Freestyle Hip Hop: Coast to Coast

What's the state of hip hop freestyle today? On the West Coast, street styles like poppin', lockin', and bboyin' have thriving communities. These cultures have been revived by the formation of new communities through Internet forums in the early 2000s to today's social networks. But outside of these street styles, there seems to be confusion about what would be considered hip hop freestyle. Lots of terms like new jack swing, old school hip hop, 90's hip hop, urban freestyle, and urban dance have been thrown around. It's confusing. Go into any studio whether it's Focus in Irvine, Debbie Reynolds in North Hollywood or the Edge. Who is actually teaching hip hop freestyle at these venues? Especially the freestyle drawing from the music and feel of the early 90's.

Meanwhile, a new generation of teens and twentysomethings are building their own scene in Orange County, springing from the college choreography scene. Now, this college scene has roots in the early 90's but the focus has been on choreography not individual freestyle. So the feel and nature of the dance is different. Musicality is stressed but it's focused on creating photogenic pictures of large groups of moving bodies on stage. This scene's development is also complicating the discussion of what we call hip hop freestyle. When we see these teams perform showcases at VIBE or World of Dance, are they hip hop freestyle, hip hop choreography, or something else? Now, a few dancers from this scene are becoming the face of "hip hop dance" to a young America that is in love with Youtube, America's Best Dance Crew, and So You Think You Can Dance. Is Hollywood media distorting our views of hip hop again?

On the East Coast, especially in New York, there's still a strong foundation for teachers like Elite Force who teach regularly at studios like Peridance, PMT, and Broadway Dance Center. Dance teachers from other scenes like house and vogue are readily available to teach like Brian Greene, Archie Burnett, and Benny Ninja. When you travel through the studios and sessions in NY, it doesn't seem to be as confusing understanding what hip hop freestyle looks like as compared to the various shades of grey in Los Angeles.

The West Coast has a lot of creative energy that comes from so many different voices coming together. But maybe it's time that we take a moment and break away from our Youtube habits. We should do our research and expose ourselves to who are considered hip hop freestylers from informed peers. There's something lacking in the soul of our young hip hop generation today. There's a freedom that's missing. The question is why?