B-boy Yan: “If original music loses groove and vibes, it stops to be music for breaking”.

B-boy Yan from All The Most is among the outstanding Russian b-boys – everybody familiar with the world b-boy scene knows that if you stand out in Russia, most probably you stands out in the whole world. Furthermore, he is a pioneer with a great contribution to the development of the Moscow and Russian scene in general. Get ready for this great interview with Yan the Shrimp.

Hello, Yan. We all know you pretty well, but, please, share some more of your personal understanding of breaking to our audience. Tell us how did you start breaking and who introduced you to this culture back in the time?

Hi! First time I saw breaking was back in 1998 in a club while being in summer wrestling camp. It was something fresh and I felt that I must try to do something like that. Because of wrestling (Judo), I already knew how to do bridges, basic flips and other moves, so I started to try doing it on the beat. Then few months later, I saw on MTV Russia RUN D.M.C. – “It’s like that” and Da Boogie Crew – Вы хотели Party. “2d One” is one of the most inspirational videos for whole Russian scene back to the late 90s.

If you didn’t watch it before, just check it online. So, these 2 videos blew my mind and my friends’ minds as well, so we started to try these moves without any piece of advice or mentoring. Then, we met an old school dancer from mid 80’s who lived in our area, who gave us some VHS’s with Rock Steady 90’s, Battle Squad, Style Elements footage and showed us how to do basic moves.

What was the first reaction of people when seeing breaking back in the days? When did it get popularity in Russia and become mainstream?

Some people liked it, some didn’t – same as now! But I think that time in every 3 or 4 teenagers had been trying breaking. So, honestly, it was quite popular. 

Tell us, please, the story of the All The Most crew? When was founded and how did you meet each other?

All The Most been started as Almost, because it was only me and my friend Slava. So, two guys, it’s a crew, but not really. And one of our friends said that it should be called ALMOST crew 🙂 We did several jams under the name of Almost crew, but later we decided to change it, because we have a lot of people and good friends which were practising with us and we took part in battles together. That’s why we changed it to All The Most, which maybe is not really correct in English, but it keeps crew name roots and means that any of us is the MOST.

As we talk about battles, we have to admit that lately there is a significant change in the music, we listen on events. Of course the time goes on and it’s not the same as it was 10 years ago, but still many b-boys don’t like the way it has evolved. What do you think about that?

I think that in most of the subcultures music has a primary role and it lays the foundation of this culture. For breaking, it is funk and hip-hop which include samples on funk and 70s rock. So, for me, as soon as original music lost that groove and vibes, it stops to be music for breaking.

What is the Russian scene general opinion about the Olympic Games and what is your personal opinion about this fresh news in the culture? What is going to happen with that, share your prediction, please?

Honestly, I think that there is no difference between Olympics or Redbull BC One or anything else. New generation b-boys are already involved in the sport aspect of breaking more than the creative one as you can see at the most of the events. So, nothing would be changed inside the culture, but it maybe would help our culture get more respect from ordinary people and government institutions. But, for sure, evolution depends on how this change will be done. We will see…

We have a lot of dancers from the young generation and a lot of students around the globe. You see them when you travel as a judge or guest. Tell us, please, what are their current advantages and how can they improve themselves?

Hard to say something general for all of them, because people and their visions are different. I see good b-boys with style and flavor, but also see some who just copying. For the first ones, I just wanna say “Thank you for keeping it alive”, for others I have nothing to say :).

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Nowadays, there are really a lot of events! But there are and more opportunities for b-boys and b-girls to make it live. Our question is about the underground scene. Does it still exist today along with all these big battles or it somehow fades away? What do you think?

Sure, it still exists, but what does exactly this term “underground” mean? I take part in big events but also participate in small jams. Am I underground b-boy or not? There aren’t many jams which I like, but, honestly, all of them are too far away from those big events.

What was the most memorable battle in your career and why? If you had the opportunity to choose an opponent for a battle who would you pick up?

Hard to say! I don’t really have a “favorite” one. And I don’t really have anyone I want to battle against, because I don’t feel that I need to prove something to someone. I still can battle anyone who wants to call me out, but my ego doesn’t make me call b-boys out anymore.

Last one. Please, write down 3 or 4 artists in hip-hop culture that really #deservetobeknown worldwide and have a chance to represent our culture truly?

BochRock, Massa, FT, Crash which are all representing AllTheMost crew.

You can follow Yan on Instagram here.

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

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