music what he was doing.
Do you feel like breaking gives a lot of b-boys another, more optimistic option in life that they may not have had?
It’s ironic that you’ve got someone like Jayd-illa, who’s 22 years old. He’s only a couple years older than Michael Brown, Oscar Grant, and others who recently lost their lives at the hands of police.
The b-boys here, their time is so dedicated to practicing this art and this craft. It’s great to see them be able to travel the world and put themselves in hopefully less danger of that sort of thing happening—keeping their nose clean and living on a straight path.
To me, hip-hop culture saved a lot of lives. Jay Z says in his music what he was doing. Whether it’s moving weight in Maryland or taking a trip down the 95, moving weight, being missed by shots, calling it divine intervention, and having friends going to jail. Emory Jones and all these other people he names that have done time…if it wasn’t for the music business and hip-hop culture, perhaps we wouldn’t have been able to see him blossom and become the person he is today. It literally saved his life.
I say it saved my life, too. Growing up in Oakland, there were things I was right next to and on the cusp of being involved in. But I had a show to go do with King Tech, so that Saturday night I wasn’t in the streets. Or I had a studio session to go to with Tech, so that Friday night we weren’t in the streets. Shit, I had to travel to go do a show in Philly, so I can’t hold your guns no more man, you gotta hold your own guns. There were a lot of decisions that were made for me because of the music business and hip-hop culture.
This is a time to reflect on our surroundings and our communities, so lives like this won’t be lost in vain. Do something. Be smart about it. Don’t try and beat up a police officer and throw bottles at his head. That ain’t gonna solve nothing. You might get some personal gratification from that, but in the long run, that shit will blow over in a minute. Get inside that police force. That might solve something. Get inside that political arena. That might solve something. We have enough power to do it now. Especially with social media, we have enough power to galvanize a movement, and trigger it, and get it started.
I like to serve as a conduit for folks. I like listening to people’s voices on platforms where they can speak out about it. That’s really my primary goal in all of this. It’s not to be famous or be a celebrity. It’s not to be a fucking shock jock or to embarrass celebrities when they come on my show or when I’m on the red carpet. It’s not to ask them the most craziest, insulting things ever so I can get a moment on the Internet. That’s not my purpose. I understand why people do it. When I was younger, we did a little bit of that. Now I really want to affect change and inspire folks who want to do the same things.
So when you see these tragedies happen, man, it makes you really buckle down and think, “What am I doing about it?”
I could plan out and put together a speaking tour on the Kanye interview, and people would fill up the house.
I saw you tweeted about the student who had a rubber bullet shot at her head. All of this is spiraling into really bizarre directions. We just interviewed a St. Louis police officer who is reminding everybody that it’s their right to protest. It’s hard to understand why the police are shooting at people and using tear gas when citizens are trying to exercise their rights.
That part is weird, too. You see these police officers in military gear, like it’s almost martial law, and these are terrorist threats happening right now. They literally look like they are at war with the community. These are some really scary scenes and visuals that I’ve been seeing all day. I can’t look at it all day. I gotta host this thing. That shit is eerie to me. Having German Shepherds barking at these kids, these little, fragile 16, 17, 14-year-old kids who are obviously no threat, physically at least. It’s scary. I’m glad ya’ll are doing coverage on it. It’s going to be interesting to see how this all plays out.
I gotta ask. Are you still getting hit up about the iconic “It ain’t Ralph tho”/"You ain't got the answers" interview you did with Kanye back in November? In retrospect, that was obviously a wild moment.
Yo, that shit is, like, iconic now. That interview went multi-platinum. I feel like I’m a multi-platinum artist. I could plan out and put together a speaking tour on the Kanye interview, and people would fill up the house.
It was a little bewildering. There were about 20 people in the room, so when he start going off, nobody knew who he was talking to. I didn’t even know he was talking to me. I was like, “Damn, who is he yelling at? Oh, he’s yelling at me?”
It’s interesting with ‘Ye. I never want to say anything derogatory towards him, because I’ve known him for so long. I do think he has a brilliant music mind, and he has a very important perspective on things based on the experiences that he’s gone through.
To answer your question, yes. Everyday, yeah, someone asks me something about that interview. I got people who will run up to me from 50 yards away, and say, [Points finger] “Sway, you ain’t got the answers, right?!” [Laughs] I have to accommodate that, because I see how happy it makes people to say it.
I think it was a magical moment for a lot of folks. For me, it was just a regular Kanye moment, except this time it was on camera. I’ve been in conversations with ‘Ye, and I’ve seen him get on that soap box for an hour where he’d talk about all sorts of things. It was interesting. It was emotional, but I didn’t take it personally.
There was something intangible about the energy taking place in the interview that still appeals to everybody. And the shit he was saying is dope. As an interviewer, I understood, and I understand where he was going with it. I was trying to facilitate it being put in a language that your average, everyday person, who doesn’t know about the fashion world, would understand what he was trying to say.
It’s an age old plight and concern. People are trying to break the ceilings. People are trying to break down the barriers and make change through art and through expression. They want to change the way society is functioning, especially when it comes to people of color who have been shut out for centuries.
In a sense, that’s what he sounded like he was going through when it came to the fashion world. It seems like he got his eyes opened. And maybe he might have even gotten his feelings hurt, since they wouldn’t fully embrace what he was trying to bring to them or bring to the world. I know that he truly believes and is very passionate about what he has to offer as a gift.
So going off on me only brought five or six million more people to him to hear his plight, and as I said before, I’m a conduit. I can handle it.
both he and I told each other, 'I love you, you my brother.' That’s conflict resolution. You don’t see that on other platforms. You just see the conflict.
But it came back around in the end. That’s what was so inspiring. You both seemed like you had a mutual understanding about making a moment.
If you talk about this interview in your piece, please mention this. Number one: I’ve never watched the interview since it happened, but if you listen to it, both he and I told each other, “I love you, you my brother.” That’s conflict resolution. You don’t see that on other platforms. You just see the conflict. You don’t see it resolved. I think that’s what was most beautiful about that interview. You hear it: “Man, I love you.”
That’s some real ass shit, Cedar. We ain’t talking like I’m trying to ask you about your album. I’m talking to you as a person. “Dude, I love you.” How often do you see men do that? Especially black men? Especially in our genre? We’re equally driven. I thought it was beautiful. I never told anybody that, but I thought it was beautiful that we could have that interaction.
I don’t know what he thought. I don’t know how he feels about it. I know he went on stage a week later and said, “What the fuck you been doing with your life in the past 10 years?”
I don’t have to respond to that, you know what I mean? Dude, you know what I’ve done. Some of the things that I’ve done, I've brought you with me. You’re part of what I’ve done in the past 10 years—trying to help him get his music out.
I don’t respond to that, but I look at him like a brother, and in the same way, he said, “You’re my brother.” I’ll always be a fan of his, but I don’t know if we will both sit down and have another interview. Shit, we’ll see. He got his new album coming, but I just want to be a fan, really. I’ll listen to it and see what he has to say.
We can’t top that one. I don’t know if we can do better than that. I’ll leave that up to you now. You gotta beat that. That’s your goal. You gotta beat that.
