Amjad: “Most of the organizers just pick the top coolest b-boy of the month.”

B-boy Amjad is known as the man behind Circle Kingz – one of the top breaking events in West Europe. What follows below is an interview with his honest opinion, revealing the true emotion of one real b-boy, dedicated to the development of the hip-hop culture. 

Amjad, welcome to Chronix! We are truly happy that you agreed to answer several questions for our blog. First one is going to be simple but it’s a important one. For how long have you been involved in a hip-hop culture and did you get in back in the days?

Being a kid, I wasn’t really satisfied with the music that I used to hear. It was mainly grunge/rock/pop music… But later I’ve been involved in the culture of 80’s where Run DMC were being played loud and fat while skateboarding. Then, a first spray action in 1992, then watching The prince of Bel Air and I was fully involved in the basketball lifestyle which was closely related to hip-hop in terms of style and music. I really went deep into the culture when I reconnected with old friends and discovered funk music, t was like “ohhh sh**, this is my thing, I finally discovered the music that makes my brain get loosssssse!

What was the scene in Switzerland back in the days when you had started it and how did it change? Who was influencing you when you had started?

The scene in Switzerland in the 90’s was really good and really energetic. Being situated in the middle of Europe, between France, Germany and Italy gave us the opportunity to be gathering point of Europe. So, we often had Swift Rock, Ken Swift, Maurizio and Actuel Force around. The scene was pretty rough and there were almost all the time fights or people pushing each other. It was a scary underground world where beginners like us where pretty scared to show off and dance. Some legends said that people that have adidas superstars without being recognized as  bboys would go home in socks. When we were going to events, we used to take turns buying breaking VHS, so our main influence was in number one Style Wars documentary, Swift rock, Ken Swift and Storm, Point Blank, South Side Rockers and other Swiss unknown crews. 

Let’s take it more serious. We know that you are the promoter of one of the most discussed events in the world “Circle Kingz”. Tell us, please, why did you start organising it, did you have any goal and what made this event so special for the people who attend it?

After the exciting years of the 90’s, the vibe kinda drop and the pockmon a started around 2002-2003. Jams started being a bit more boring and I was always surprised with the winner (that we thought was always wack!) Тhen I said to my crew that I’m sure I can organise a perfect jam were it would be fresh to go. They said to me “maaaan if you’re so sure then do it”. Then I did it. My goal was to organise a jam with my criteria of judging and my vision of planification of the jam, where there was time to cypher, where there was graffiti and where the guests HAD F****NGGGG STYLE!!!!!! So I chose b-boys that were interesting, artistically talking and that weren’t really valued by the scene at the time – Luigi, Teknyc, Focus, Hustle Kids, Xisco, Kleju, Wary the Warrior, Def Dogs… I mean you won’t go wrong with this line up hahaha. It’s easy to say that now but at that time they weren’t the classic guests and weren’t invited to big jams. I think people that were also frustrated by the actual scene in 2003-2004 recognized themselves in Circle Kingz. This jam was a fucking statement like “I don’t recognize myself in your competitions and the scene goes in the wrong direction for me” …and actually it was almost like a breaking point in the scene where it was separated in 2 distincts visions.

Why did you decide to stop organising the event?

I decided to stop Circle Kingz for a bunch of reasons. 

Most of my dream jams when I was young became pretty wack with the time and I didn’t want CKZ to become like that. I wanted Circle Kingz to die to become a special jam, a jam that only a certain b-boy generation witnessed. The active generation from 2005 till 2011. This jam also had a statement to bring back raw essence and style in the front… once this message was done and understood by the scene, there was no more point to keep doing it in a way because other organisers started doing it, too.

Also for my health: I was doing almost everything as a control freak – flyer, bookings, trailer, airport pick up, venue cleaning etc. and I was always injured due to stress because I really put my reputation on the line at every edition to do the best jam as possible. Some people were saving for months or years to come and I couldn’t do an average jam, I didn’t allow myself to disappoint them.

When I started in 2005, I had the plan to stop when one crew wins 3 times. When Flow Mo won the 3rd time, at the same time I thought “I might lose the fire to organise it, so better stop now”.

Also I was organising at the same time the Concrete Jam that I started in 2008, that for me was a bit more pure than Circle Kingz. It has more values that I wanted to share with the scene – outdoor jam, free of charges, more urban, hip-hop started in the street and I think it was time to bring it back in the street, so I wanted to focus more on that.

Another interesting point is that during all the Circle Kingz editions, I tried to do the best jam as possible, the dream jam, the concept involved every year and the final edition was the dream one, cool cyphers, no more competition in the way people knows it (quarter, semifinal and final), no more judges and I think once I finally did the dream jam, there was no more point doing it to try to find it. The same I did with b-boy moves, I tried some moves for ages and once I finally do it once, then I don’t do it anymore. I  know it sounds fucking stupid hahaha but that’s my feeling.

Also I was tired to find sponsors to do it, in my head I thought brands should beg me to sponsor it but it wasn’t the case hehehe, I spent so much time organising it and putting my health on the side for a very little income. Also the administrative side was too boring.

Which is your most favourite edition?

Every edition was really special. In 2005 for first time Rock Steady entered a battle in Europe, one of the first times people see Luigi Teknyc, Menno, Xisco or Flow Mo, first time people see Kleju, make a statement that style was back.

2006 – Ata vs Lamine

2007 – The eclosion of Menno and Xisco Flow Mo vs Hustle Kidz

2008 – Introducing the cypher qualification – a system that avoids boring qualification where everybody can have fun and dance a lot

2009 – The return of Flow Mo

2010 – Skill methodz vs Flow Mo and so many cool guests on the whole weekend

2011 – No more judges but just exhibition battles and a final between the 2 best crews and 2 winners – that was the last  statement, this dance can’t be judge at a certain level. Both Ruffneck Attack and Flow Mo won the crown.

Watching the events all around the globe tell us, please, your vision of what is missing in them? What are the tips for perfect event?

I think the scene is really focusing on the competition for the most part and those bad competitions looks like volleyball tournament to me where people come to stretch, warm up and do the moves they have practiced home on fast boring breakbeat. Then, go home straight when it’s done. Luckily, there are some cool jams too, shout out to all the organizers that knows their craft.

I think the scene is missing the cultural side of it, where organizer don’t necessarily follow their program at the right seconds but let the jam happen in an organic way. I think most of the organizer have problem not to be on the floor dancing and feeling the exact moment, when to start the competition and when to let people dance. Also it’s hard to be a b-boy and an organizer. Most of the organizers don’t follow their heart but just pick the top coolest b-boy of the month that make the crowd scream without having a clear statement with their jams.

Live band are also missing in 99% of the time, organizers tends to have too many categories in their competition which makes it really boring most of the time. Also the choice of venue – place, light, sound – most of the time it is not the best choice. Then, the choice to compromise your jam with sponsors issues – logo on the floor, livestream time to start at a certain time, bad quality of music because of live stream right is not necessarily a good choice. I think having big sponsors shouldn’t lower the quality for the dancers, it should improve the quality instead.

 Now you have a new project called “European Concrete Jam”. Tell us more about it.

The Universal Concrete Jam is my new baby event if it’s already 10 years old 😉 It’s an outdoor free 3 days jam on the concrete with cool foods, graffiti, good music and live band plus cool dope b-boys and parties just by the sea of beautiful Switzerland. The goal is to have fun while we express our art in a free way. There is also a linoleum for the knee spinners 😉 The best is to check the trailer to understand why so many people come.

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How important is for the young generation to learn all elements of hip-hop culture and how will it help them in future?

For me, hip-hop is a futuristic culture. There is no racism, we respect all the cultures and we get together where the only religion is the music and the faith is our style. We help each other, we support each other, we celebrate life dancing in cyphers, living the present moment by reacting on the music. This culture allow us to reach who we are and show it with pride and confidence. In this hip-hop culture, you have to find yourself through art – graffiti, dance or music. It’s a culture always in evolution because you can’t do the things that already exists. You have to modify it until they are different and proper to your soul. Don’t be afraid to be different because we are all different, for all these reasons OF COURSE WE HAVE TO TRANSMIT IT TO THE YOUTH! I think young generation don’t have to do all the elements, but as artists they should BE AWARE and interested in every art, I prefer somebody that doesn’t try to write graffitti to looks cooler than somebody that really wants to try everything and try to be an all elements hip hop soldiers….just do it if you love it. But it’s important to keep the whole culture alive because we’re stronger together than alone and you want it or not but we are all artist in our hip-hop way. The only thing that change is the medium – floor, walls,turntables,mic.

What do you think about Olympic Games? Is it bad or it’s a good one for the culture?

Some good b-boys I know started breaking because of “you got served”, some cool b-boys in the future could start because of the youth olympics then become real b-boys because they investigate this culture. Who knows…

Last but not least. Write down, please, 3-4 names artists in our culture that are good and #deservetobeknown worldwide and make a represent.

Downroc7$, Pervez7$, Pepito7$, Promo (Sweet Technique)

You can follow Amjad on Instagram here.

Core Team is thankful to bboy Amjad for this interview and support to our idea of spreading valuable knowledge.

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