THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE WEST:
​IF YOU DON'T KNOW, NOW YOU KNOW...

1976...

1977...

1977...

The Inner-city Black dance culture of the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area has historically inspired popular dances around the world, with many being adopted into popular culture without any information or understanding of the history behind the moves. Boogaloo, Robottin' and Struttin' have influenced pop culture dance styles for over 50 years, yet its origins and the people who created these dance traditions have largely gone silent from history. Hip Hop Congress has set out to change this, and to ensure that the history is documented and told by those who have lived and danced it.

Bay Area dance groups like The Black Messengers/Mechanical Device and Granny & Robotroid Inc. had already appeared on TV's "The Gong Show" in 1977 & 1978 before the Los Angeles-based crew The Electric Boogaloos were introduced as pioneers on "Soul Train" in 1979.  Entertainers like Michael Jackson admitted to adopting the moves of inner-city Black children while the entertainment industry appropriated names like "The Moonwalk" and further mislabeled what popular culture witnessed him perform for the first time in 1983.  When the Electric Boogaloos teamed up with Boogaloo Shrimp and Shabba Doo, the lead actors of the 1984 film "Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo", the majority of the inner-city dance groups in Los Angeles and their predecessors in the Bay Area were eclipsed from mainstream recognition as these dance styles inevitable became part of American culture by way of the Hollywood entertainment industry.

1979...

1983...

1984...

History is easily lost to time when it depends on mass media bringing younger generations into their cultural heritage. Traditionally, Boogaloo, Robottin' & Struttin' (BRS) are a deeply protected form of dance held in great esteem within the Black communities from which it was conceived.  It was held in such esteem that dancers did not share their secrets or allow it to be documented by people outside of the Black community. Yet something as eye catching as Boogaloo, Robottin and Struttin could not be kept out of popular view forever.

The dominant Hollywood narrative of New York's Hip Hop industry and limited information around the Bay Area's Boogaloo, Robottin and Struttin culture led to the formation of the BRS Arts Alliance in 2000, co-founded by William Randolph III (Oakland), Ralph "Plik Plok" Montejo (Richmond) and Lonnie "PopTart" Green (San Francisco) as a network for Bay Area dancers representing "The Day Before Hip Hop".   The history of Boogaloo, Robottin and Struttin is more than half a century old with much of that history at risk of being lost forever, as those who lived it are growing fewer in number as years go by.  Many of the remarkable dancers of the era known as "The Day Before Hip Hop" spanning the 1960s to 1980s have already passed away.  Hip Hop Congress has made it part of its mission to help the BRS Arts Alliance oversee the preservation of this unique and iconic African American history.

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THE DAY BEFORE HIP HOP

Boogaloo

Oakland Boogaloo is an inner-city dance culture that originated from the African American communities of East and West Oakland, California in the 1960's...

Robottin'

Richmond Robottin' in a dance style that originated out of Richmond, California from its inner-city African American community in the 1970's...

Struttin'

Struttin' is an original  African American dance form created in the San Francisco, California  inner-city communities of Hunter's Point and Fillmore in 1975...

The BRS Arts Alliance & West Coast All-Stars

PRESERVING THE WEST COAST ROOTS OF STREET DANCE CULTURE...