Foundation B-boys, B-girls and Hip-Hop Culture in New York [Hardcover]

B-boying is a form of Afro-diasporic competitive dance that developed in the Bronx, NY in the early 1970s. Widely - though incorrectly - known as breakdancing, it is often dismissed as a form of urban acrobatics set to music. In reality, however, b-boying is a deeply traditional and profoundly expressive art form that has been passed down from teacher to student for almost four decades.Foundation: B-boys, B-girls and Hip-Hop Culture in New Yorkoffers the first serious study of b-boying as both unique dance form and a manifestation of the most fundamental principles of hip-hop culture. Drawing on anthropological and historical research, interviews and personal experience as a student of the dance, Joseph Schloss presents a nuanced picture of b-boying and its social context. From the dance's distinctive musical repertoire and traditional educational approaches to its complex stylistic principles and secret battle strategies,Foundationilluminates a previously unexamined thread in the complex tapestry that is contemporary hip-hop.

1. Introduction
2. Getting Your Foundation: Pedagogy
3. B-Boy Text: Aesthetics
4. Crews
5. I hate b-boys - that's why I break: Battling
6. Like old folk songs handed down from generation to generation: history, canon, and community in B-boy culture
7. If Breaking came out of Uprock, then Hip-Hop didn't start in the Bronx: B-boy History
8. Conclusion

The best work ever produced on b-boying. Schloss maps the dance's nuances brilliantly; but it is when he turns his attention to the history and theory of the form that Foundation is at its best. Schloss's insights are wide-ranging and consistently illuminating. A major contribution. --BostonGlobe

I highly recommend this book for anyone who claims to be a hip hop historian or hip hop head. Schloss asks some very important questions and applies theories that can be used to discuss the other elements of hip hoplƒ?