Cros 1: “It’s a choice of people to be more underground or rock walls out of nowhere”.

Freestyle Session is one of the dopest and most popular strictly breaking events. Before the launch of Redbull BC One, it was a dream of every b-boy to take part in this event. However, its main organizer Cros 1 manage to extend it not only in the US, but also in Japan. Despite the positive and sometimes negative opinions about it, Freestyle Session is the result of truly devoted hard-working of Cros 1 that helped the spread and uniting of the b-boy scene worldwide.

First of all, thanks a lot for accepting this interview for Chronix Pro. We all know that you are for a long time involved in the hip-hop culture but tell us, please, in a few words about how did you get into it?

Long story short my introduction to the culture was a Run DMC tape their first album. I was hooked ever since. A little while later I just discovered the Real Roxanne saga, Beat Street, etc etc.  And it was so prevalent back then literally every kid in America was doing either the dance, popping, dj-ing or one of the other elements of Hip-Hop or was at least a fan of it. It’s changed the world.

You are the founder of one of the most historical event in a breaking culture – Freestyle Session. We are truly thankful for that. For those who don’t know, tell the story behind the scene. How did you come up with this name for the event, why did you decide to start it and what was the goal behind that project in the very beginning?

Well, before I started Freestyle Session I was a pretty active b-boy and traveled a lot, battled a lot, so my network was pretty vast in the remote area like a state away in every direction. I also had a friend that threw an event and I was figuring to just help him in one way shape or form.  So, I helped him in a small way for his event and I learned a lot and figured that I would give it a try myself. Initially the event was going to be called The Session. But a club was going on in the area under the same name. So, I really liked the Session name, then I added Freestyle to it cause I felt it was all encompassing as you can Freestyle in every element.

For sure it was very hard in the beginning, but what had motivated you to keep pushing and keep going? And after which edition of FSS have you realised that it’s becoming really big one? 

It, actually, really wasn’t that hard. Initially my first one got like 700 people, which to this day is still hard to accomplish. I was motivated that at the time with some of the new moves that were coming out and that there was a really dope genuine movement going on in Southern California that spilled over nationwide. I did like 5 events my first year of promoting and when I realized how big it was was at Freestyle Session 3 when I brought Storm out. We literally had over 1300 people in a gym. And the next time I saw people after that was at B-boy Summit and EVERYONE was asking for the video. So, that changed everything for me.

Our generation (note – generation of the b-boys founders of Chronix Pro, after 2002) is in the so-called “Golden Era” of the breaking scene. And when we talk about it, we definitely think about FSS. Did you expect that a jam can make so big impact on the scene worldwide?

I didn’t expect anything, I just went with the flow and took it very seriously that the event had turned into such a responsible force. To me, the event is something else, it’s not me, the event is because EVERYONE contributes whether it be myself, may partner Polo Molina, the judges, the b-boys the b-girls, everyone. It’s our event, it’s just myself and my partner fund it and honestly I feel like it’s all of ours. I just curate it and make sure that it bangs out with the proper things like prizes, shows, judges etc etc.

Back in the days there were no social media, no YouTube and nothing like that, but a lot of b-boys become popular. Simply because they came to an event and represent themselves really hard, probably even more than dancers nowadays, and that’s how after years they become popular. Do you agree with this statement? 

Do you agree also that some b-boys gained popularity worldwide back in the days mainly because of FSS?

Well, we kind of did have social media. Back in the late 90’s we had BBoy.com, Cardboard Only, Dance Delight and a host of other things where we had articles about events and scenes. And our youtube was the VIDEOS. So, every event I came out with, I produced a video. Freestyle Session videos really stamped our place in the history books and made names for a lot of b-boys.  I can’t say it was the ONLY thing, we had Bboy Summit, Pro Am, Battle of the Year and a host of other events that had videos. I just feel like I hit it pretty hard and raised the bar as far as editing, covers, etc with every release. Shout out to Bryan Bell (Rest in Peace), he was very instrumental in making the videos not only super dope but also entertaining (he was one of my editors that did FSS3, 4, 7 and Japan 2003). Also Jivan Ivan he did FSS 8 and Japan World Finals 2004.  Also all the distributors we had back then as well who got them out to the world. Then, in the early 2000’s, we came out with FreestyleSession.com and we had a message board which pretty much became like the early Social Media for b-boys and b-girls.

These days there are about 8-12 events worldwide that become pretty big and every b-boy/b-girl knows about them. We can see that most of the young generations b-boys want to take part at those events because of the huge social media coverage. While in the same time not many dancers support local events. Do you agree of this statement and does the “Support your locals” statement still makes sense?

Yeah, I feel like we are at a point where we have too many events. It’s a bad and a good thing.  Bad because less people go to events and good because the b-boys and b-girls that have been around are able to work and make some income. We definitely have to support local events that’s the base of everything, that’s where you grind it out and get good. If you stop going to events locally because you feel like you need to be invited or you feel like you should be hired, you are in this culture for all the wrong reasons. You should want to support as much as you can. For me I try to, because this culture has changed my life, it is my life, so I try to support as much as I can. If not with me personally being there, at least helping get the word out or helping out as much as I can on whatever they need.

Imagine the following – what would happen if we cut the invitations for dancers for all events, let’s say for 2-3 years? There will be events only with open qualifications for everyone. Do you think it would bring some new and fresh names to the breaking scene?
I don’t really do just invite only events those are cool but I like inclusion. I don’t think we are there yet to be able to do INVITE only events. With the exception of say BC One and a few others like Undisputed and some of the bigger events. But qualifications I started doing mid 2000’s as a way to give everyone a chance to be that invited person or crew. Invites are usually like some promoters’ favorite people or just someone they like. Winds up being a popularity contest rather then who actually deserves it. Don’t get me wrong, I like it but you need a mix of both. Also these new kids out they need to go to events and show and prove can’t ever wait to just be “INVITED”, that was never even a thing back in the day. 

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For about 20 years, you are in the game of promotion and event organizing. You have seen a lot of changes in our culture, positive and negative. What are your predictions for the next 10 years? Will be there some serious changes? Tell us, please, few words about this?

I feel like we are on our way to being pretty damn official. More sponsors will lead way to more solid events and bigger platforms. I predict we will have more teams similar to the All Stars, The Squadron or Monster teams (even back in the day we had Tribal Cliqiue).  Maybe a sponsor will actually sponsor a real crew that would be fresh. I feel like the prizes will become more serious. I think more studios and schools where people can learn from like The Beacon (Massive Monkees), Break Free, District (Full Force), Movement (Bay Area) etc etc. I know in Japan and Korea it’s been pretty big. So, I feel like that’s a dope base and offers more work then just battling all day. Teach the next generation. We have the Youth Olympics thing making moves which could possibly lead the real Olympics which could help in creating more avenues for these studios and also catapult the art, which could lead to more shows and work. I know there’s a lot of friction in the community about this but let’s be honest – the YO isn’t for us it’s for the kids and the next generation, these are opportunities that we didn’t have.To some, it would have been a dream or was a dream that this opportunity has come. But like you said, we have to support local as well, so as big as things get we have to also keep the balance. 

One of the main goals of this project is to show the world that there are a lot of talents worldwide that deserve to be known and give a chance to represent and show their vision of this dance. The last questions is the same to everyone. Write down please several names of the artists (b-boy/b-girl/dj/mc/graffiti writer) that deserve to be known.

Man, there are so many people that pass under the radar from everywhere. Like there are so many dj’s just in my city that are very talented and aren’t even known here in the city. Same with writers, mc’s, and of course b-boys/b-girls. I think that being known is a gift and curse. Be way hard to answer this. I think sometimes it’s a choice of people to be more underground and surprise folks at battles or rock walls out of nowhere. Dj’s just flexing and making people wonder who they were. 

Dj’s – Mr. Hek, Kidragon, Koco (Japan)

B-boys/B-girls – Orko and Float come to mind they are both legends from the west and east and don’t get their proper due.

Writing – Sake, Zodak, Quazar, Haslr just local San Diego guys that are legends out here but barely known outside of my city. 

MC’s – too many but a few I’m sure barely get burn in your side of the world Bambu Pistola, LPSD, Icy Lee, Odessa Kane, Chris Young, Snow tha Product list goes on…

You can follow Cros 1 on Instagram here.

Core Team is thankful to Cros 1 for this interview and support to our idea of spreading valuable knowledge.

*Used images and videos are taken from the web or given by the interviewed person and belongs to their respected owners.